“Jack and Diane” Was No. 1 35 Years Ago

35 years later and we’re still singing along to this classic!

Here’s some interesting things Mellencamp has said about his hit:

“‘Jack & Diane’ was a terrible record to make,” Mellencamp said in 2008. “When I play it on guitar by myself, it sounds great; but I could never get the band to play along with me. That’s why the arrangement’s so weird. Stopping and starting, it’s not very musical.”

“I think people, particularly in the Midwest, really identified with these characters,” he told Rolling Stone in 2013. “I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and said, ‘I’m Jack and I’m Diane. You wrote about my life.’ To me, that’s a successful song.”

Read more about the history of the song here.

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