John Mellencamp reminiscences on how he made a 1982 Beach Boys concert memorable.

John Mellencamp will be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame next month.

It was a clash of symbols -- and a crash landing for one cymbal -- when John Mellencamp blew up real good after playing London on a hot August night in 1982.

Then known as John Cougar, the Indiana rock star was unhappy about appearing on a bill with the Beach Boys.

So Mellencamp hurled a cymbal and other drum equipment into the crowd at J.W. Little stadium at set's end.

Follow up:

Mellencamp blamed the concert promoter for "screwing up the bill" by booking his band between Del Shannon, who opened backed by fine London band Lowdown, and the headlining Beach Boys.

A crowd of 14,000 was on hand on Aug. 30, 1982, after paying $15 for tickets.

Mellencamp had the hits that summer of 1982: Hurts So Good. Jack and Diane.

Talk about your symbols: Rock and Roll hall of famers the Beach Boys with 20 years of hits about cars, California babes, surfing and Good Vibrations; future hall of famer Mellencamp with a hot album . . . and, after playing 14 nights in a row, maybe a hot head.

Mellencamp's road brings him back to London on Tuesday at the John Labatt Centre at 7:30 p.m. Canadian rockers Tom Cochrane and the Red Rider are also on the bill. Mellencamp has gone out of his way to say he's "very excited" to have Cochrane on the tour.

Back in 1982, well, not so excited about the Beach Boys and Shannon.

"I don't know what the (bleep) we're doing on this bill," Mellencamp had told the crowd after hitting the stage for a 40-minute set. "I hope my vulgar language don't offend any of the parents out there. But we're just a bunch of Southern boys and we don't give two (bleeps) is what it boils down to."

Beach Boys' singer Mike Love got into the act, pretending to toss his jacket into the crowd. "We don't throw drums either because we don't do cheap tricks like that," Love said.

Legendary London promoter Don Jones put together the bill and supplied the drum equipment Mellencamp had rented and then tossed. Those of us who know him are not surprised Jones was able to respond to the Indiana star's blasts with a steady supply of memorable quotations.

"No one would book him after his escapades here," Jones said in one of the milder responses.

"In 16 years of promoting, I've never seen anything like it. Everybody backstage was in shock after his escapades. He'd done nothing like this during his whole tour, not a single outburst."

Jones also held back part of Mellencamp's fee -- an amount the singer said was $15,000 and which Jones wouldn't disclose -- while damage to the equipment was assessed.

As he left the stage, the Indiana star had promised a free show before year's end.

Although not that year, Mellencamp did come back in May 1983 to play for free before two separate crowds of 500 lucky ticket winners at the old Piccadilly Palace, later the site of Legends.

Neither Jones or Mellencamp could be reached this week.

It's all so long ago that it's just good rock and roll fun and a London legend now. It even made Rolling Stone.

After he left London for Ohio, Mellencamp talked to The Free Press in a more contrite way. Even he couldn't really explain why he went off like Knight tossing a chair. He did say it was seeing "bald heads" in the crowd as he hit the stage. (Tuesday's crowd may want to wear caps).

"I thought, 'What am I doing here? These people aren't going to understand me.' Del Shannon started his show with Hang on Snoopy!," he said. "How could I do my songs with six-year-olds in the crowd? It just wasn't fair to anybody -- not to the other bands or me or the people there."

If he wants to add a London touch to Tuesday's concert, he can look back to his free shows here in 1983.

"Now, right here's the part where I throw the drums out in the audience, right?" he told the lucky fans.

He laughed -- and came back for a three-song encore.