John Cougar Mellencamp "Uh-huh" cassette tape

A terrible name for a really great album. This is the one with “Pink Houses,” which justifies the price of admission alone. But it also has “Authority Song” and “Crumblin’ Down.” He’ll never be Bruce and he’ll never be Jeff Tweedy, but he’s kind of an important bridge in between. Around this time, he started writing with John Prine, whose inspiration and validation means more than a little. Eventually, Mellencamp took a turn to Key West, but this is him still very much in the Heartland.