WCSX Classic Cuts
John Mellencamp: “Hurts So Good”
The Hook: It came out of Mellencamp’s late night bar band experiences.
Year: 1982
Album: American Fool
Writers: John Mellencamp and George Green
Stats: Topped Billboard’s Hot Tracks mainstream rock chart and peaked at number two on the Hot 100.
Background: Although it never quite reached number-one, peaking at two, “Hurts So Good”‘s 16 weeks in the Top 10 were the most of any song during the ’80s. John Mellencamp tells what inspired him to write it.
John Mellencamp on writing “Hurts So Good.” OC:…so good. :21
“It’s a light hearted song. At the time when I wrote that song I was in a bar band. And you know that when you’re in a bar band it’s 4:30 in the morning before you go home. You see a lot of things going on at 4:30 in the morning. There’s only a certain person that stays out so late and I was one of them at the time. So I was exposed to seeing a lot of hurts so good.”
