All acoustic versions here are worth checking out, too. “Small Town”Īn ageless, send-it-into-space anthem that Mellencamp tweaked with a wink whenever he was with younger women. One growled chorus, two images, pretty much all you need to know. “Rain on the Scarecrow”Īside from being a monster smash with a million hits and perfect cover art, the Scarecrow album really began to show Mellencamp’s might as a songwriter. The thing we said about “Hurts So Good” having the best intro in his catalog? OK, maybe it’s a tie. If you’ve worn of hearing the song of karaoke nights (or want to lean in on its darker side) check out the dusky acoustic versions that appear on the 2006 reissue of Uh-Huh or the just-released Good Samaritan tour live album. Not much more needs be said about this anthem of the Midwest, four minutes of beautiful melancholy, unfulfilled promise, and the value of endurance even when it seems/is pointless. “Some people ain’t no damn good,” he sings, before taking the chains off a chorus that makes you feel like that’s maybe not so bad. Mellencamp and baby MTV were awkward bedfellows, but if you’re trying to make it as a heartland rock star in the early ‘80s, you could do a hell of a lot worse than a track with razor-wire guitars, a bar-band chorus of mathematical perfection, and the greatest opening 10 seconds of his catalog-and the killer video didn’t hurt either. 1 on the list of best American rock songs about chili dogs. The sweet, searing frustration of adolescence here is so evocative and timeless that you kind of forgot how crushing the chorus and that bridge are. The second clause of the chorus (“that won’t drive me crazy”) sets up the kind of acerbic, bullshit-free guy he’d be for the next 45 years.

The curtains-up moment on the raw, slightly jerky Johnny Cougar. But, to crib the characteristically deflective and humble title of Mellencamp’s hits collection, this is the best that I could do: “I Need a Lover” This thing is missing 15 songs that I might write myself angry comments for omitting. AS A LIFELONG fan of John Mellencamp’s music, I’ll admit that making a list of the 20 best Mellencamp tracks is a futile challenge.

John mellencamp hits