Songfacts®:

• No money? No car? If you still want to get with the ladies, then you better learn to play guitar. That's the advice John Mellencamp doles out in this song, a send-up of superficial rock star culture.
  
  Mellencamp didn't need his guitar to land the ladies. He got into music as a means of creation and expression, so the idea of picking up a guitar to impress chicks seemed strange. Uglier dudes see it differently.
• By this time, Mellencamp had transitioned from his original stage name, Johnny Cougar, which was forced on him when he started in the business, to John Cougar Mellencamp. He wanted to make music on his terms, telling thought-proving stories and speaking his truth in his songs, but he quickly learned he couldn't do that unless he became popular, and that meant coming up with hit songs. It took a few years, but after his 1982 album American Fool, he had the hits, which meant he could start calling the shots.
  
  "Play Guitar" was released as a single from his next album, Uh-huh, which kept the hits coming ("Pink Houses," "Authority Song"). It wasn't a pop hit, but found it's way onto some rock radio stations, as many in the industry got the joke.