Aging & Wisdom Quote by John Mellencamp

Mellencamp’s jab lands because it flips the usual rock-and-roll stereotype: the problem isn’t out-of-touch suits; it’s executives cosplaying as cool. By calling out “record company people” who are “our age,” he strips them of the easy alibi that they just “don’t get it.” They do get it, at least enough to mimic the surface codes of youth. The indictment is that they’re mistaking branding for belief, and vibe for judgment.

The phrase “want to be perceived” is the tell. Mellencamp isn’t accusing them of liking new music; he’s accusing them of managing their own image at the expense of the work they’re supposed to champion. In that world, the executive becomes the product: chasing clout, courting scenes, talking in slang, making decisions that photograph well instead of ones that develop artists. It’s a critique of insecurity posing as strategy.

“Hurt the business” sounds prudish until you hear Mellencamp’s real point: trend-chasing creates short-term bets and long-term rot. When gatekeepers are desperate to look “hip,” they overvalue whatever feels youthful this quarter and undervalue the slow, unsexy parts of building careers - patience, A-and-R craft, letting records find an audience instead of forcing a moment.

Context matters: Mellencamp came up in an era when labels could nurture a middle-class of musicians and when authenticity was a fighting word, not a marketing bullet point. His line reads as a defense of adulthood in culture - not anti-youth, but anti-panicked adulthood pretending it isn’t there.