THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

405-John Cougar-Jack & Diane.

1982-Number 25 single.

Best Bit- At 2.31. In America Jack & Diane are probably Pop Music’s most famous couple, but worldwide there are others. Dire Straits sang about ‘Romeo and Juliet,'(see also best songs 298) Bon Jovi told us of Tommy and Gina,'(see also best songs 325) the Beatles introduced us to Desmond and Molly, Lesley Gore was sobbing her heart out over Judy and Johnny, I could go on, but I won’t.

John J. Mellencamp was born on October 7th, 1951, in Seymour, Indiana, United States, his first major breakthrough in the music industry occurred when being signed by Tony DeFries of MainMan Management, DeFries had already managed artists of the calibre of David Bowie, and Lou Reed. DeFries thought the name Mellencamp was unmarketable, and insisted that Mellencamp release his debut Album ‘Chestnut Street Incident’ in 1976 using the name Johnny Cougar, which Mellencamp hated, but felt he had to go along with. It wasn’t until he became a major star, that he got his own way, with the release of his seventh studio Album ‘Uh-Huh,’ recorded under the name John Cougar Mellencamp. In total Mellencamp has released 23 studio Albums between 1976-2017, and a total of 67 singles, with 21 of then reaching the Billboard top 40, with this song being his only chart topper.

‘Jack & Diane’ was the second single released from John Cougar’s fifth studio Album ‘American Fool,’ from 1982, the song was written by Cougar, and co-produced by Cougar, and Don Gehman. ‘Jack & Diane’ tells the tale of two American teenagers who take their relationship to levels that they are not yet ready to cope with. They eventually realise that being 16 and carefree is better than being grown up with all of life’s responsibilities. When Mellencamp first wrote the lyrics the song was about an interracial couple, with Jack being African/American, but his record label persuaded him to change that as they felt more people would relate to Jack being an aspiring football player.

Mellencamp has stated his debt to Mick Ronson (1946-1993) (see also best songs 661-440-334-186-131-58-37 and 5) for his input, he has said,’Mick was instrumental in helping me arrange that song, as I’d thrown it on the junk heap. Mick said,’Johnny, you should put baby rattles on there.’ I thought,’What the f..k does put baby rattles on the record mean?’ So he put percussion on there, and then he sang the part ‘Let it rock, let it roll,’ as a choir-ish type thing, which had never occurred to me, and that is the part everybody remembers on the song. It was Ronson’s idea.’

The song is also famous for it’s iconic drum break at 2.31. Mellencamp was inspired by the Phil Collins song ‘In the Air Tonight,’ and asked his drummer Kenny Aronoff to come up with something.The chances are that when you hear the song on the radio, you will find yourself doing some ‘air drumming.’

‘A little ditty ’bout Jack and Diane, two American kid’s growing up in the heart land. Jack he’s gonna be a football star, Diane debutante in the back seat of Jacky’s car.’