Great Rock Albums of 1982: John Cougar- American Fool
Before anyone starts putting their hands up in a Arnold Horshak moment to tell that his name is now John Mellancamp, let me just say that as far as I’m concerned, in 1982, he was simply John Cougar. I remember watching a tv interview with him and he explained the reason behind the name change. Simply, he was advised by his agent that Mellancamp wasn’t a rock and roll name. Therefore, he took on the name Cougar in order to sound more hard rock. It was only when he achieved commercial success that he retook his real surname and then eventually dropped the Cougar all together but that story is for some time down the future.
“American Fool” was the commercial breakthrough album for John Cougar featuring the hit singles “Hurt So Good,” my second favourite song of his and the more known “Jack And Diane,” which got so much air play at the time that I got tired of hearing it. It would be at least another decade and a half before I finally could enjoy that song again.
Keeping with the trend in 1982, those two songs lead off the album but fortunately, like many of the albums covered so far from 1982, the rest of the album has more behind it. The songs on the album all have the vibe of straight forward no nonsense rock and roll that Cougar said he was trying to achieve. I have to agree, while “American Fool” isn’t a head banger, there is some good guitar hard rock to go around. In fact, I must say that after a renewed listen, I’m quite impressed with some of the guitar work on it. Sure, there’s no blood curdling solos but the guitars do enhance the feel good factor. One of those albums you listen to while driving in the car or sitting on the front step with a beer in hand, though I wouldn’t recommend it this time of year. Tracks that really impress me were “Danger List” and “Can You Take It” but needless to say, the other tracks are worth a listen as well. John Cougar livened up those summer months of that year when I was actually in the States.
Track Listing:
1. Hurt So Good
2. Jack and Diane
3. Hand to Hold On To
4. Danger List
5. Can You Take It
6. Thundering Hearts
7. China Girl
8. Close Enough
9. Weakest Moments
10. American Fool
John Cougar- lead vocals
Larry Krane- guitar, backing vocals
Mike Wanchic- guitar, backing vocals
Kenny Aronoff- drums
George ‘Chocolate’ Perry- bass
Mick Ronson- guitar, backing vocals
Robert ‘Ferd’ Frank- bass, backing vocals
Eric Rosser- keyboards
David Parman- backing vocals
I think that “American Fool” came at a perfect time when you could play straight forward rock without being catagorised into something else. I have met people a couple of years after this album who considered John Cougar to be heavy metal. No way, but it is enjoyable good rock.
Next post: The Jam- The Gift
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This entry was posted on December 22, 2014 at 9:04 pm and is filed under 1980s, Music, Rock, television, Uncategorized with tags American Fool, Americans, Classic Rock, hard rock, Heavy Metal, Heavy Rock, John Cougar, John Cougar Mellancamp, John Mellancamp, The 1980s, Welcome Back Kotter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
12 Responses to “Great Rock Albums of 1982: John Cougar- American Fool”
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December 22, 2014 at 9:35 pm
I am with you on this – maybe he didn’t like being Cougar, but it was cool and the music had some bite –
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December 22, 2014 at 9:48 pm
Oh definitely true with the music. He probably thought it was a bit of a sell out having to change his name.
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December 22, 2014 at 9:52 pm
I will always call him Little Johnny Cougar.
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December 22, 2014 at 10:58 pm
Good one, lol
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December 23, 2014 at 2:56 am
Lil Bastard to me!
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December 23, 2014 at 2:05 pm
LMAO 🙂
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December 23, 2014 at 3:41 pm
This is kind of “the one” isn’t it?
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December 24, 2014 at 9:54 pm
I’d say so 🙂
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December 28, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Love John Cougar! 🙂
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December 29, 2014 at 8:24 am
Cool, I have always liked this album, thanks for commenting and hope you’ll stick around.
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December 29, 2014 at 2:12 pm
It’s a good album. ‘Hurts So Good’ is also one of my favorites of his. Hubs likes ‘Jack and Diane,’ but I’ve heard it too much on the radio to say that I “like” it. And I don’t even mean when it first came out! 😉
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December 29, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Hurt So Good is one of my favourites and I thought radio totally played Jack and Diane to death. I went off it for about 20 years.
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