“With "Hurts So Good," his breakthrough 1982 single, John Cougar Mellencamp came on tough, a rocker pitting earthy 4/4 rhythms and guitar crunch against the synthesizer fantasists of postmodern pop. A Hoosier hothead dubbing himself Little Bastard — a nickname copped from James Dean — he flashed a rolling stone’s persona, endearingly disaffected and uncouth […]”
