American Fool is the sixth album by John Mellencamp, released under the stage name John Cougar in 1982. This was Mellencamp's last album to be released under the name John Cougar. His next album, Uh-Huh, would be released under the name John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was Mellencamp's commercial breakthrough, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart in 1982. According to a 1983 article in the Toledo Blade, the song "Danger List" originated when Mellencamp heard his guitarist Larry Crane playing some chords in a basement rehearsal room. "I turned on the tape recorder and sang 30 verses," Mellencamp explained. "I just made them up. Then I went and weeded out the ones I didn't like." American Fool is the sixth album by John Mellencamp, released under the stage name John Cougar in 1982. This was Mellencamp's last album to be released under the name John Cougar. His next album, Uh-Huh, would be released under the name John Cougar Mellencamp. The album was Mellencamp's commercial breakthrough, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart in 1982. According to a 1983 article in the Toledo Blade, the song "Danger List" originated when Mellencamp heard his guitarist Larry Crane playing some chords in a basement rehearsal room. "I turned on the tape recorder and sang 30 verses," Mellencamp explained. "I just made them up. Then I went and weeded out the ones I didn't like." false 2024-02-27 19:19:54 9.5 2005 2005-01-01 2005-01-01 38 Country Rock Hard Rock Pop Rock Rock Rock And Roll Southern Rock Heartland Rock 113775 2126746 73de2961-7990-40ce-b975-376740e1362d 0aad6b52-fd93-4ea4-9c5d-1f66e1bc9f0a c52bda92-b2e9-3d42-baa0-32b4130090e6 /media/data/media5/Music/John Mellencamp/American Fool (1982)/folder.jpg John Mellencamp AlbumArtist /config/metadata/People/J/John Mellencamp/folder.jpg John Mellencamp Artist /config/metadata/People/J/John Mellencamp/folder.jpg John Mellencamp John Mellencamp 1 03:38 2 04:14 3 03:25 4 04:29 5 03:32 6 03:40 7 03:34 8 03:40 9 04:08 10 03:46 John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008, followed by an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. Mellencamp found success in the 1980s while "honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style" that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles, including "Hurts So Good", "Jack & Diane", "Crumblin' Down", "Pink Houses", "Lonely Ol' Night", "Small Town", "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", "Paper in Fire", and "Cherry Bomb". He has scored fourteen Top 20 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most songs by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven. Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. He has sold over 60 million albums worldwide with 30 million of those in the US. His latest album of original songs, Orpheus Descending, was released in June 2023. Mellencamp is also one of the founding members of Farm Aid, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 37 years, and as of 2023 the organization has raised over $60 million. Island