John Mellencamp

The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 (1997)

 


  1. I Need a Lover
  2. Ain't Even Done With the Night
  3. Hurts So Good
  4. Jack and Diane
  5. Crumblin' Down
  6. Pink Houses
  7. The Authority Song
  8. Lonely Ol' Night
  9. Small Town
  10.R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.
  11.Paper in Fire
  12.Cherry Bomb
  13.Check it Out
  14.Without Expression
  

Leave it to John Mellencamp to release a greatest hits collection and insist on undermining it right there in the title. The Best That I Could Do may sound like a half-hearted concession from an artist who’s never been particularly fond of looking back, but the content within tells a different story. This isn’t just the best he could do—it’s the stretch of time when Mellencamp did his best, full stop.

Spanning the ten-year period from his earliest radio breakthrough to the tail end of his commercial prime, this single-disc collection serves as a perfectly compact snapshot of Mellencamp’s most well-known work. The sequencing is smart, and the choices are almost entirely spot-on. If you’re a casual listener—or even a fan unwilling to dig through a dozen albums—this is the disc that scratches the itch.

All the big moments are here. Jack and Diane, Hurts So Good, Pink Houses, Small Town, Crumblin’ Down, and Rain on the Scarecrow all make appearances, along with other mainstays like Paper in Fire and Check It Out. The songs don’t just chart Mellencamp’s rise in popularity—they trace his artistic evolution from a reluctant pop-rock upstart to a sharp-eyed chronicler of American life. For a guy who started his career under a made-up name and a record company’s thumb, these songs are proof of how thoroughly he earned his place.

As for the liner notes, Mellencamp—true to form—downplays the importance of the compilation, insisting these songs aren’t necessarily “great,” just the best he could do at the time. It’s typical Mellencamp humility, tinged with a bit of stubbornness. But the self-effacing tone isn’t fooling anyone. These songs connected with millions, and they’ve endured for a reason.

It’s worth noting that more comprehensive compilations would follow, and plenty of worthwhile material from the early ’90s was understandably left off here. But The Best That I Could Do remains the best introduction to his most accessible and culturally resonant decade. For listeners who just want the essentials—no deep cuts, no filler, no multi-disc commitment—this is the one to reach for.

Even if he doesn’t want to call them “great,” history might say otherwise.

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