Human Wheels | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 7, 1993 | |||
Recorded | 1992–1993 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 45:17 | |||
Label | Mercury | |||
Producer |
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John Mellencamp chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | link |
Entertainment Weekly | A[1] |
Q | [2] |
Robert Christgau | [3] |
Rolling Stone | [2][4] |
Human Wheels is the twelfth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp. Released on Mercury Records on September 7, 1993, it peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. The single "What If I Came Knocking" was Mellencamp's last No. 1 single on the Album Rock Tracks chart, staying atop for two weeks in the summer of 1993. The album has been certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of 1,000,000 copies.
Entertainment Weekly gave the record an "A" rating, stating: "John Mellencamp's last album was more or less straight-ahead rock, but there's something dark and unshaven about his new one, 'Human Wheels.' Oddball instruments — pennywhistles, mandolins — pop up like disordered wraiths over gritty drum tracks that sound like they were recorded in a cluttered cellar. Mellencamp himself mutters and snarls in a voice of tangled complexity, worrying his way through songs about trouble."
Spin Magazine named Human Wheels the fifth best album of 1993.[5]