Riva 7501
Producers: John Cougar Mellencamp, Don Gehman
Track listing: Hurts So Good / Jack & Diane / Hand to Hold on To / Danger List / Can You Take It / Thundering Hearts / China Girl / Close Enough / Weakest Moments
September 11, 1982
9 weeks
To say that the success of John Cougar’s American Fool was a surprise is to seriously understate the case. Distributing label PolyGram initially rejected the album, while the singer himself had to be talked into leaving “Jack & Diane” — an eventual Number One single on the album.
Cougar, who would later reclaim his given surname, Mellencamp, had always dreamed of being a rock star. He was barely into his teens when he picked up the guitar and played with his first band, Crepe Soul. By 1975 he had gone through two years of college and another band, Trash. With demo tape in hand, he relocated to New York, where he hooked up with former David Bowie manager Tony DeFries, who renamed the would-be star “Johnny Cougar.”
Cougar’s debut album, Chestnut Street Incident, released in 1976 on MCA, failed to chart, and MCA balked at releasing the follow-up, The Kid Inside. A third album, A Biography, was not released in America, but became a hit in Australia.
After signing on with new manager Billy Gaff and his Riva label, Mellencamp’s fortunes gradually began to change. John Cougar, released in 1979, included the top 30 hit “I Need a Lover.” The 1980 follow-up Nothin’ Matters and What If It Did included “This Time” and “Ain’t Even Done with the Night,” two more top 30 entries, which paved the way for American Fool.
“We thought we were pretty heavy back in those days,” Mellencamp says. “We were pretty young. We were actually the worst band in the world. We had no idea how to arrange or write a song or how to go onstage. We were, and still are, a bunch of hillbillies from Indiana.”
Hillbillies or not, Mellencamp and his band jelled on American Fool. The bulk of the album was recorded at Cherokee-Criteria studios in Miami during late 1981 and early 1982, but the band and first-time producer Don Gehman also held sessions in L.A., London, and New York.
Former Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson was an uncredited guest on “Jack & Diane.” Says Mellencamp, “A lot of credit should be given to Mick. He came in and said, ‘You know Johnny, you should get some baby rattles on this.’ I said, ‘Baby rattles? Ronson, what the fuck are you talking about?'” Even with the rattles and some tasty guitar licks from Ronson, Mellencamp still didn’t like the song. “The guys in the band and Don had to talk me into leaving ‘Jack & Diane’ on the record,” Mellencamp says.
PolyGram didn’t like the rest of the album, including “Hurts So Good,” which went on to become a number two hit. “When I delivered the record, they said, ‘We don’t want to put it out. We think it will ruin your career.'” The label suggested the Memphis Horns be added to the record, but Mellencamp hated the suggestion. “The Memphis Horns are fine players, but I always felt horns belonged in a marching band out in the street, not on a rock record,” he says.
According to Mellencamp, Gaff had the last word. “He told PolyGram ‘Your job isn’t to like this record. It’s to put it out and sell it or let him out of the deal. So they put it out and I think they were as surprised as we were.'”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of September 11, 1982
1. American Fool, John Cougar
2. Mirage, Fleetwood Mac
3. Eye of the Tiger, Survivor
4. Abracadabra, Steve Miller
5. Pictures at Eleven, Robert Plant