| Check It Out | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | John Cougar Mellencamp |
| Album: | The Lonesome Jubilee |
| B-Side: | We Are the People |
| Studio: | Belmont Mall (Indiana, US) |
| Genre: | Heartland rock |
| Label: | Mercury |
| Producer: | John Mellencamp, Don Gehman |
| Prev Title: | Cherry Bomb |
| Prev Year: | 1987 |
| Next Title: | Rooty Toot Toot |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
"Check It Out" is a 1987 song by John Mellencamp released as the third single from his album The Lonesome Jubilee in 1988. The single was a top 20 hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] [2]
According to Mellencamp biographer David Masciotra, the song "describes the rewards and punishments of a typical American middle-class family" and professes that "our attempts to solve the mysteries of the heart and grasp the truth of humanity are fraught with disaster and disappointment."[3] Mellencamp biographer Paul Rees called its sound "uplifting".[4]
Cash Box said that Mellencamp's rough county-ish feel takes you into the heartland [of America]" and that the song "features a nice instrumental hook line that sounds like an otherworldly bagpipe and leads into the verses."[5]
Masciotra calls it "a uniquely powerful testament to the mystery of inner life".[3]
The video was shot as a live performance at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on December 11, 1987, during Mellencamp's massive Lonesome Jubilee tour.