Songoftheday 5/19/13 - There's a black man with a black cat livin' in a black neighborhood...

John Cougar Mellencamp - "Pink Houses"
from the album Uh-Huh (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's Song of the Day is by Indiana's pride John "Cougar" Mellencamp, who closed out 1983 with his first album that had his real last name, and a top-10 hit with the first single "Crumblin' Down". The second single would be a landmark for John as the first big hit to delve more deeply into the American rural underclass. Inspired by an African-American man on a porch as he was driving by, John championed the Midwest common man just as Bruce Springsteen did for the East a year later on Born In The USA (and for this region as well a year before on Nebraska).

"Pink Houses" became Mellencamp's fourth top-10 pop hit in February of 1984, as well as reaching #3 on the rock radio tracks list. Up north, it peaked just under the top-10 at #11 in Canada's pop list. But most importantly, "Pink Houses" established John as a credible music artist instead of a "pop singer".

In 2008 dickweasel John McCain's presidential campaign would use "Pink Houses" as intro music until John shut that thing right down. Ditto for the hate group NOM (National Organization for Marriage).

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


In 1994, punk band Avail covered the song....

...Here's John himself as the ultimate outgrowth of his themes, Farm Aid, live in 1987...

...and again in 2001 at the concert for New York City with Kid Rock..

Up tomorrow: a "LimiTeD" guy wants you to stick around this evening.