Ann Wilson Recalls Heart’s ‘Painful’ Tour With John Mellencamp

Ann Wilson has regarded again on her expertise touring with John Mellencamp, recalling that it was a “particularly painful nine months.”

The trek befell in 1982, a interval when Wilson’s band, Heart, was going by a industrial downturn. Mellencamp, then again, was having fun with an increase in stardom due to “Jack & Diane.”

“It was a particularly painful nine months because John Cougar had a number one record,” Wilson recalled throughout her look on The Kenny Aronoff Sessions podcast. “[Heart was] going into the era where we couldn’t get arrested. And we were headlining the show. So, it was uncomfortable.”

READ MORE: Heart Albums Ranked Worst to Best

Aronoff, who was drumming for Mellencamp on the time, remembered that Heart was “really nice” to him and the band. Still, like Wilson, he observed how the gang started to alter.

“Every night there were more and more John Cougar fans and he was all over MTV,” the drummer famous. “We were the new thing.”

Aronoff acknowledged that the tour was an awesome expertise for him, however apologized for bringing it up contemplating it wasn’t a contented time in Heart’s historical past. Wilson appeared to take all of it in stride.

READ MORE: How Heart Survived the ’80s

“Just a time among many,” the singer defined. “If you stay around long enough, you see they’re just eras and you just kind of roll through them.”

Is Heart Touring in 2024?

Wilson’s most up-to-date launch, Another Door, got here out in September. It marked the singer’s first album as sole lyricist, and her debut along with her new backing band, Tripsitter. In her dialog with Aronoff, Wilson admitted she plans to tour and file extra materials with Tripsitter. She additionally famous that she’ll be going through a time crunch in 2024 when Heart goes again on tour.

“It’s the most weird, complicated thing to juggle,” the singer admitted. “Because we’re all really behind Another Door and behind Tripsitter, that whole thing. But the minute you say Heart, all eyes just go to the Heart world.”

Heart has introduced three live shows to shut out the 12 months, two in Southern California adopted by a New Years Eve live performance in Seattle. Further dates have but to be revealed.