"Jack & Diane" is a 1982 hit song written and performed by American singer-songwriter, John Mellencamp, then performing as "John Cougar". It appears on Mellencamp's album American Fool. It was chosen by RIAA as one of the Songs of the Century. The single spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, and, to date, is the biggest hit single ever for Mellencamp, especially with its accompanying music video directed by Bruce Gowers.

According to Mellencamp, "'Jack & Diane' was written after watching Splendor in the Grass,(a 1961 movie starring Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty). "'Jack & Diane' was a terrible record to make. When I play it on guitar by myself, it sounds great; but I could never get the band to play along with me. That's why the arrangement's so weird. Stopping and starting, it's not very musical." Mellencamp has also stated that the clapping wasn't supposed to be included in the finished song. It was recorded with the clapping in order to help keep tempo and then it was to be removed. However, he realized the song didn't work without it.

The song's tone and lyrics are evocative of a nostalgia for the novelty of youth, influenced in part by Mellencamp's own life experiences. Mellencamp has stated in interviews that "Jack and Diane" was originally about an interracial couple, but he realized that in the early '80s there could be backlash over such a song. Later on, he would make the title track on his 2001 album Cuttin' Headsabout an interracial couple.

In 1982, Mick Ronson worked with John Mellencamp on his American Foolalbum, and in particularly the song "Jack & Diane". "I owe Mick Ronson the hit song, 'Jack & Diane'. Mick was very instrumental in helping me arrange that song, as I'd thrown it on the junk heap. Ronson came down and played on three or four tracks and worked on the American Fool record for four or five weeks. All of a sudden, for 'Jack & Diane', Mick said 'Johnny, you should put baby rattles on there.' I thought, 'What the @$%&! does put baby rattles on the record mean? So he put the percussion on there and then he sang the part 'let it rock, let it roll' as a choir-ish-type thing, which had never occurred to me. And that is the part everybody remembers on the song. It was Ronson's idea."

A very similar riff is in Tracy Chapman's song "Fast Car" as in "Jack and Diane."