John Mellencamp has many hits from his career, but it took him years to enjoy, perhaps, his biggest, most popular song.
In an interview with Forbes, Mellencamp talked about songwriting when he mentioned, “I had to learn how to write songs. And I wrote songs and I grew up in public. And at first I didn’t like that idea, but now, I’m happy it happened because it gave me the opportunity to have the chip on my shoulder and to grow. And like I wrote a song called ‘Jack & Diane.’ And I always detested that song until the last couple, three years.”
He continued, “I watched a football game this past weekend, and 80,000 people were singing that song at half time. Can you imagine? I thought, ‘S—.’ I said, ‘How do all these f—ing people know this song?’”
When the interviewer mentions that he must know the impact his biggest hits have had on popular culture, Mellencamp said, “But see, I don’t, because I’m not really part of the club. I live a very solitude life. I’m alone a lot, whenever I can be. I’m alone on top of this mountain. So I don’t really pay attention to popular culture. Like I was talking to [Bruce] Springsteen, and he asked me if I watched the Grammys. I said, ‘No, I didn’t even know they were happening.’ He goes, ‘Well, we got nothing to do with it.’ [chuckle] I said, ‘Well, I figured that out.’ We got nothing to do with that. It means nothing to me at this point in my life.”
