The Meaning Behind “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” by John Mellencamp

As an album takes shape, an artist or a producer can start to group the songs to see how they flow. Certain songs may not fit with the overall theme or may stand out from the rest. John Cougar Mellencamp (He was still “Cougar” at the time) was gathering songs for his seventh studio album Scarecrow and was heading toward a musical direction different from his previous releases. As the record was coming together, Mellencamp was sure of one thing. His tribute to the music he grew up with did not fit the overall theme. As the album was being finalized, a song that was not even going to be included ended up being the biggest hit. Let’s look at the meaning behind “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” by John Mellencamp.

They come from the cities
They come from the smaller towns
And beat up cars with guitars and drummers
Goin’ crack, boom, bam

[RELATED: Top 10 John Mellencamp Songs That Deserve a Revisit]

A Salute to ’60s Rock

Mellencamp was not following trends as he began working on Scarecrow. He went back to what he knew, the rock music of the ‘60s. In 1991, he appeared on Later with Bob Costas, “Radio was so wonderful back then. I mean, you could hear Sam & Dave, and then you would hear Jimi Hendrix, and then you would hear Bob Dylan. Then you’d hear Johnny Cash. I mean, the playlist back then on those stations was just, it was a very special moment in time for radio and for rock and roll, and for young guys like us at the time.” 

R O C K in the U.S.A.
R O C K in the U.S.A.
R O C K in the U.S.A., yeah
Rockin’ in the U.S.A.

A Rock ’n’ Roll Boot Camp

Before recording started, Mellencamp gave his band a directive. He told them to learn over a hundred songs from the ’60s. He told Costas, “What that exercise was about was finding the truth. Because back then, you would have a jazz drummer with a blues bass player, and a rock guitar player, and a gospel singer. So, you have all these different energies going into one thing.

“So, you and I could put together a little band, and we could play ‘Louie Louie,’ right? But let’s look at how it was really done, and that’s what we did. We would take old songs, and we would look at what the bass player was really doing. We could play the root and the fifth and get through the song, but figuring out the correct part, what was really on that record. And all of the musicians did that. So, what you ended up with was learning that, well, it wasn’t as simple as we thought it was.

“There’s some very interesting, crazy little parts that made these songs have so much personality. Which is why I still love them, and you still love them, and maybe not love some of the music of today as much because it’s more correct. The music today is more mathematically correct. You know, we’ve got metronomes, and drum machines and everything so that we are not human. Those records are so human. You know, it was a bunch of people trying to figure out, ‘What is rock and roll?’  There was no rules. No boundaries. No playlists. No guidelines. It was real.”

Well, they said goodbye to their families
Said goodbye to their friends
With the pipe dreams in their heads
And very little money in their hands

The Power of AM Radio

Mellencamp loved hearing music from all directions. The fact that AM radio mixed folk, rock, pop, soul, and even folk-rock excited the young singer, who was gathering all those influences in small-town Indiana. Good music is good music. It doesn’t matter what color the singer’s skin is. The only thing that matters is if it makes you feel something, or better yet, dance.

Well, some are black, and some are white
And ain’t too proud to sleep on your floor tonight
With blind faith of Jesus, you know that they just might
Rockin’ in the U.S.A., hey
Alright

It’s All About the Songs

Like so many of us, Mellencamp latched on to those pop songs that reached him in his teenage years. He continued, “Songs seem to have taken a back seat lately in the rock business. The groove is more important than the song… But they had great songs. Maybe a band like the Box Tops only had two great songs, but they had those two great songs, and, you know, they’ll live forever. At least with me.”

Voices from nowhere
And voices from the larger town
Filled our head full of dreams
Turned our world upside down

A Last-Minute Inclusion

Manager Tommy Mottola spotted the potential in the song and urged the singer to include it on the record. Mellencamp was thinking it may work as a B-side or, at the most, a bonus track only on the CD release. At a time when Mellencamp was looking for credibility, fellow producer Don Gehman agreed it was the antithesis of the reputation he was trying to repair. Johnny Cougar was a name given to the singer by an early manager. Tony DeFries had given David Bowie his name, so John Mellencamp became Johnny Cougar. It was a conscious effort to release material that carried some weight. Mottola was proven right when the song shot into the top five.

There was Frankie Lyman, Bobby Fuller, Mitch Ryder
(They were rockin’)
Jackie Wilson-Shangra-Las-Young Rascals
(They were rockin’)

George W. Bush wanted to use the anthem at a campaign event. Mellencamp had famously denied President Ronald Reagan the use of “Pink Houses” years earlier, so he was surprised at Bush’s request. The real surprise came when he allowed it to be used. 

Spotlight on Martha Reeves
Let’s don’t forget James Brown
Rockin’ in the U.S.A., hey
R O C K in the U.S.A.

Photo by Jason Kempin/FilmMagic