The press release:
Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits
Two New Songs ... Every Hit From "Jack & Diane" and "Hurts So Good" to "Pink Houses" and "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.," to "Wild Night" and "Peaceful World" the Biggest "Best Of" Album of His Career
"John makes American music, music for all of us." So wrote the late Timothy White -- Editor in Chief of Billboard -- in 2001 when John Mellencamp was honored with Billboard's highest accolade, the Century Award for distinguished creative achievement. Now the best-known, best-loved of that music is available for the first time in the most expansive retrospective of his career, the two-CD Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits (Island/UMe), released October 19, 2004. The singer-songwriter- producer's only previous "best of" album was The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988, a single-disc retrospective issued seven years ago.
Bringing together rock, folk, country, blues and R&B, Mellencamp has sold more than 40 million albums and received 11 Grammy nominations.
Spanning 25 years, 1979 to 2004, Words & Music: John Mellencamp's Greatest Hits celebrates the most popular and important roots rocker of his generation, including the upcoming single "Walk Tall" and "Thank You," -- two new songs -- both produced by Mellencamp and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. Words & Music will also be featuring 37 digitally remastered selections and boasts all 22 Top 40 pop hits of his career to date, with 10 Top 10 hits, culled from 14 albums. The package also adds liner notes by Rolling Stone founder/publisher Jann Wenner, extensive track information and photographs.
Mellencamp's initial commercial success came with "I Need A Lover," his first Top 40 hit, from 1979's John Cougar, his third album. "This Time" and "Ain't Even Done With The Night" appeared on the 1980 Steve Cropper-produced Nothin' Matters And What If It Did and were also chart hits. American Fool, the #1 best-selling album of 1982 was a quintuple platinum winner with two gold singles: "Jack & Diane" (#1) and the Grammy winning "Hurts So Good" (#2). That album also included "Hand To Hold On," a Top 20 single.
Each of his next three albums would also go Top 10 and multi-platinum. Uh-Huh (1983) spawned the Top 10s "Pink Houses" and "Crumblin' Down" plus Top 20 "Authority Song"; Scarecrow (1985) the Top 10s "R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.," "Small Town" and "Lonely Ol' Night," and Top 40s "Rain On The Scarecrow" and "Rumble Seat"; The Lonesome Jubilee (1987) the Top 10s "Cherry Bomb" and "Paper In Fire" and Top 20 "Check It Out."
Five platinum albums followed. From Big Daddy (1989), the compilation presents "Pop Singer" (Top 20), "Jackie Brown" and "Martha Say." Heard from Whenever We Wanted (1991) are the Top 40s "Get A Leg Up" and "Again Tonight" along with "Love And Happiness" and "Now More Than Ever." Taken from Human Wheels (1993) are "When Jesus Left Birmingham," "What If I Came Knocking" and the title cut. Dance Naked (1994) contributes its title track and Mellencamp's Top 10 cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night" (with Meshell Ndegeocello). Mr. Happy Go Lucky (1996) offers "Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)" (Top 40) and "Just Another Day."
His first truly self-titled album, 1998's gold John Mellencamp, is represented with "Your Life Is Now" and "I'm Not Running Anymore." From 2001's gold Cuttin' Heads and 2003's rootsy covers project Trouble No More are "Peaceful World" (with India.Arie) and "Teardrops Will Fall," respectively.
Mellencamp, the recipient of the 2003 Woody Guthrie Award recipient and co-founder of Farm Aid (with Willie Nelson and Neil Young) still lives and records outside Bloomington, Indiana, near where he grew up, and remains an artist from and of the American heartland.
Source: Island/UMe
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