On This Day in 1982, John Mellencamp Scored His First and Only No. 1 With a Song He “Always Detested”

On this day (October 2) in 1982. John Mellencamp topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Jack & Diane.” It commanded the top spot for four weeks and would be his only No. 1 on the chart. Decades later, it remains his most popular song. However, he was never a fan of the song or how it turned out.

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Today, Mellencamp is enshrined in the pantheon of heartland rock legends alongside the likes of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen. However, when he released “Jack & Diane,” he was still fighting his label over his image. At the time, he was John Cougar, which he shortened from Johnny Cougar. Later, he would become John Cougar Mellencamp, before dropping “Cougar” completely. His label wanted him to be the next big pop star, but Mellencamp had other ideas. American Fool saw him finding his identity as a musician, and “Jack & Diane” showed that his authenticity was a hit with fans.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1982, John Mellencamp Made Chart History with His Breakthrough Album and a Pair of Iconic Singles]

John Mellencamp Has a Longstanding Beef with Jack and Diane

While the song remains his most popular, he was never really fond of it. This started before he took the song to the studio. Originally, he wrote the song about an interracial couple. Jack wasn’t a football star. Instead, he was a Black man dating a white woman. Mellencamp wanted to explore the difficulties that interracial couples experienced in small-town America. However, his label had other ideas. They urged him to make the song more widely relatable and steer clear of any real social issues. In the end, he agreed.

Then, when it was time to take the song to the studio, it got worse. Mellencamp called it a “terrible record to make,” in an interview. “When I play it on guitar by myself, it sounds great. But I could never get the band to play along with me. That’s why the arrangement’s so weird. Stopping and starting, it’s not very musical,” he explained.

In a 2022 interview with Forbes, John Mellencamp revealed that the song had grown on him over time. “I always detested that song until the last couple, three years,” he said.

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