Basic Instructions by Scott Meyer for March 23, 2018

even 8 years ago, John Mellencamp was no longer getting worked up over.

My pet peeve isn’t house trained yet.

I’ve always referred to him as “John Cougar and/or Mellencamp”

I like him and I’not even from the USA

I like him and I’not even from the USA

His agent thought his name needed more zip. He didn’t know about it until he saw his album cover with John Cougar on it. He didn’t like it either.

Were there any record companies with national coverage willing to sign a performing artist who never left his or her rural home town? And, as a price for offering national exposure, wasn’t it the record company that made him go by Johnny Cougar?

never heard of the man

I forgot he existed until I read this. Now all I can think about is little pink houses…

I like “Wild Night,” but I have Meshell Ndegeocello to thank in part.

Scott might as well be channeling me in this strip. I don’t hate the phrase “pet peeve,” but I usually hate the context in which it’s employed. It’s always some super-inconvenient, selfish demand, like, “My pet peeve is when people use plastic water bottles.” Then you wind up dehydrated out in the woods because you don’t own a Greenpeace-approved stainless steel water vessel.

I’m also not a huge fan of John Cougar Monkeycamp. Oh, yeah, I think he added the “Cougar” back, but this time he brought along a Monkey to play with—or feed him—it’s really more than I care to know.