John Mellencamp - Chestnut Street Incident (1976)
Tracklist front / back album covers
"American Dream" – 2:21
"Oh, Pretty Woman" (Bill Dees, Roy Orbison) – 2:54
"Jailhouse Rock" (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) – 2:11
"Dream Killing Town" (Cougar, George M. Green) – 3:20
"Supergirl" (Aldo Legui, Bob Marcus) – 2:37
"Chestnut Street" – 3:18
"Good Girls" – 3:09
"Do You Believe in Magic?" (John Sebastian) – 2:38
"Twentieth Century Fox" (John Densmore, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, Jim Morrison) – 2:14
"Chestnut Street Revisited" – 5:22
"Sad Lady" (Cougar, George M. Green) – 3:26
"Hit the Road Jack" (Percy Mayfield)* [bonus] – 2:32
"I Need Somebody Baby" (Iggy Pop, James Williamson) [bonus] – 3:43
John Mellencamp Band Members / Musicians
John Mellencamp – vocals, guitar
Mike Boyer, Richard Kelly, Mick Ronson, Mike Wanchic – guitars
David Mansfield – steel guitar, mandolin, violin
Michael Kamen – keyboards
Tom Wince – keyboards, chimes
Kirk Butler – synthesizer, percussion, engineer
David Parman - bass, guitar, backing vocals
Wayne Hall – saxophone
Bill Bergman, Jerome Deupree, Hilly Michaels – drums
Tony Defries - producer
James J. C. Andrews - co-producer
Bruce Tergesen - engineer
Chestnut Street Incident is the debut studio album by John Mellencamp, then known as "Johnny Cougar," released in 1976.
Signing on with David Bowie's manager, Tony Defries, Mellencamp travelled to New York City to cut this first album. DeFries would also go on to produce the album as well. With the thinking that a name like "Mellencamp" wouldn't generate a lot of interest, DeFries changed Mellencamp's name to "Johnny Cougar." Mellencamp would later go on to say that he had no idea about the name change until he saw the final product and that nobody had ever called him "Johnny" before. It would take Mellencamp 15 years to have his full real name on an album, Whenever We Wanted, in 1991.
With five of the tracks covers from the '50s and '60s, only six are original songs by Mellencamp. The 1998 Original Masters rerelease added two bonus songs that were also covers. The album only sold 12,000 copies when it was originally released, which would lead to MCA's refusal to release his next album, The Kid Inside, and drop Mellencamp.
John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, painter, actor, and film director. He is known for his catchy brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation.
John Mellencamp Band Members / Musicians
Mike Wanchic – guitars, backing vocals (1976–present)
Andy York – guitars, backing vocals (1994–present)
Miriam Sturm – violin (1996–present)
Dane Clark – drums, backing vocals (1996–present)
John Gunnell – bass (1999–present)
Troye Kinnett – keyboards, accordion, backing vocals (2006–present)
Larry Crane – guitars, backing vocals (1976–1991)
Robert "Ferd" Frank – bass, backing vocals (1977–1981)
Tom Knowles – drums, backing vocals (1977–1979)
Eric Rosser – piano, keyboards (1979–1981)
Kenny Aronoff – drums (1980–1996)
Kenneth Lax backing vocals (1979-1982)
Pat Peterson – backing vocals (1981–2006)
Toby Myers – bass, backing vocals (1982–1999)
Lisa Germano – violin (1985–1994)
Crystal Taliefero – backing vocals (1985–1989)
John Cascella – keyboards, accordion (1984–1992)
David Grissom – guitars (1989, 1991–1993)
Michael Ramos – keyboards, accordion (2002–2005)
Courtney Kaiser-Sandler - backing vocals, percussion (2000-2005)
Moe Z M.D. – keyboards, organ, backing vocals (1996–2002)
John Mellencamp Discography Full
1976 Chestnut Street Incident
1978 A Biography
1979 John Cougar
1980 Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
1982 American Fool
1983 The Kid Inside
1983 Uh-Huh
1985 Scarecrow
1987 The Lonesome Jubilee
1989 Big Daddy
1991 Whenever We Wanted
1993 Human Wheels
1994 Dance Naked
1996 Mr. Happy Go Lucky
1998 John Mellencamp
1999 Rough Harvest
2001 Cuttin' Heads
2003 Trouble No More
2007 Freedom's Road
2008 Life, Death, Love and Freedom
2010 No Better Than This
2014 Plain Spoken
2017 Sad Clowns & Hillbillies
2022 Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
