#2438 - John Mellencamp
episodePreviously titled “#2438 - John Mellancamp” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Joe Rogan Podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day. Okay, cool. Why would I hate my tattoos?
Because you get older and they get all smudgy.
Mine are getting kind of smudgy. Yeah, look at this one. It's pretty smudgy. Pretty fucking smudgy.
I owned a tattoo parlor in, I don't know what year it was, mid-'80s, and they were illegal in Indiana. But because it was me, they said, okay, leave him alone.
Really? Mm-hmm.
Why do tattoos become less appealing as we age?
I remember when they were illegal in New York. I went to Connecticut to get my first tattoo.
Yeah, I— I didn't know it was illegal, but I met this guy in L.A., and he worked at Sunset, you know, where the Hyatt House is, and there was a tattoo parlor right across the street. Anyway, he was there. And so I brought him to Bloomington because he wanted to get out of L.A., and guess why they closed me down? Why? The fucking guy was a heroin addict. I know. And he did this tattoo one time, and I went over. I just went over to the shop. I said, hey, let's do this little. And he was all fucked up. And it was just like, what's wrong with it? Because I didn't know.
What challenges did John Mellencamp face with his tattoo parlor?
I don't know anything about heroin addicts.
There wasn't a lot of heroin addicts back then. That was a rare thing. Now, we think about how many people are, because of the Sackler family, think about how many people are hooked on opiates today. I mean, it's got to be. Lots. It's off the charts in comparison to what it was like in, you know, the 1980s. I knew one guy that had a friend who did heroin. That's it.
The first time I saw somebody do heroin was... I was in college and there was a place called Bull Island that tried to imitate Woodstock. And me and my then wife and my kid, my little girl, and my roommate who lived with us, we're just walking down there and we see this guy shooting up. So we just thought, well, we'll watch. Because he was just sitting right there. I mean, there was like 200,000 people there. And he shot and he went out. And I looked at the guy I was with and go, we won't be doing this.
We're not going to do this. I had a friend who was a longshoreman, and he worked with this guy that every lunchtime he would go and score and sit in his truck and shoot up. And that's what he did every lunch. He was a functional heroin addict. And he would show up for work every day, and he did his job. But during lunchtime, during his hour, he would do heroin and just fucking find his happy place and then an hour later go back to work.
And the one shot would last all day?
I don't know. I don't know if he did heroin. I didn't ask if he did heroin after that as well. I'm assuming he probably did. But he was a functional heroin addict. Guy kept a full job. He was in the union. And everybody knew. This guy would go on his break, chewed up.
Last time I did drugs was 1973.
What was the reason you stopped?
My ear?
Yeah.
Well, I used to like to smoke and drink whiskey. And then I liked to fight. I couldn't whip anybody. But I loved the contact and the rush of like, you know, starting the fight. But I was in college and my roommate and I went to this downtown bar, which we'd never been to. And I sat at the bar, and I would start these fights. You know, just a prick. And I was sitting next to this big guy, and for whatever reason, I thought it was a good idea if I spit on him. One of those guys. You know those guys that get drunk?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, well, that was me. So I did, and we went out back, and he left me in the alley like a wet rag. I mean, he beat the shit out of me. Beat the shit out of me. And I was a hippie. I had hair down to here. And the guy, my roommate, was driving me home in an old Pinto jacket. And I was leaning on the door like this. I was so fucked up from getting beat up. I mean, the oars around my face were this big. And I was leaning on the door, and all of a sudden, he went over a road track. And I fell out of the car, got my hair wrapped around the jigamaflop that holds the car. And the guy that I'm with is drunk, driving. He didn't even know I fell out of the car.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:42
2
Why do tattoos become less appealing as we age?
0:42–1:33
3
What challenges did John Mellencamp face with his tattoo parlor?
1:33–6:54
4
How did the opioid crisis change perceptions of addiction?
6:54–15:13
5
What led John Mellencamp to quit drugs and alcohol?
15:13–1:11:27
6
How did John Mellencamp's music career evolve with the introduction of SoundScan?
1:11:27–1:12:49
7
What impact did Napster have on the music industry?
1:12:49–1:14:23
8
How did John Mellencamp transition from performing in large venues to theaters?
1:14:23–2:21:45