- Nothin' Matters and What If It Did (Bonus Track) [2005 Remaster] · 1980
Essential Albums
- By the time this album was released in 1987, Mellencamp was rivaling Bruce Springsteen as America's top male rocker. Following a string of pop hits, Jubilee follows in the folk/rock/Americana sound that he first explored on his previous album Rain On the Scarecrow. Violin and accordion had become the primary harmony instruments, matching the sound of acoustic and electric guitars that filled his earlier work. The hits kept comin' and this album contains an abundance of Mellencamp hits, including "Paper in Fire," "Check It Out," and "Cherry Bomb." But it also contains strong lesser-known material such as the working man's anthem "Hard Times for an Honest Man" and the sing-along chorus of "Rooty Toot Toot." Consistent in both sound and vision, this is one of Mellencamp's best album.
- Released in 1985, at the peak of the decade’s neon garishness, John Mellencamp’s Scarecrow comes off like a tight Saturday night set played at the local VFW hall. “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” nails a balance of ’60s energy and ’80s grit. Meanwhile, the haunting-but-wholesome “Rain on the Scarecrow” is both celebration and elegy for an endangered American farm culture. At the album’s core is “Small Town,” a three-chord anthem that marries the gleaming melodicism of The Byrds to Woody Guthrie’s rustic simplicity.
- 1982’s American Fool catapulted Indiana’s John Cougar into the pop mainstream after years of dubious material and artistic struggle. With 1983’s Uh-Huh, Cougar began reclaiming and defining his identity as more than just a sassy, snarky rock n’ roll singer. He added back his real last name and recorded an album that spoke simply and directly from his heart and mind. “The Authority Song” took its message from the Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law” and its guitar sound from the Rolling Stones, marrying the two to an irresistible rhythm. “Play Guitar” and “Crumblin’ Down” worked similarly, capitalizing on Mellencamp’s tough exterior and unfancy rock arrangements. But it was the Springsteen-like acoustic number, “Pink Houses,” that solidified Mellencamp’s image as a voice for Middle America. With the genuine simplicity of an ageless folk song, Mellencamp laid out the modest goals and sad, awful truth of the working class without pity and with a dose of celebration. With Uh-Huh, Mellencamp found the perfect balance between his social concerns and the rock n’ roll of his youth.
- Though credited to John Cougar, 1982’s American Fool marks the moment when John Mellencamp began to assert his true identity as an artist. This is a scrappy version of classic rock ‘n’ roll, built around storytelling lyrics and guitar-centered tunes that harkened back to Dylan and the Stones. The playful “Hurts So Good” became the album’s first hit, but it was the small-town-romance theme of “Jack & Diane” that truly defined the album’s sensibility. Mellencamp’s raspy, Indiana-accented vocals breathe life into his tales of Middle American dreams, ambition and heartache. Tracks like “Hand to Hold Onto” and “Can You Take It” offer plenty of radio-friendly punch and attitude. Going deeper, “Weakest Moments” is indicative of the working-class balladry that would turn up on later albums. The album’s title cut — added to the remastered version of the album — is a good-natured declaration of independence. More than anything, it’s this sense of personal freedom that makes American Fool such a fun listen — for the first time, John is taking off his Cougar disguise and getting real.