Songoftheday 9/10/14 - They come from the cities and they come from the smaller towns, with beat up cars and guitars and drummers that go crack boom bam...

John (Cougar) Mellencamp - "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A. (A Salute To 60's Rock)"
from the album Scarecrow (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's Song of the day is by Indiana's pride John Mellencamp, who was still rockin' the Cougar in his moniker when he released his classic Scarecrow album in 1985. That set had already spun off a pair of #6 pop hits, "Lonely Ol' Night" and "Small Town". The third release from the record was a song that almost didn't make the final cut; "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A." (which the ridiculous subtitle of "A Salute To 60's Rock") in my mind was a twee interlude to the emotionally and musically chunky seriousness of the rest of the album, but darned if it didn't catch on especially with radio, and it became the biggest hit of the five singles off of Scarecrow...

"R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A." climbed up to the runner-up spot on the American pop chart in April of 1986. The record also crossed over to the Mainstream Rock (#6) and Adult Contemporary (#36) radio charts in Billboard magazine. Internationally, while the single went to #7 in Canada and top-20 in Australia, it stalled down at #67 in Britain (where his singles haven't had that much success anyway)...

I still am not a fan of the song, with it's cheesy name-dropping and advertisement-ready lyrics. But hey, the band's tight, and it obviously wasn't just a passing fancy for John, so I'll give it a pass (though I'll still skip it most times I listen to the record). I guess I compare it to Bruce's "Dancing In The Dark"...

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's John live on his Backyard BBQ gig on VH1...

..and again at Farm Aid in 2001...

Up tomorrow: The Queen gets yet some more eveningtime.