John Cougar Mellencamp Uh-Huh

First posted 6/22/2010; updated 9/20/2020.

Uh-Huh John Cougar Mellencamp

Released: October 23, 1983 Peak: 9 US, 92 UK, 9 CN, 57 AU Sales (in millions): 3.3 US, -- UK, 3.3 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic heartland rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Crumblin’ Down (10/15/83, 9 US, 2 AR, 9 CN, 42 AU) Pink Houses (10/29/83, 8 US, 3 AR, 15 CN, 69 AU) Authority Song (2/18/84, 15 US, 15 AR, 41 CN, 93 AU) Warmer Place to Sleep Jackie O Play Guitar (2/4/84, 28 AR) Serious Business (1/28/84, 34 AR) Lovin’ Mother Fo Ya Golden Gates Total Running Time: 32:59

Rating: 4.148 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Quotable: “His first terrific album.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards:

About the Album: “Since American Fool illustrated that John Cougar was becoming an actual songwriter, it’s only proper that he reclaimed his actual last name, Mellencamp, for the follow-up, Uh-Huh. After all, now that he had success, he wanted to be taken seriously, and Uh-Huh reflects that in its portraits of brokenhearted life in the Midwest and its rumbling undercurrent of despair. Although his lyrics still have the tendency to be a little too vague, they are more effective here than ever before, as is his music; he might not have changed his style at all – it’s still a fusion of the Stones and Springsteen – except that he now knows how to make it his own.” STE “Uh-Huh runs out of steam toward the end, but the first half…makes the record his first terrific album.” STE “His best protest song, “Pink Houses”, STE “is the state-of-our-union anthem that John Mellencamp likes to boast about, but the real class-awareness beef of 1983’s Uh-Huh” RW is “the punky Authority Song”: STE “‘Call up my preacher... / He said, ‘You don’t need no strength, you need to grow up, son’”).” RW There’s also the “kidding cynicism” RW of “the dynamic rocker Crumblin’ Down,” STE “the Mellencamp-John Prine collaboration Jackie O,” RW and “the melancholy Warmer Place to Sleep.” STE “With his Stonesy band crackling behind him, the newly minted superstar also shows that he gets the joke of his ‘serious business’” RW on “the garage rocker Play Guitar,” STE “which might have been the album’s fourth hit single if not for its admonition to ‘forget all about that macho shit.’” RW

Resources and Related Links: John Mellencamp’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide RW Rickey Wright, Amazon.com