Sifting through the backstory of the artist known as John Cougar and his 1982 hit rock ballad Jack & Diane, one word comes up time and again – heartland.
It’s a word that seems to encapsulate the all-American working-class story behind the artist and the song. The word appears in the second line of the song’s lyrics and inspired the genre of ‘heartland rock’ that was so often used to described the music of artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and Cougar.
