John Mellencamp's studio was about 4 or 5 doors down from my house when I was growing up in Belmont, Indiana. I used to watch him drive by in his Porsche and he would always wave real big when I was playing in the yard. He always inspired me. His big hits came from that studio right by my old house. World class. My siblings and cousins would see his music videos on rotation with the likes of Michael Jackson and the early MTV heavy hitters. It made everything feel so close to home. I thought, if that's possible and he's right here, I could do it too. I'm not a rockstar by any means, but I am a music producer & audio engineer now. I think John Mellencamp seeded that idea in my brain. Thanks! I'm forever grateful. I didn't realize just how cool that was when I was a kid.
Gen X'er here. Born and raised in farm country, USA. This tune was a big hit when I was in high school. The overall message is timeless, but the imagery is a perfect snapshot of that specific era and region. The '80s were definitely not like that for every American kid by any means. But for a small town white boy in the middle of nowhere with nothing much to look forward to but banging your high school sweetheart, and joining the Army or farming or getting some dead-end factory job... yeah, this song is exactly what it felt like to be young then. Sweet and simple... but with a foreboding sense of, "You better enjoy it now, son, 'cause it ain't ever gonna get any better than this."
Im not gen x, Born in 97. My hometown of 700 people in rural ohio was stuck in the 80s/90s until the 2010s when they got their first corporate owned store. My dad was a firefighter and had a kitted out bronco 2 with lights and sirens. like the song we would go to the tasty freeze and get chilli dogs every weekend. I didnt have internet or a cellphone until 2014, we just didnt have a use for it, we came home when the street lights came on. My age may consider me gen z, but my childhood and music preference says im far from it.
My parents are Gen X but it seems to me that Gen X was very effected by the hippie counterculture and the veneration of youth. There's nothing wrong with growing up, that's what's always been expected because it's natural and right. I still respect your comment and appreciate your experience.
@@assortedbile5381 I am 51 and feel so old,i been in 3 conflicts starting in 1989 with the Panama fiasco and it was on Christmas eve if i am correct but so much has happened and i get depressed when i hear these songs but i love all the same.
@@matt.9750 im about 14 and im glad that they're is a small group of young-ins in the modern age that are able to appreciate all the great things the 50's through 90's brought this world. Sometimes i wish i was born during those times
Probably subconscious from your parents when they had parties and drinks at Christmas time and these songs were played in the background. So your body relates them to hapiness
I was a teenager in the 80’s. This was one of my favorite songs . Years later, as a charter pilot, I flew John and his family back home from the caribbean. I still have a picture of that day.
I started kindergarten in 83. It was great being an 80's kid growing up in a small mountain town. I got to shoot guns and go hunting. I was driving a manual truck as soon as my legs could reach the pedals.
I'd be honored if some John Cougar & 80s fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performances of JACK & DIANE and SOMEBODY'S BABY by Jackson Browne on my YT channel in tribute to the great musical summer of 1982. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital enhancements. Thanks and keep on rocking.
Before dying January of this year my dad got teary eyed and kept saying "Seems like yesterday when I joined my job as a young man in 1975 and now I'm 70. Where does time go". And then he said he still closes his eyes and sees those days like it was yesterday. I felt it hit me really bad and felt emotional myself. I miss him so much now but at least he didn't live for a really long time as a sick human being as it was his complain that youth remains for a very short time and his dream was to die as an active person. Love you dad.
I heard this song back in the summer of 82, as an 8-year old. Some parts passed quickly without ever enjoying the time, then real life passed slowly. Wish I could have smelled the roses and enjoyed my youth more
Some cUuDdY(I think it right) sniffer say man u old,. I go Yar man; but my lady still puts the lamb chops in the paper bag n shake it the way it ought ta till the bottom just about ready to drop out..hehehe boyyy
My grandparents were actually called Jack and Diane. When my grandpa died in the summer of 2020 from a heart attack we played this at the funeral and since then it has a whole new meaning. Life really does go on. And we miss you everyday ❤️
I'm the youngest of 5 siblings in my family. I have 3 older brothers and 1 sister. So I was exposed to all types of music. From the 60's , 70's and my favorite ERA the 80's. I was born February of 1965 and I turned 15yrs old in 1980 so I lived the 80's music and all it gave me as a teenager. So listen to John Mellencamp is great to reminisce and enjoy my memories all over again. I'm 59 years old now and listening to music from Woburn Massachusetts at 12:15 pm on 18th of May 2024 i wrote it that way from years in the ARMY I'm a DESERT STORM VETERAN 11 BRAVO INFANTRY HOOAH long live ROCK AND ROLL.
I was young when first heard this but now at 66 I can confirm the lyrics, life does go on long after the thrill of living is LONG gone. Whatever age you're at, if you're young, make the most of it. One day you'll open your eyes in the morning, look in the bathroom mirror, and see an old face looking back at you, and your old bones will ache.
Your flesh will at first just get loose, and then gradually seem to rot and fall off, like the hairs on your head which will be replaced by a few hairs coming out your ears. And U can forget about sex or having any interest in women, especially some old crow your age (my age at present)
I'd be honored if some early 80s fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal TH-cam performances of JACK & DIANE by John Cougar and SOMEBODY'S BABY by Jackson Browne in tribute to the great musical summer of 1982. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital enhancements. Stay safe and keep on rocking in the '020s.
How does video only have 215k likes? One of my favorites. “Hold onto 16 as long as you can, changes come around real soon make us women and men” is lyrical gold
@@Theodorik9I'm a Hoosier and I've been all over. Hearing JCM always made me homesick, but at the same time you're not missing anything. He even says it in Small Town..."there's little opportunity". I will say southern Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee can be beautiful. Closest I've been to you is a short stay at Dover AFB or Rhode Island which was also beautiful in it's own way
I was literally 16 when this song was popular on the radio. I always remembered that line, hold on to 16 as long as you can, changes come around real soon, make us women and men...I tried as hard as I could to hold on to 16. But boy, was he right!......
So, My name is Diane and my husband’s name is Jack. We are both Native Floridian’s. We got married in 1979 both at the age of 18. So yes, we’ve been married for 42 years. This song has been a part happen!
That’s awesome. When I was a young kid, my parents told me this was their song cuz it told their story. For the longest time, I believed it was literally written about them. Ha.
My FIRST RECORD! American Fool. This man mad me learn guitar without ever paying for a lesson.Growing up in Indiana, he made me PROUD and taught me VALUES through his music.
Graduated in '88. Our school had a jukebox in the cafeteria that took quarters and this song, without a doubt, was the most played. The seniors had first dibs and it wasn't unusual for them to put a few dollars in the machine and select this song a dozen times so that even second round of students couldn't play anything else. Life goes on.
My papa who’s dying suffering from cancer always played this for me when I was 2 and when I see him he puts it on and says not smoke like me bud or you’re end up like me. I am crying while saying this well the lesson is I guess don’t smoke oh pa you see this keep fighting.
I was 74. My baby brother was 70, almost 71, dying from end-stage renal disease. We'd drifted apart and hadn't spoken in almost 3 years, but when I heard he was dying, I picked up my phone and called him. He was in a VA hospice facility, but he had his cellphone and he answered. After not having spoken to each other in almost 3 years, in response to my asking, “How are you doing?” he said simply: “John Cougar Mellencamp time”. And without another word, I knew what he meant. We always had that ability to communicate, without words. With a look, or a sly reference, in a nanosecond, we KNEW what the other was thinking. In this case, the Mellancamp reference was specifically to The Ballad of Jack and Diane, the line, “Life goes on, long after the thrill, of livin’ is gone…"
John Doe Most people hold onto it for a year but you must have listened to this song a lot and you have now possessed the power of John Cougar Mellencamp.
I remember this song well. I ,like most of us,thought this song was about the song writer JCM. However I was shocked to learn what it was truly about. The song's true origins before the record company encouraged him to change the lyrics. When I use to watch the video on MTV originally I thought about how ,while I loved the best and the song,I felt this song was light years from my own experience. Decades later I found out how wrong I was.
Classic from my 80’s childhood. And that drum solo where Kenny Aronoff is really laying down the Funk is my favorite drum solo after Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”. 🥁🤘
I remember listening to my older sister’s 45 of this song over and over at 12 years old and thinking “I can’t wait until I’m older” - now 50, oh to be young again!
Hello Thanks for your comment and supports, your comments and constant support has brought me this far. Keep Supporting ❤️ Please send me a mail via. johnmellencamp03@gmail.com
I grew up on a dairy farm in Southwest Wisconsin. I was in high school in the mid 80s. We would hear and sing this song on the bus. Gave me a good feeling thinking he was "one of us". His thoughts from the words were so naturally... normal. Cool. Takes me back to those times every time I hear this song. I certainly miss those simpler times. "Oh, yeah. Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone".
I get so much nostalgia from this song. I wasn’t even alive when it was released, I’ve heard it so much as a kid that it’s just engraved in my head forever
I'd be honored if some John Cougar Mellencamp fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performances of JACK & DIANE and SOMEBODY'S BABY by Jackson Browne on my YT channel (tap on my photo go there) in tribute to the great musical summer of 1982. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital enhancements. Thanks and keep on rocking.
I remembered back in 2002 ,I suffered a bad hang over trying to be grown at the tender age of 16 on my spring break! I mean mannnn, I was throwing up every where in my aunt house , I was depressed because I was missing a grown ass man ( who was four years my senior...20) who could careless about me! I didn't sober up until the next following day in the evening and I was left at home alone. I decided to clean my aunts house for her and I turned on the radio and heard this song for the first time in my life! At the time I didn't realized this song was speaking to me about enjoying my youth while I can! Coincidently, I was 16 years old at the time😢....This song holds a special place in my heart💙💖
lovely Daniel I went to a Chatholic School Most of us 8th graders were drinking Beer. The school was crazy all Nun Teachers. To bad for me I still had my IRISH Freckles on my face. For got we were 70s kids. So much for Chatholics being Catholics. We were bad kids we went to lots of 70s concerts. 70s kid watching Brady Bunch & Partridge Family. Really sucks Im 58 & still drinking Beer. Not always fun being IRISH lots of people think were all Drunks, even today REDHEADS get Bullied. We do have our flaws our skin burns easilly in the Sun. Some people think our Freckles are Bug Bites
I met my high school sweetheart Emily in 1966 when I visited her church. I drove 10 miles a day to her town in my '55 Chevy 2dr to work (yep, went to school and had a job), but I also had to sneak around to see her. I could write a book about the things we did and this song by John Mellencamp REALLY brings those memories back, even though it was written over a decade later. Ha ...damn son, no wonder some kids wish that they had lived in the '60s. News Flash: Live for today. I am loving 2010-2015 and some of today's songs, like Royals by Lorde, Roar by Katy, Sugar by Maroon 5... fact is, I can pick out a whole group of cool songs that stir my blood from every year since 1965 when I got my first piece of ... :-D - I am 65/yo and still rock hard when it comes to love and life.
My grandma Diane loved this song before she passed. I've been listening to it since I was a baby. In my 19 years, I've been blessed with this song. I now listen to it to honor her memory. It's honestly a mood lifter. Just makes me sad some days.
This song speaks to me of my carefree teenage years. My name is Diane and it's such a cool song with my name in it. But the line "Hold onto 16 for as long as you can" rings true for me, because my 16th year was so exciting and memorable. It was my junior year in high school and I had finally come out of my shell. Boys started to notice me--I was a late bloomer. I was one of those kids who was lucky enough to have a joyous, innocent youth until I started college in the late 70s. Although universal, Jack and Diane seem to come from my era--even their childhood photos used this video are all from my era. I I grew up fast in college and the protected, safe world of 16 and high school was gone and replaced by adult things and activities that I was ill-prepared for. Even now I miss the innocence and joy of life when I was 16. I was so happy and carefree back then. Kids nowadays grow up a lot faster and seem to have a lot more pressure to grow up faster than when I was a kid.
Everyone called him John Mellencamp and that was fine then for some reason began calling him John Cougar Mellencamp. For some reason this seemed odd to me at the time.
Haven't listened to this song in a while, coming back to it I love it as much as ever. I lived in Bloomington for a couple years, went to the music school there. One of my friends worked a little with Kenny Aranoff, who said that Johnny Cougar was a brilliant musician who knew exactly what he was doing. Can't argue with that. This is pure poetry, John Mellencamp captures exactly the essence of teenage life in a Heartland small town, whether in Kansas, Ohio or Indiana.
One of the most powerful nostalgia songs.... I hear this and in my mind it is instantly the early 2000s I'm 10 years old and I'm riding around with my friends and their parents singing this song word for word on the dirt roads and cow pastures of central Florida
My dogs are the best in life. As a teen hearing this song id thought about, how I'd want too hold on to 16 as long as I could. Now a senior citizen I don't feel as one. Thanks for this song🕺💃
Awww wasn't he the cutie little baby boy you ever saw besides my son 🥰 Oh I love those pictures John . Man I ❤️ sure appreciate your music man 👌👍👏 Been fan for many many yrs ❤❤❤
Hello Thanks for your comment and supports, your comments and constant support has brought me this far. Keep Supporting ❤️ Please send me a mail via. johnmellencamp03@gmail.com
Hello Thanks for your comment and supports, your comments and constant support has brought me this far. Keep Supporting ❤️ Please send me a mail via. johnmellencamp03@gmail.com
John my family and I just watched your interview with Bob Costas, it was amazing, thank you for all the years of great music, I've been to several Farm Aids and seen you for the first time in Little Rock,Ar back on 11/22/82. Love the new song Chasing Rainbows ... Sincerely, Harvey Rhodes
Generation X...1964...from Europe...this song will never be old...but sure as hell we are, and our brothers and sisters in the US as wel. Time has not been to great for the last few months, neither for you neither for us...
Just finished HS in 1982 when this song came out...Helped build a house that summer and always remember the gal next door who passed by everyday, highlight of the day. Never amounted to anything, but was the best 5 minute break each day...lol went off to military after that summer...but will always associate that song to that summer. (Yes, I did talk with her..my age, but she had a boyfriend and happy..lol)
So raw, authentic, and wholesome. What great music is supposed to sound like. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world. The 80’s and early 90’s music made the entire planet heal and vibrate higher. I love the 80’s music forever.
As a teenager in the 80s. I thought this was just a great song 🎵. In 2022 I know what it all means. I take it day by day. Always doing the best I can......
How about a lil ditty about Joe and Lisa…an all -American boy livin in Cali and a Sunset Blvd. street sweetie lovin it up in a retirement home. Yeah buddy!
My mom used to play this in the car when I was younger I'm only 15 but I love this song so so so much, i wasn't around when it came out, but I'm so lucky to know this song... Deff one of my favorite songs of all time. It's timeless!!!
John wrote some of the best rock songs of the 80's. I love the acoustic guitar as a counterpoint to that great electric riff. The clap-a-long and Kenny Aronoff's kick-ass drum solo in the middle just elevates the song to even greater status.
John and Kenny Aronoff were the architects of this song and it's amazing. I was in 8th grade when Jack and Diane went to number one. MTV was the shit back then and EVERYBODY watched it. The Jack and Diane video was on heavy rotation and it blew up. Everybody was singing, and air drumming to it. The drums are just as iconic as Phil Collins drums in Air Tonight. Kenny Aronoff rocked BigTime. Rain on the Scarecrow was another powerhouse Drumming song. John was very smart to bring Kenny on board, because he pushed those songs from good to Fuckin Amazing
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The line "Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone" becomes more and more relevant as I get older.
Yes and so does "Hold on to 16 as long as you can. Changes come around real soon- make us women and men."
no kidding and it sucks everything gets old
yep. true story
Never thought about the line when I was a kid or a teenager. Now I'm 36 and I'm like..."oh"
Deric Gregory just wait...it gets worse!
John Mellencamp's studio was about 4 or 5 doors down from my house when I was growing up in Belmont, Indiana. I used to watch him drive by in his Porsche and he would always wave real big when I was playing in the yard. He always inspired me. His big hits came from that studio right by my old house. World class. My siblings and cousins would see his music videos on rotation with the likes of Michael Jackson and the early MTV heavy hitters. It made everything feel so close to home. I thought, if that's possible and he's right here, I could do it too. I'm not a rockstar by any means, but I am a music producer & audio engineer now. I think John Mellencamp seeded that idea in my brain. Thanks! I'm forever grateful. I didn't realize just how cool that was when I was a kid.
Was there a Tastee-Freez around that area back then?
Great. Thanks for sharing. 😍
@@denisemartin7035 no need to be sarcastic love :)
What a great story. God bless!
Ur so lucky
"Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone". The truest lyrics ever written.
Very true Matt Flynn where ever you are from
I always found this song strange because of those lyrics. It is an up beat song with such a depressing message.
Yes
Absolutely! This line is so PROFOUND 💕
This song was epic. John Cougar really should have had a long career. What ever happened to him?
Gen X'er here. Born and raised in farm country, USA. This tune was a big hit when I was in high school. The overall message is timeless, but the imagery is a perfect snapshot of that specific era and region. The '80s were definitely not like that for every American kid by any means. But for a small town white boy in the middle of nowhere with nothing much to look forward to but banging your high school sweetheart, and joining the Army or farming or getting some dead-end factory job... yeah, this song is exactly what it felt like to be young then. Sweet and simple... but with a foreboding sense of, "You better enjoy it now, son, 'cause it ain't ever gonna get any better than this."
Gen x here as well,from Ohio
Ya,you can't put it any better than that
Im not gen x, Born in 97. My hometown of 700 people in rural ohio was stuck in the 80s/90s until the 2010s when they got their first corporate owned store. My dad was a firefighter and had a kitted out bronco 2 with lights and sirens. like the song we would go to the tasty freeze and get chilli dogs every weekend. I didnt have internet or a cellphone until 2014, we just didnt have a use for it, we came home when the street lights came on. My age may consider me gen z, but my childhood and music preference says im far from it.
My parents are Gen X but it seems to me that Gen X was very effected by the hippie counterculture and the veneration of youth. There's nothing wrong with growing up, that's what's always been expected because it's natural and right. I still respect your comment and appreciate your experience.
There are certain 80’s songs that give me an overwhelmingly painful and bittersweet sense of nostalgia. This is definitely one of them.
Same....and here I am feeling it March 2021.
Makes me miss these days so much. Chasing girls and hanging out my my buds.
It sounds to me like it was 76/77. I was surprised to see it was so late.
@@assortedbile5381 I am 51 and feel so old,i been in 3 conflicts starting in 1989 with the Panama fiasco and it was on Christmas eve if i am correct but so much has happened and i get depressed when i hear these songs but i love all the same.
Totally agree. Whilst not an 80s song, the 1999 song Graduation by Vitamin C......sends me over the edge with bittersweet nostalgia.
the fact that 80s music makes me feel nostalgic for that time when i wasn’t alive then is crazy
Fauxstalgia?
I’m eleven and this shit makes me nostalgic, idfk man
@@matt.9750 im about 14 and im glad that they're is a small group of young-ins in the modern age that are able to appreciate all the great things the 50's through 90's brought this world. Sometimes i wish i was born during those times
Panic! Leelu at least you’re listening to music like this man 🤘🏻
Probably subconscious from your parents when they had parties and drinks at Christmas time and these songs were played in the background. So your body relates them to hapiness
I was a teenager in the 80’s. This was one of my favorite songs . Years later, as a charter pilot, I flew John and his family back home from the caribbean. I still have a picture of that day.
I started kindergarten in 83. It was great being an 80's kid growing up in a small mountain town. I got to shoot guns and go hunting. I was driving a manual truck as soon as my legs could reach the pedals.
What was served as food on the plane? I only ask as I believe he exclusively sucks on chilli dogs
The clap is everything
Did not feel the time passed so quickly, first heard this song as a teenager ... now I am 51 years old ... this song is still exciting.
I'd be honored if some John Cougar & 80s fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performances of JACK & DIANE and SOMEBODY'S BABY by Jackson Browne on my YT channel in tribute to the great musical summer of 1982. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital enhancements. Thanks and keep on rocking.
Feel the same. Bought this on a 7 inch single on its release. I'm now 55...Where has the time gone ?
Before dying January of this year my dad got teary eyed and kept saying "Seems like yesterday when I joined my job as a young man in 1975 and now I'm 70. Where does time go". And then he said he still closes his eyes and sees those days like it was yesterday. I felt it hit me really bad and felt emotional myself.
I miss him so much now but at least he didn't live for a really long time as a sick human being as it was his complain that youth remains for a very short time and his dream was to die as an active person. Love you dad.
I heard this song back in the summer of 82, as an 8-year old. Some parts passed quickly without ever enjoying the time, then real life passed slowly. Wish I could have smelled the roses and enjoyed my youth more
Some cUuDdY(I think it right) sniffer say man u old,. I go Yar man; but my lady still puts the lamb chops in the paper bag n shake it the way it ought ta till the bottom just about ready to drop out..hehehe boyyy
My grandparents were actually called Jack and Diane. When my grandpa died in the summer of 2020 from a heart attack we played this at the funeral and since then it has a whole new meaning. Life really does go on. And we miss you everyday ❤️
Rest in peace may he forever live on in your memory 🙌
Sorry for your loss
Excellent thanks.
My condolences....
My condolences goes out to you and your family.
I'm the youngest of 5 siblings in my family. I have 3 older brothers and 1 sister. So I was exposed to all types of music. From the 60's , 70's and my favorite ERA the 80's. I was born February of 1965 and I turned 15yrs old in 1980 so I lived the 80's music and all it gave me as a teenager. So listen to John Mellencamp is great to reminisce and enjoy my memories all over again. I'm 59 years old now and listening to music from Woburn Massachusetts at 12:15 pm on 18th of May 2024 i wrote it that way from years in the ARMY I'm a DESERT STORM VETERAN 11 BRAVO INFANTRY HOOAH long live ROCK AND ROLL.
“They say life goes on. Long after the thrill of living is gone.” There’s so much truth to those words.
The thrill is gone - B.B.King
"suckin on a chili dog outside the tastee freeze"
Im going thru a mid life crisis right now and the thrill went away 20yrs ago
I think the bit where he says "Sucking on chilli dogs" speaks to me.
@@DTS__ This made me smile! Thank you….
I was young when first heard this but now at 66 I can confirm the lyrics, life does go on long after the thrill of living is LONG gone. Whatever age you're at, if you're young, make the most of it. One day you'll open your eyes in the morning, look in the bathroom mirror, and see an old face looking back at you, and your old bones will ache.
You fail to understand the song. It's not at all upbeat. May your ignorant bones ache before you get as old as me
+Venlible Well, it's upbeat...but not really at the same time. It has that nostalgic feeling. Kinda like "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen.
If you die young you're lucky. Don't fight death. It's a release from the bullshit of the world.
Your flesh will at first just get loose, and then gradually seem to rot and fall off, like the hairs on your head which will be replaced by a few hairs coming out your ears. And U can forget about sex or having any interest in women, especially some old crow your age (my age at present)
Yes, I need to find a way to be 35 years old again.
I don't get much time to listen to John but when I do so do my neighbors
mine too ;)
@@cassandrastuppiello5890 I got put in jail for disturbing the peace because I had John cracked up
My neighbors like it so much they smashed my window with a brick so they could here it better.......i think!!!!
Ha ha 😂
Billy Ray Trent old
Jack and Diane still hits "the nail on the head" 40 years later.
I'd be honored if some early 80s fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal TH-cam performances of JACK & DIANE by John Cougar and SOMEBODY'S BABY by Jackson Browne in tribute to the great musical summer of 1982. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital enhancements. Stay safe and keep on rocking in the '020s.
How does video only have 215k likes? One of my favorites. “Hold onto 16 as long as you can, changes come around real soon make us women and men” is lyrical gold
My dad's been gone 34 years today and this was his favorite song of all time! Still a banger
Truly timeless songs like this only come around every once in awhile
My condolences 🙏
Sucking on chilli dogs in heaven
I was 16 when this song came out. Now 57. Happy to report that the thrill of livin' still ain't gone. But yes, life goes on...
Same here! Couldn't agree more. First single I ever bought...
Ever sucked on a chilli dawg?
As a 30 something married man with kids this is the most depressing and at the same time uplifting song.
Yup! Also this is a real song about small towns. People forget that and it’s sad.
I would love to have that experience. I live on the eastern seaboard our smallest town is likely a metropolis to a mid westerner
@@Theodorik9I'm a Hoosier and I've been all over. Hearing JCM always made me homesick, but at the same time you're not missing anything. He even says it in Small Town..."there's little opportunity". I will say southern Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee can be beautiful. Closest I've been to you is a short stay at Dover AFB or Rhode Island which was also beautiful in it's own way
I was literally 16 when this song was popular on the radio. I always remembered that line, hold on to 16 as long as you can, changes come around real soon, make us women and men...I tried as hard as I could to hold on to 16. But boy, was he right!......
Hello Rosalyn
Hello
I was 16 that summer too. Now about to turn 57.
Probably one of the best lyric lines ever written.
So funny! I was also 16 at the time, and I ALWAYS thought the same thing!
The wife and me are both 55 we're still Jack and Diane.
The thrill of livin still isn't gone.
This song will forever be a timeless classic.
I'm 5 years old and I feel nostalgic
@@Maticto10cents That's 5 in dog years?
I love this guy I wasn’t alive at the time but when he was younger he dated my aunt Betty and lives super close to me
Happy 71st Birthday John Mellencamp!(Born October 7, 1951)😃🥳🎉🎊🎈🎁🍾🎂🥂👍👏🙌
Wow. Same birthday as me lol.
Man I 71
This was my mother’s and my aunt’s song. They’re both gone now and I miss them dearly. I hope you’re listening momma ❤
Am sure they are.x
Prayers for all
Got you, kid, my prayers & condolences ❤🎉
Made me cry❤
Hello Ronniearnett
How're you doing?
Comment like this are priceless,
Thank you,
It's a pleasure meeting you here ❤
So, My name is Diane and my husband’s name is Jack. We are both Native Floridian’s. We got married in 1979 both at the age of 18. So yes, we’ve been married for 42 years. This song has been a part happen!
Hello Diane
My name is Diane too, blessings to you & your family I love this song growing up ❤
Lake panasofkee FL resident here.congrats on your marriage!
Did youbals get pregnant as a teen and have to have an abortion to? Hust wondering
That’s awesome. When I was a young kid, my parents told me this was their song cuz it told their story. For the longest time, I believed it was literally written about them. Ha.
My FIRST RECORD! American Fool. This man mad me learn guitar without ever paying for a lesson.Growing up in Indiana, he made me PROUD and taught me VALUES through his music.
JCM is one of the few artists who can make you think about your entire life with a 4 minute song.
The thrill is gone - B.B. .King
Yup 😊
Totally agree
So glad I grew up in the 80s with music like this.
I remember my cousin and boyfriend Alan Dainty playing this video in Blackpool.
I'm 50. I remember when this song was new. John was right. Life does go on long after the thrill of living is gone.....
Amen brother. If we could just all go back and live it all over...
Get thrills by sucking on chilli dogs
Graduated in '88. Our school had a jukebox in the cafeteria that took quarters and this song, without a doubt, was the most played. The seniors had first dibs and it wasn't unusual for them to put a few dollars in the machine and select this song a dozen times so that even second round of students couldn't play anything else. Life goes on.
80's the best era, Great music, gifted artists, probably best living... Golden era.
Japp!👍
Here to hear him say he's suckin' on a chili dog
I just found my people! 😂
Best rendition ever ❤
Holy crap, I thought that I was alone! This is incredible!
Yess
Omg same
Happy 40th Birthday “Jack and Diane”! 10/2/2022. I was 9 yrs old when the song debuted - thankfully, the thrill of living has never left! Cheers.
Hello
I was born on October 2nd!
I am an 80s girl and this was one of my FAVORITE songs back then. Many years later, I named my son Jack.................................
When you're a kid all you want is to be an adult, but when you become an adult you learn what it's really like.
That's what I take from this song.
Me too buddy
I think it's about sucking on chilli dogs
My papa who’s dying suffering from cancer always played this for me when I was 2 and when I see him he puts it on and says not smoke like me bud or you’re end up like me. I am crying while saying this well the lesson is I guess don’t smoke oh pa you see this keep fighting.
The groove in this song is legendary :D
ikr
'Kenny Aronoff', drumming legend. That's why. :-).
Max Pankau For Real!!!
Kenny is killer on this song. Chills
Max Pankau Ikr :D
I was 74. My baby brother was 70, almost 71, dying from end-stage renal disease. We'd drifted apart and hadn't spoken in almost 3 years, but when I heard he was dying, I picked up my phone and called him. He was in a VA hospice facility, but he had his cellphone and he answered. After not having spoken to each other in almost 3 years, in response to my asking, “How are you doing?” he said simply: “John Cougar Mellencamp time”. And without another word, I knew what he meant. We always had that ability to communicate, without words. With a look, or a sly reference, in a nanosecond, we KNEW what the other was thinking. In this case, the Mellancamp reference was specifically to The Ballad of Jack and Diane, the line, “Life goes on, long after the thrill, of livin’ is gone…"
Such an amazing line.. I feel it everyday.. love to you.❤
@@Carol-ys7cl Thank you.
I may only be 17 but this song hits deep, thankyou dad for showing me it❤️
no problem son!
This was the first American song I heard when I came to America in 1982. Shaped my whole life.
Turned 16 yesterday. Let's make this year the best one yet :) holding on into it as long as I can
I have been holding onto 16 for 40 years.
John Doe Most people hold onto it for a year but you must have listened to this song a lot and you have now possessed the power of John Cougar Mellencamp.
Kaelyn, you have a great life in front of you. Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero.
Happy late birthday
Rock On Kaelyn !!! This is your song !!!
This song just randomly came into my head just now, and here I am appreciating good old 80s music! ❤️
I remember this song well. I ,like most of us,thought this song was about the song writer JCM. However I was shocked to learn what it was truly about. The song's true origins before the record company encouraged him to change the lyrics. When I use to watch the video on MTV originally I thought about how ,while I loved the best and the song,I felt this song was light years from my own experience. Decades later I found out how wrong I was.
Woke up this morning and from nowhere this song popped up even before I brushed my teeth- great song
Me too. Popped in my head Out of Nowhere! Had to listen to it...
@@laurie273 It's a classic! :)
Classic from my 80’s childhood. And that drum solo where Kenny Aronoff is really laying down the Funk is my favorite drum solo after Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”. 🥁🤘
There's a great interview with him here on TH-cam about doing this song.
@@section8usmc53I came here directly from that interview. Kenny is the man 🤙🏼
@@section8usmc53I have to see that!
Love that solo so much.
A little ditty about Jack & Diane....... two American kids doin best they can!!!!!!! Love it!!!!!
My favorite part.
I remember listening to my older sister’s 45 of this song over and over at 12 years old and thinking “I can’t wait until I’m older” - now 50, oh to be young again!
Hello Thanks for your comment and supports, your comments and constant support has brought me this far. Keep Supporting ❤️
Please send me a mail via. johnmellencamp03@gmail.com
I grew up on a dairy farm in Southwest Wisconsin. I was in high school in the mid 80s. We would hear and sing this song on the bus. Gave me a good feeling thinking he was "one of us". His thoughts from the words were so naturally... normal. Cool. Takes me back to those times every time I hear this song. I certainly miss those simpler times.
"Oh, yeah. Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone".
I get so much nostalgia from this song. I wasn’t even alive when it was released, I’ve heard it so much as a kid that it’s just engraved in my head forever
can remember waiting beside the radio every Saturday to hear if Casey Kasem was gonna
play this song .
I'd be honored if some John Cougar Mellencamp fans would take a listen to my acoustic piano & vocal performances of JACK & DIANE and SOMEBODY'S BABY by Jackson Browne on my YT channel (tap on my photo go there) in tribute to the great musical summer of 1982. Live acoustic with no autotune or digital enhancements. Thanks and keep on rocking.
Me too :)
I still miss Casey Kasem reviews on the radio. He used to comment on letters he read on the air asking for a especial dedication.
At our local radio station they remastered kasey kasem, every Saturday and sunday
Yup
"Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone." How this stings.
Stings the nostrils, indeed
if you get tired of living you're living wrong
@@BigboiiTone ?? How do you?? Live right I've tried for 54 year s and still haven't quite figured it out
Love your comment,take care!
@@TomMy-jb1qr by not caring what society says. doing my own thing
Im a 90s kid and i remember loving this song when mom or dad played it. still such a great song at 33 years old
Long live John Mellencamp this is legend
I remembered back in 2002 ,I suffered a bad hang over trying to be grown at the tender age of 16 on my spring break! I mean mannnn, I was throwing up every where in my aunt house , I was depressed because I was missing a grown ass man ( who was four years my senior...20) who could careless about me! I didn't sober up until the next following day in the evening and I was left at home alone. I decided to clean my aunts house for her and I turned on the radio and heard this song for the first time in my life! At the time I didn't realized this song was speaking to me about enjoying my youth while I can! Coincidently, I was 16 years old at the time😢....This song holds a special place in my heart💙💖
That's so beautiful! Hope you're doing well
I will definitely pray for you so that way nothing bad ever happens to you like that again.
Life goes on buddy
@@refresh1984 You don't say
lovely Daniel I went to a Chatholic School Most of us 8th graders were drinking Beer. The school was crazy all Nun Teachers. To bad for me I still had my IRISH Freckles on my face. For got we were 70s kids. So much for Chatholics being Catholics. We were bad kids we went to lots of 70s concerts. 70s kid watching Brady Bunch & Partridge Family. Really sucks Im 58 & still drinking Beer. Not always fun being IRISH lots of people think were all Drunks, even today REDHEADS get Bullied. We do have our flaws our skin burns easilly in the Sun. Some people think our Freckles are Bug Bites
I met my high school sweetheart Emily in 1966 when I visited her church. I drove 10 miles a day to her town in my '55 Chevy 2dr to work (yep, went to school and had a job), but I also had to sneak around to see her. I could write a book about the things we did and this song by John Mellencamp REALLY brings those memories back, even though it was written over a decade later. Ha ...damn son, no wonder some kids wish that they had lived in the '60s. News Flash: Live for today. I am loving 2010-2015 and some of today's songs, like Royals by Lorde, Roar by Katy, Sugar by Maroon 5... fact is, I can pick out a whole group of cool songs that stir my blood from every year since 1965 when I got my first piece of ... :-D - I am 65/yo and still rock hard when it comes to love and life.
Cee dot
Not certain cee cee. Not shows.
ggggggood for ya
You should write that book
you rule man. i wanna read that book
My grandma Diane loved this song before she passed. I've been listening to it since I was a baby. In my 19 years, I've been blessed with this song. I now listen to it to honor her memory. It's honestly a mood lifter. Just makes me sad some days.
My uncle Billy died over the summer, he used to set on our front porch play guitar and sing this song us when we were little.
My mom loved this tune . God bless her soul;..
My mom as well rip mom
My brother loved this song! I remember riding in his Malibu cross I-20. I miss him and the good times.
This song brings back the good days...
Anyone else agree?
Me! AND in this video, 👎👎the hands @ 0:07, 0:16, 1:40 and 1:49--the punches @ 3:48, 3:57, and 4:06 R 2.1 gazillion times better! 👍👍
Vlinny Absolutely Agree!! BEST TIMES..BEST DECADE💯 2020!!!
Very much so
Nob. Glad those days are over. I’m glad my 16th year is over.
Yes. Summer of 82
I'm a 49 year old African American woman that loves this song ❤
What does your race have to do with anything. Saying you like the song is enough.
Jessica simpson copied this song 🎵 . The original is the best 😊
Everyone is so proud of you. Hear them all clapping?
My dad was born in 1982 when this song came out
*who
This song speaks to me of my carefree teenage years. My name is Diane and it's such a cool song with my name in it. But the line "Hold onto 16 for as long as you can" rings true for me, because my 16th year was so exciting and memorable. It was my junior year in high school and I had finally come out of my shell. Boys started to notice me--I was a late bloomer. I was one of those kids who was lucky enough to have a joyous, innocent youth until I started college in the late 70s.
Although universal, Jack and Diane seem to come from my era--even their childhood photos used this video are all from my era. I I grew up fast in college and the protected, safe world of 16 and high school was gone and replaced by adult things and activities that I was ill-prepared for. Even now I miss the innocence and joy of life when I was 16. I was so happy and carefree back then. Kids nowadays grow up a lot faster and seem to have a lot more pressure to grow up faster than when I was a kid.
My late dad was a huge fan...this song reminds me of him all the time :(
Me too honey. My daddy passed away 3 weeks ago and it's miserable. Take care of yourself
One of the absolute BEST tunes of the eighties-if not THE best!
In 1982 I was in Chicago in bootcamp, this song helped me through and I have been a John Cougar Mellencamp fan ever since.
Everyone called him John Mellencamp and that was fine then for some reason began calling him John Cougar Mellencamp. For some reason this seemed odd to me at the time.
This is my all time favorite of his. I'm 50 today ...we share the same birthday. Happy birthday John
I'm 60, and still loving life. It's so much clearer now that I'm wiser, lol
Reminds me of my dear friend who just lost her struggle with cancer....love u Tracey
Sorry man:(
Haven't listened to this song in a while, coming back to it I love it as much as ever. I lived in Bloomington for a couple years, went to the music school there. One of my friends worked a little with Kenny Aranoff, who said that Johnny Cougar was a brilliant musician who knew exactly what he was doing. Can't argue with that. This is pure poetry, John Mellencamp captures exactly the essence of teenage life in a Heartland small town, whether in Kansas, Ohio or Indiana.
One of the most powerful nostalgia songs.... I hear this and in my mind it is instantly the early 2000s I'm 10 years old and I'm riding around with my friends and their parents singing this song word for word on the dirt roads and cow pastures of central Florida
This song was #1 when I was born. Considering the subject matter and that the video starts with baby photos, it's pretty surreal for me.
0:57 “Suckin’ awn chili dawg.....” Favorite line.
Scratches his head and Does his best James Dean!!
The only good part that makes it worth listening to lol. Way overplayed
My dogs are the best in life. As a teen hearing this song id thought about, how I'd want too hold on to 16 as long as I could. Now a senior citizen I don't feel as one. Thanks for this song🕺💃
Awww wasn't he the cutie little baby boy you ever saw besides my son 🥰 Oh I love those pictures John . Man I ❤️ sure appreciate your music man 👌👍👏 Been fan for many many yrs ❤❤❤
Favorite song for over 30 years!!!!!! Aww, the bliss and nostalgia the whole room feels when it comes on the radio...
Hello Thanks for your comment and supports, your comments and constant support has brought me this far. Keep Supporting ❤️
Please send me a mail via. johnmellencamp03@gmail.com
Hello Angie how are you doing!!
I’m known by all my friends as a huge music person and this is also my very favorite song and has been for decades.
There’s truly no decade like the 80’s , such a simpler time and so many good movies !! Of course the best, this song !!
Hello Thanks for your comment and supports, your comments and constant support has brought me this far. Keep Supporting ❤️
Please send me a mail via. johnmellencamp03@gmail.com
Hello Michelle how are you doing!!
Songs like this are very rare. Truly a classic.
John my family and I just watched your interview with Bob Costas, it was amazing, thank you for all the years of great music, I've been to several Farm Aids and seen you for the first time in Little Rock,Ar back on 11/22/82. Love the new song Chasing Rainbows ...
Sincerely,
Harvey Rhodes
Who’s still listening in 2020.. 9-2-20 ❤️❤️❤️❤️
It makes the best days come back
@@thomasmusto2049 Yes! It sure does!! CHEERS!!
2020
Generation X...1964...from Europe...this song will never be old...but sure as hell we are, and our brothers and sisters in the US as wel. Time has not been to great for the last few months, neither for you neither for us...
1ske
Just finished HS in 1982 when this song came out...Helped build a house that summer and always remember the gal next door who passed by everyday, highlight of the day. Never amounted to anything, but was the best 5 minute break each day...lol went off to military after that summer...but will always associate that song to that summer. (Yes, I did talk with her..my age, but she had a boyfriend and happy..lol)
So raw, authentic, and wholesome. What great music is supposed to sound like. Thank you for sharing your talent with the world. The 80’s and early 90’s music made the entire planet heal and vibrate higher. I love the 80’s music forever.
As a teenager in the 80s. I thought this was just a great song 🎵. In 2022 I know what it all means. I take it day by day. Always doing the best I can......
How about a lil ditty about Joe and Lisa…an all -American boy livin in Cali and a Sunset Blvd. street sweetie lovin it up in a retirement home. Yeah buddy!
Same feelings here
Same
Return to my 15 years , return to my first love ..good times , good music , and never forget
Takes me back to simpler, less complicated times!
It's always been complicated your where just too young to really see any of it
Yes people are more complicated now
only people make life complicated
Where’s the time machine? I’d ❤️ to re-live 1982!!!
Mr too
One of my favorite songs. Truly a classic.
Omg, such a long time I've heard this song. Bring back memories of a great time. ❤
My mom used to play this in the car when I was younger I'm only 15 but I love this song so so so much, i wasn't around when it came out, but I'm so lucky to know this song... Deff one of my favorite songs of all time. It's timeless!!!
When I die I will do so knowing that I lived through the greatest music ever to cross the airwaves
yessssssssss!
Yessssssssss
ain't that the effin truth
Z1@@annobrien5287
80smwere fantastic
This song will NEVER grow old.
It's funny, still to this very day, when I hear this song I stop and sing the lyrics no mater where I am. One of my favorite songs as a teenager.
John wrote some of the best rock songs of the 80's. I love the acoustic guitar as a counterpoint to that great electric riff. The clap-a-long and Kenny Aronoff's kick-ass drum solo in the middle just elevates the song to even greater status.
Shane Anthony the guitar riff was made by mick ronson
Shane Anthony Kenny Aronoff's solo is amazing!!!!
Mick Ronson gone but never forgotten....
That drum solo is fantastic & right up there with Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight".
Have to admit I didn’t know that was Kenny on drums. Always been a good tune.
this song will always remind me of my parents...Dave and diane. Yeah, we made the whole "dave" part work hahaha...rip momma..love you 😍✌🌻
Amy Lynn sorry for your loss Amy best wishes to you
Reminds me of my childhood growing up in the 80's . 😊
John and Kenny Aronoff were the architects of this song and it's amazing. I was in 8th grade when Jack and Diane went to number one. MTV was the shit back then and EVERYBODY watched it. The Jack and Diane video was on heavy rotation and it blew up. Everybody was singing, and air drumming to it. The drums are just as iconic as Phil Collins drums in Air Tonight. Kenny Aronoff rocked BigTime. Rain on the Scarecrow was another powerhouse Drumming song. John was very smart to bring Kenny on board, because he pushed those songs from good to Fuckin Amazing
'life goes long after the thrill of living is gone' AMEN to that John !
"Hold onto 16 as long as you can". I did for a year, then I turned 17.
Lol
u funny Sam, but also right
The drummer, bassist thought this song was so cheesy they didn't bother to play it.
I swear when I was 16 I thought it was the stupidest line in the song. Now at 46, it might be the truest
@@danielengler643 Well for us it wasn't 16 it was 21.
I can still see my childhood living room...watching MTV..this video was always on!! 🤣❤️The greatest times ever! #80sgreatness #thewonderyears
Mellencamp was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen; everyone was up dancing~singing along with the band! Great song 😘
Oh yeah,life goes on
Long after the thrill of living is gone
I can't think of better lyrics than that in any song of any genre
This song will live on 4ever. It is John's signature song! 80's music was and still is cool!
Definitely
@@johnrochford2934 :D!!!
Used to dance to this with my baby girl! Now I dance in my mind this song will always be my favorite
I was 11 years and just loved this song, 80s music remains the most epic, I was blessed to living those youth day's.
My grandma loved this song❤️🥲🙏🙏🙏