The song was also a critical success with Mellencamp, winning the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male at the 25th Grammy Awards on February 23, 1983.

[4] In 2004, Mellencamp expounded on the writing of "Hurts So Good" in an interview with American Songwriter magazine: "George Green and I wrote that together.

"[5] The song was recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California and was engineered by Don Gehman and George Tutko.

[1] Cash Box said that "steady 4/4 snare work and choppy fuzz tone guitar chords kick off this steel-edged pop/rocker.

The song hit number one on Billboard's Hot Tracks mainstream rock chart.