John Mellencamp, Chevrolet and that Ubiquitous Silverado Ad

John Mellencamp is a thoughtful spokesman for real America, But enough with the ad!


As a person in the music industry and a long-time follower of John Mellencamp'scareer, I sucked in a gasp of astonishment when I heard the first series of :30 and :60 spots for the Chevy Silverado commercials last year. On first listen, I thought it was a Mellencampesque rip-off; there was a time in the 80's when Mellencamp would never have "sold out" to an advertising company. On the other hand, when Bob Dylan started appearing in TV ads, I guess the cheese quotient morphed into "cool" almost overnight.

And it seems the Mellencamp Silverado ode will be with us for the foreseeable future. The previous Silverado ad campaign lasted over a decade.


Mellencamp commented recently that if the ad helps sell American trucks and thus re-employ disenfranchised American workers he's all for it. Judging from the saturation-level of his Silverado commercial, one expects he has single-handedly raised employment by US automakers a full five percent. I would like to know, however, whether all those Silverado bumpers and beds are all made in the USA, God bless it.

My guess is that Mellencamp, who lives in Seymour, Indiana, is no fan of Bushanomics. Unfortunately the flag-waving patina of the Silverado commercials leads one to believe he is an Indiana Red-Stater through and through. Then there's that $185 million plus Silverado advertising budget. Nice chunk of change for John. How much will go to charity? To be fair, quite a bit, since John Mellencamp has been a deep-pockets giver in the past.

But is Mellencamp a Republican? Not so, of course. Those in Indiana who know Mellencamp well have little doubt that he's a fan of the working class and the disenfranchised. And he's a good ol' rich liberal.

Funny how the Republican party has co-opted the working class, convincing many of them to vote against their own interests. Seemingly, it's all too easy. Drag out a tear-jerk tale, a schmaltzsy ending or a jingoistic song and you are guaranteed to bring moisty sparkle to the eyes of those dutiful followers of uniforms and patriotic buzz words lightly disguised as the Republican base. (To be sure, the Democratic working man has some explaining to do about the misuse of union funds, but that might ruin the point of Mellencamp's song.)

In former songs, Mellencamp has artfully warned of the pitfalls of lemming-ism. "Pink Houses" is no ode to the virtues of conformity. When John sings, "Ain't that America," it is done with a sigh of regret, rather than praise. I often think of the Tim Burton visuals in "Edward Scissorhands." His town of sparkling pink houses, blue and yellow pastel houses, all brimming with vapid suburban sterotypes goes scissored-glove-in-hand with Mellencamp's intent in "Pink Houses." Perhaps Tim Burton was a fan at one time of the young John Cougar, that fellow who once swore he would never lend his music to a commercial.

But we're all entitled to change our mind. That is one thing that does make America great. Sure, sometimes, as with the Bush years (seems like a century already), our leaders favor black and white simplicity, stubborn resolve, cowboy confidence and all those dangerous goodies of Imperialism.

Fortunately, as a nation, our collective sense takes hold and we self-correct, sliding comfortably into that gray area where flip-flopping can be viewed as prudent reflection and changing your mind might mean you have clomped on to useful new knowledge that has made you a more enlightened person.

Don't expect to see that enlightenment beacon rotating over the White House anytime soon (1- 1/2 years and counting), but the country is coming around. It always does.

As we slog through the swamp of Bush waste product grunted out by the miltary-industrial complex, we listen to the lyrics of the Silverado commercial:

"I can stand beside ideas I think are right. I can stand beside the idea to stand and fight. I do believe there's a dream for everyone. This is our country."

As we listen, we interpret meaning based on personal slant and bias where Republican and Democrat alike stake claim to "the truth." It would be almost funny except that countries fight wars over such slogans.

What exactly is being sold in the Silverado commercial? Who knows? Maybe someday we'll all be driving Silverados reinforced with plating to protect against IED's on the way to the corner pantry.
One things for sure. If we want to watch NFL football, we'd better get used to the ad.