In the summer of 1982, a rocker from Indiana was finally breaking on the charts after years of trying anything for a hit. And now … the oddest thing: While “Espresso” was still lodged in the Top Five, Carpenter dropped a follow-up—a quirkier, moodier ditty, “Please Please Please,” that’s a kind of hybrid of country and synthpop. Its lifetime Spotify …
On a breezy Sunday afternoon in May — a day off from his Live and in Person tour — John Mellencamp descended the golf cart he uses to navigate his expansive, sylvan estate in Bloomington, Ind. Since achieving fame in the early ’80s, the “Jack & Diane” singer has been many things — working-class hero, Farm Aid activist, tabloid fodder …
