NAKED & UGLY, BUT CERTAINLY NOT SLEEPING

MITCH RYDER

NAKED & UGLY, BUT CERTAINLY NOT SLEEPING

J. Kordosh

by

Last year, John Cougar was being interviewed on a Detroit radio station. After the chat, he noticed a Mitch Ryder concert poster on the wall and started raving about it. At which point deejay Jerry Lubin— Ryders ex-road manager—asked Cougar how Mitch could get a hold of him.

Two months ago, another Detroit radio station began playing Never Kick A Sleeping Dog a month ahead of the release date. This is generally considered bad form and all that, understandably pissing off Ryder and Polygram Records. Dog, of course, was produced by Cougar, and promises to put Ryder back into the national limelight. It might even establish Cougar as a boffo producer, and not just the limited sort of artist who cant sell more than three million copies of his own stuff. The radio scam shows that Ryder is always news in Detroit, too.

As for his history—well, once upon a time, he was bigger than Bob Seger not only in Detroit but all around the nation. He had big hits like Jenny Take A Ride" and Devil With A Blue Dress." I read he even had a chocolate Cadillac and a matching suit.

Tan," Ryder told me. The car was tan. And one lousy day Im riding in a car—just one day!—with the same-colored coat, and the press makes it into a biiig story. I never had those tan-colored patent leather go-go boots, either."

Shucks. Well, you can see that things werent all gravy back then. Take magazine covers, for instance. You see, theres this thing with CREEM," he explained to me. Like Sixteen magazine, I ran into this same thing when I was a big star in the 60s. They wouldnt put me on the cover because I was too ug-/y," he said, emphasizing those syllables.

Yeah; well, its true, though," I answered. Are you trying to compare CREEM to Sixteen?"

Im trying."

Youre doing a pretty good job, too." Actually, Mitch is kidding here (except for the ugly part). Hes held in high regard around Detroit, and Im pretty sure he likes CREEM a lot. I could tell when he answered his door and welcomed me with: Oh no, they sent you. " What a kidder.

All kidding aside, though, Sleeping Dog might very well put the boy back on the bigtime track so that he wont be on the cover of Rolling Stone, Circus, People, and My Weekly Reader, too. When he made initial contact with Cougar and JC asked what he was up to, Ryder quite truthfully answered, Im making another $10,000 album for Europe." (Its sort of his hobby; more on that later.) Cougar asked if he could send him some material, which was OK with Mitch, and a couple of phone calls later Mr. Mellencamp proposed the production deal.

Of course, theres more to it than that. He flew me down to South Carolina to see one of his shows," Ryder said. That was Ëœthe reason, but the real reason for me being there was for him to look me over. And so they bought me a first-class ticket. Im not accustomed to first-class flights—took all the free liquor I could take—so when I rolled off the plane I was looking real good. " Mitch further endeared himself to nearly everyone by continuing with the booze and accusing somebody from Polygram of being a Nazi SS officer. Sounds like hed be a shoo-in, right? You know, at first they (Polygram) werent really too enthusiastic about this record," he astutely noted. Until they heard it."

Actually, John Cougar is my illegitimate son!x

That they heard it at all is certainly Cougars doing, but—to give credit where its due—he also had some talent to work with. People like Marianne Faithfull (who sang along on A Thrills A Thrill") and JCs own picker, Larry Crane. OK, just kidding, gang; of course, I refer to Ryder himself, or maybe just his vocal cords. I mentioned my surprise that Ryder still has his pipes. Yeah, and so is Polygram," he laughed.

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Naturally, some people are going to see this whole situation as a parallel to the Springsteen/Gary Bonds and Petty/Del Shannon doings. I asked Mitch if anyones asked about it, ha ha.

Boy, have I heard that question," he replied. I dont doubt that people are going to feel that way from time to time. Actually, John is my illegitimate son, and I told him to do something for his dad.

But, since thats such a stock question, Ill give you my stock answer. The only similarity between this and the Springsteen/Bonds and Petty/Shannon deals is that its a contemporary artist producing an older artist. Beyond that, from what I know—and I could be mistaken—those people werent actively pursuing recording careers, as I was. They werent touring nationally and internationally, as I was. They werent still doing rock n roll—they were doing lounge type music. This isnt a resurrection; there was an ongoing career. Maybe it wasnt at the level that we intend to take this to, but it isnt a resurrection."

To which Ryders wife Kim added: The other point is that John Cougar was trying to promote himself as a producer."

Well, he produced himself and hes doing pretty well, so that says something about his technique. I wont be the only artist hell produce. He wanted to do another one, but theres so much pressure on him now to do a follow-up that he has to do that. And Im sure that once he finishes his next album, hell again take on another artist. Maybe myself again, or maybe somebody else."

Maybe. As much as Ryder appreciates his association with Cougar, though, the cat didnt exactly sit around and pout after Jenny took a ride and his career went fltzz. Hes cut about a scad of albums, some available in the States (most recently, Naked But Not Dead and How I Spent My Summer Vacation) and more out in Germany (my favorite being the remarkable Got Change For A Million?). Mitchs European product is, he admits, more experimental than Never Kick A Sleeping Dog, but who the hell wants to go overboard when theres lotsa bucks to be made? Like Ryder says, Im doing whatever has to be done to sell a big commercial record." That must be the new 18" discs Ive read about.

His European fame came about in an offbeat way, and also kept him able to pay his bills. They discovered me, actually, when we were invited to do a TV show which is semi-annually broadcast across the entire continent," he said. 170 million viewers. It just took that one appearance and the resultant controversy."

Gosh, Mitch, whatd you say?"

(Long pause.) What did I say? Wellll—I suppose maybe I had one beer too many. Its possible. What I ended up doing was denouncing the conservative government there and their attitude towards rock n roll. Then I warned them to lock up their children.

I mean, we were with Southside Johnny and Nils Lofgren, and those people came down and said: ËœHi. Thanks a million. Thanks for having us here. So I come out and I start into this big tirade on TV. I attacked the interviewers girlfriend."

Verbally."

Physically! Just weirdness like that. Boy! My manager, my partners manager, the record company president and the producer of the show—theyre all going, ËœOh my God! My partner comes up and says, ËœNow are you happy? Youve ruined this mans career, his record company...youve ruined your own career...well probably never be able to work in Europe again. Now are you happy? And proud of yourself??? Then he said, ËœGo out and do your show. So we went out and did our show. But: the next morning we started getting feedback, and it seems that these kids in Germany knew enough English to understand what I was saying, and loved it. And you shouldve seen these fucking fair-weather friends of mine! All of a sudden Im back in their good graces and theyre trying to schedule interviews for me. I was a little bitter about it, yknow?"

Makes sense now why Mitch described himself earlier as his own worst enemy. Actually, the fellows got remarkable equanimity when discussing his ill-starred career. At one point, he—not Seger—was Detroits great white hope. That the shoes on the other foot doesnt seem to bother Ryder at all.

We re not good friends, but hes definitely done his share to help me along the way. When Naked But Not Dead came out he said it was one of the greatest albums hed heard in many a moon. And he had me open those six shows for him at Cobo Arena (a couple of years back).

We began at the same time—I recall doing the Robin Seymour Show (local tube) with Bob. And it was set up so that when we completed our song, the camera would go right across the room to him. I recall performing Jenny Take A Ride" and looking across at Bob and seeing—I wouldnt call it jealousy—but it was like he knew that he was good. And he knew that his writing was good. He had all the confidence in the world in himself . But—its just the feeling I got from his eyes—he knew he shouldve been there with me. But he wasnt, in terms of acceptance. Hes never the kind of guy to overtly display jealousy. So, having waited such a long time for success, I wouldnt take that away from him. Yet, I feel that I still deserve this chance that Im having, too. Because the first time I was quite young and did posibly get ripped off. Id like another chance to do it."

Which hell undoubtedly have now. Yeah, I miss the excitement. The mediocre motels...the torturous travel...the irritable promoters...the smelly, spoiled deli trays. I miss that." This doesnt sound unreasonable coming from a guy who regards Edgar Allan Poe as an idol: To me, he was one of the early rock heroes. He had everything going except the music. Drugs, young girls, died in a gutter," or tells this tale about working with Ms. Faithfull: Shes a veteran, like I am. Shes had as disastrous a career as I have. I think there are a lot of similarities, shes still alive. I wanted to take her golfing, but she couldnt find my balls."

When I suggest that Dog wont be one on the record charts, hes also down-to-earth. First of all, were counting chickens before the eggs have hatched. Im still quite content, and perhaps if Im fortunate enough to make money off this project, I would prefer to continue this lifestyle and buy up Israeli War Bonds." What a kidder. @