The most special four disc box set "On The Rural Route 7609" features John Mellemcamp's hits and unreleased music from 1976 through 2009. The demo for "Cherry Bomb" is included. Wikipedia: "Cherry Bomb is just a name of a club that I made up. The real name of the club was The Last Exit—The Last Exit Teen Club actually was the name of the place. It was a place that we went as kids. The whole world seemed to exist there. Everything that was important happened down in the basement of this church, is what it was."

The second single from the 1987 album "Lonesome Jubilee" was "Cherry Bomb" (John Mellencamp). The single reached number eight on the pop chart and peaked at number twelve Adult Contemporary. John's uncle passed away from cancer at age fifty-seven when the album was being recorded, this greatly influenced the release.