JOHN MELLENCAMP - CHERRY BOMB

Released: October 24, 1987

Charts:  US: #8  

“Cherry Bomb” was released in October 1987 as the second single from “The Lonesome Jubilee”. Backed with the B-side “Shama Lama Ding Dong,” the song brought a warm, reflective tone to the album’s run of hard-edged social commentary. Mellencamp crafted it as a loving tribute to his teenage years in rural Indiana, where life revolved around friends, music, and the intoxicating thrill of young love. 

“Cherry Bomb” features an unusually rich vocal tapestry. Alongside Mellencamp’s lead vocal, the song’s second verse weaves in voices from Crystal Taliefero, Toby Myers, and Mike Wanchic. Mellencamp later explained that the inspiration came from Sly and the Family Stone, whose rotating lead vocals helped define the sound of his youth.

The heart of “Cherry Bomb” lies in its yearning for a simpler time: “That’s when a sport was a sport”—a line often misheard—captures the purity of adolescence before life’s complexities intruded. Mellencamp isn’t just reminiscing; he’s reminding listeners that the things that mattered most in those teenage years—laughter, friendship, love—remain just as vital decades later.

Though the club in the song is fictional, Mellencamp based it on real teen clubs he visited in small-town Indiana—places like The Last Exit, The Scene, and The Whiteland Barn. Many were housed in church basements, where the rules of 1960s society relaxed just enough for teenagers to dance, press close, and feel the sparks of young desire. A “cherry bomb” is a type of firecracker, but Mellencamp chose the name as a metaphor for the explosive hormonal energy of those nights.

Much of what he sings about is autobiographical. Growing up in the rural outskirts of Seymour, Indiana, Mellencamp lived with his brothers in a cramped basement, inventing their own entertainment and trouble. He recalls street fights as a kind of adrenaline sport—until a particularly brutal loss forced him to rethink the pastime.

The song’s music video pairs its nostalgic theme with a quietly powerful message. It features an interracial couple dancing intimately near a jukebox while Mellencamp dances alone. Other scenes cut to Mellencamp and his band performing on a beach, interlaced with vintage footage. Having played in an interracial band for years, Mellencamp wanted to underline the power of music to dissolve barriers and bring people together. The video subtly but deliberately challenges racial norms of the era.