SCARECROW
Scarecrow is the eighth album by John Mellencamp. Released in November 1985, it peaked at #2 on the U.S. chart behind Heart’s comeback album, Heart. This album contained three Top 10 hits, a record for a Mellencamp album: “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.”, “Lonely Ol’ Night”, and “Small Town”. The overall theme of the album is the fading of the American dream in the face of corporate greed. In 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Scarecrow #95 on its list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980’s, saying: “Scarecrow consolidated the band’s rugged, roots-rock thrash and the ongoing maturation of Mellencamp’s lyrics.” (More from Wikipedia)
John Mellencamp was infuriated to find out that his first album, Chestnut Street Incident had been released under the name Johnny Cougar, and eventually, he set about to reinvent himself, well, back to being himself: After another album under that name, and two under the name John Cougar, the next step was to release his two best albums, Uh Huh and Scarecrow under the name John Cougar Mellencamp.
(July 2012)
