Chestnut Street Incident


Chestnut Street Incident is the debut studio album by the American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, and his first of six albums in which Mellencamp was credited as Johnny Cougar. It was released by MCA Records on October 1, 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.
Five of the tracks are covers from the '50s and '60s, and six are original songs by Mellencamp. The 1998 Original Masters rerelease added two bonus songs that were also covers. The album 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.
The 2009 CD reissue by Cherry Red Records added six bonus tracks recorded during the original album sessions.
WWW Official Site

Track listing

All tracks composed by Johnny Cougar ; except where indicated
  1. "American Dream" – 2:21
  2. "Oh, Pretty Woman" – 2:54
  3. "Jailhouse Rock" – 2:11
  4. "Dream Killing Town" – 3:20
  5. "Supergirl" – 2:37
  6. "Chestnut Street" – 3:18
  7. "Good Girls" – 3:09
  8. "Do You Believe in Magic?" – 2:38
  9. "Twentieth Century Fox" – 2:14
  10. "Chestnut Street Revisited" – 5:22
  11. "Sad Lady" – 3:26

1998 CD bonus tracks

  1. "Hit [the Road Jack]" – 2:32
  2. "I Need Somebody Baby" – 3:43

2009 CD bonus tracks

  1. "Man Who Sold the World" – 2:28
  2. "Little Heroes" – 2:47
  3. "Hit the Road Jack" – 2:32
  4. "Kicks" – 2:35
  5. "Need Somebody Baby" – 3:43
  6. "When I Was Young" – 2:38

Personnel

Technical personnel
  • Tony Defries – producer
  • James J. C. Andrews – co-producer
  • Bruce Tergesen – engineer