A prolonged, acclaimed career seemed an impossibility when Mellencamp released his first album under the name Johnny Cougar in 1976.  As a child in Seymour, Indiana, Mellencamp had suffered a number of setbacks, including being born with a neural tube defect called spina bifida that necessitated a lengthy hospitalization as a baby.  As a teenager, he was rebellious, often getting in trouble with the law.  He formed his first band at the age of 14, and continued to play thoughout his teens.  When he was 17, he eloped with Pricilla Esterline, his pregnant girlfriend, and proceeded to try to support his family by working a series of blue-collar jobs.  By the time he was 24, he had decided to move to New York City to attempt to break into the music industry.

In New York, Mellencamp became a client of David Bowie's manager Tony DeFries, who signed him to a lucrative deal with Mainman / MCA.  Mellencamp recorded an album of covers called Chestnut Street Incident.  Upon receiving the finished album in 1976, he was infuriated to learn that DeFries had billed him as Johnny Cougar.  Chestnut Street Incident was a bomb and MCA immediately dropped the singer.  The fiasco of his first album was enough to sour Mellencamp toward the industry for the remainder of his career.

Two years later, he signed with Riva Records, releasing A Biography (1978) to little attention.  However, Johnny Cougar (1979) spawned the Top 40 hit "I Need a Lover," which also became an AOR hit for Pat Benatar a few years later.  Steve Cropper produced 1980's Nothin' Matters and What If It Did, which contained the Top 30 hits "This Time" and "Ain't Even Done With the Night."