"Crumblin' Down" is a rock song co-written and performed by John Cougar Mellencamp, released as the lead single from his 1983 album Uh-Huh.

[1]: 64 According to Green, the song attempts to answer the question of what to do when success eventually fades, and "the big-time deal falls through.

[1]: 65 In a 2016 Mellencamp-dedicated exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a display was emblazoned with the following quote from Mellencamp: "Crumblin' Down is a very political song that I wrote with my childhood friend George Green.

It featured a chain-smoking Mellencamp in intentionally ripped denim jeans, dancing and kicking over chairs on a stage in an empty auditorium.

[1]: 65  As the video progresses, he dances among a row of parking meters, climbs and descends a tall stepladder, and gains a three-piece backing band as accompaniment for the final chorus.