American Fool

He became the first male solo artist to have two singles in the US top 10 while also having the number one album.

Jack and Diane and Hurt So Good were both in the top 10 while American Fool sat at number one.

That's the opposite of the one-hit-wonder situation.

Instead of one song dominating an artist's public identity, you've got multiple songs competing for attention at the same time.

It's a battle boy.

1982, John Mellencamp becomes the first male solo artist with the number one album, American Fool, and two top ten singles all at the same time.

Jack and Diane was number four, and Hurt So Good was number eight.

It was a great album when that came out.

By 1982, he was 30 years old, continually clashing with his record company over his musical direction, and working at Criteria Studios in Miami.

He was crafting the tracks for an album titled American Fool.

During the writing process, he consciously aimed to write about seemingly insignificant everyday things, building on the philosophy that coming to terms with failed expectations is what truly matters in life.

Preaching to the converted there, mate.

Mellencamp later noted that while the song sounded great when he played it by himself on an acoustic guitar, he struggled immensely to get his band to play along with its unconventional arrangement.

The creative breakthrough arrived with the assistance of an unexpected legendary collaborator, Mick Ronson, the former guitarist and arranger for David Bowie.

Ronson spent several weeks at Criteria Studios helping arrange the American Fool sessions.

It was Ronson who suggested adding the distinctive unusual percussion that sounded like baby rattles, and he masterminded the multi-layered choir-like vocal hook on the let it rock, let it roll segment.

[laughs]

The next number is 16, as in after his big breakout album, American Fool, John recorded his follow-up album, Uh-huh, in just 16 [laughs] days.

I'm gonna need you to, to tell us more about how that particular album title is rendered in text.

[laughs]

John's like, "What the fuck? Really? I- these are, like, the, I think we got some good songs.

I just played you Jack and Diane, and you think that this is, like, garbage, and you wanna..." They're like, "Yeah." He finally manages to convince them, uh, to allow him to record a few more songs in the hopes that he's gonna have enough material for an album after they toss out a bunch of the other songs that they think are shit.

Riva finally says, "Yeah, sure." They record the 1982 album, American Fool, and they're basically like, "I guess we're gonna put this out.

We've already sunk the money into it, but God, this album's a fucking stinker.