![John Mellencamp Says Rock’s Glory Days Are Over](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2017/05/GettyImages-645126758.jpg?w=630&h=420&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=980&q=75)
John Mellencamp Says Rock’s Glory Days Are Over
For decades, rock was the center of the American music world, but that's been changing for some time now — and John Mellencamp is one among a number of veteran rockers who doesn't see it ever coming back.
As Sound and Vision reports, Mellencamp weighed in on the subject during a recent Q&A session conducted by the Direct Connection event series, pointing out that for many listeners who've grown up over the past couple of decades, music simply doesn't hold the all-consuming power it did for the kids who made rock 'n' roll such a powerful cultural phenomenon.
"I’ve got two boys, 22 and 21, and I don’t think they ever sat down and listened to a whole album in their whole life," said Mellencamp. "I read just the other day — I think it was Ray Davies — that rock 'n' roll is going to come back. It’s not going to come back. We’ve seen it. It happened ... it’s like we had a 50-year run of a particular type of music and history will tell us that."
Pointing out that rock is just one of many styles of music to have its turn on top of the charts, Mellencamp argued that it isn't just cyclical tastes that have undermined the genre's supremacy — it's the way the industry has been hobbled by the proliferation of entertainment options for consumers.
"I’m not saying there aren’t great songwriters out there. There are," he added. "But we’re never going to experience them the way we able to experience them in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. We’re not set up for that anymore."
All that being as it may, Mellencamp hasn't walked away from the record industry: his Sound and Vision talk was timed to help promote his new album, Sad Clowns and Hillbillies, which arrived in stores April 28.
John Mellencamp Albums Ranked Worst to Best
More From WWMJ Ellsworth Maine
![Bruce Springsteen Will Guest on New John Mellencamp LP](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2021/05/Springsteen-_-Mellencamp.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![John Mellencamp and Meg Ryan Are Engaged](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2018/11/John-Mellencamp-Meg-Ryan-Larry-Busacca-Phillip-Faraone.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![John Mellencamp Buys $2.3 Million ‘Live-Work Space’ in Manhattan](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2018/01/johnmellencamp_nyc2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![John Mellencamp’s Daughter Joins ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2017/12/GettyImages-883891264.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![‘Jack and Diane’ Hit No. 1, But Did John Mellencamp Even Like It?](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2017/10/JackDiane.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Farm Aid 2017 Headliners Include Neil Young, John Mellencamp and More](http://townsquare.media/site/295/files/2017/06/YoungMellencamp.jpeg?w=980&q=75)
![3 Arrested In Theft Of ATM Inside Of “Tubby’s Ice Cream” In Wayne](http://townsquare.media/site/543/files/2024/07/attachment-RS23730_GettyImages-960131070-scr.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Slow Your Roll, Spirit Halloween: We’re Not Done With Summer Just Yet!](http://townsquare.media/site/543/files/2024/07/attachment-Resized_20240726_131801_1722014294204.jpeg?w=980&q=75)
![Third Arrest Made In Connection To A Death In Cushing Earlier This Month](http://townsquare.media/site/494/files/2021/11/attachment-RS23905_GettyImages-466688316-scr.jpg?w=980&q=75)