Tom Petty kicks all kinds of ass

[ztejas 43,411]

I pride myself on my overall musical knowledge and propensity for listening to and being familiar with artists and trends that happened way before my time. 

Yet - a part of me feels kind of shitty for not recognizing how great this dude is sooner. Maybe it's one of those things where you have to be a bit older and more weathered to really recognize the greatness (at least that's what I'm telling myself) but man did a switch flip for me in the past year or so when it comes to Petty. I mean holy shit the guy is absolutely brilliant. 

I didn't see a Petty specific thread when I searched and thought I might as well try and gather some thoughts on what he's meant to some of you or to music as a whole. 

 

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

I was ambivalent until many years after he broke.  I remember the day the light bulb came on -- I lived off Far West in NW Austin, spring 1986, giant apartment complex, and I headed up to the swimming pool to hang out.  I took my cassette boombox, and the only tape I could find was my roommate's copy of "Damn The Torpedoes".

For some reason, that day it clicked.  Might have been the smokin' hot undergrad in a bikini on the next chaise over, I'm not sure.  She dug the music, and then her dumbass football player boyfriend showed up.

I just kept that tape rolling.  That dude never even started.

[RPM 26,315]

I don't know how many cassettes of Damn The Torpedoes I wore out, but it was several. 

[AnotherUTFan 9,723]

I'm a big fan, a lot of us are.

https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/topic?url=https://www.surlyhorns.com/board/index.php?/topic/16423-tom-petty-wildflowers-all-the-rest/&share_tid=16423&share_fid=2053247&share_type=t&link_source=app

[dcbc 14,463]

Top 5 Band for me and my biggest regret is not ever seeing them live.

[AnotherUTFan 9,723]

How did you quote a post dcbc made on another thread?

All you have to to do is click "quote", then cut or copy it, then paste it in another thread or wherever.

[Bogeywon 2,519]

11 hours ago, dcbc said:

Top 5 Band for me and my biggest regret is not ever seeing them live.

Don’t beat yourself up. Saw them like 10 times and it wasn’t enough. Sounded great live. The harmonies were always in key so good!

[Celery Man 20,928]

I remember Last Dance with Mary Jane from when it was hit, and then obviously like everyone else I've heard most of his music by just living in the world. At some point in college "American Girl" started bouncing around in my head - I think it's from the scene in the Sopranos whenever Tony is in a coma and Carmela is talking to him about a beach trip when they were young and that song was playing. That song got categorized in my head as the perfect road trip song, which it is (also the most perfect rock song ever written), and for years any road trip that song gets cycled through at some point when highway speeds have been achieved, there are no tall buildings around, and the conversation has lulled.

I've since branched into his catalogue more seriously, and like a lot of other people here Damn the Torpedos is a favorite. Not seeing him live is one of my big regrets. I've also become a huge fan of Mike Campbell's guitar playing, both generally and from a philosophical agreement with his stance on parsimony. Becoming a dad has made me lean in to Petty a lot more as well.

Here's one.

 

[South Austin 52,427]

12 hours ago, dcbc said:

Top 5 Band for me and my biggest regret is not ever seeing them live.

Not sure if in my Top 5, but huge regret over never seeing him live. 

I really got into Petty my junior year of high school in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Learning to Fly did it for me. It came out right around the time my dad was deployed for the Persian Gulf War, and for some reason – as an awkward teen in a new school whose dad was gone for most of the year – the song hit me hard. Great video, too. I was crushed more than I would’ve expected when he died.

 

[South Austin 52,427]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

 

Not to veer off into a Stevie Nicks discussion, but her voice paired so perfectly in her duets with Don Henley, Kenny Loggins, and this criminally underrated song with Tom Petty.

[Celery Man 20,928]

5 minutes ago, South Austin said:

Not to veer off into a Stevie Nicks discussion, but her voice paired so perfectly in her duets with Don Henley, Kenny Loggins, and this criminally underrated song with Tom Petty.

not to veer into Don Henley discussion, but one of the reason why The Boys of Summer doesn't suck is because Mike Campbell wrote it (just like he wrote Stop Draggin My Heart Around)

[Bogeywon 2,519]

34 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

not to veer into Don Henley discussion, but one of the reason why The Boys of Summer doesn't suck is because Mike Campbell wrote it (just like he wrote Stop Draggin My Heart Around)

Most unknown great song a riff maker ever

[BrickHorn 18,214]

Petty rocks. Saw him live twice, I believe. Both outdoor shows, which is the way it should be. 

[Carl Spackler 3,479]

I didn't really sit up and take special notice of Petty until 1979, when Damn the Torpedoes came out.  The AOR station I often listened to at the time would occasionally play "Breakdown" or "I Need to Know" (both of which I liked), but Petty didn't really register heavily with me until one of the DJs started raving about Damn The Torpedoes in '79.  "Don't Do Me Like That" had been released as the first single (another great song), and then when the album came out and the DJ was just gushing about how good the whole thing was, I finally got smart and bought the album.  Thanks, Mr. DJ, wherever you may be.      

Edited January 3, 2022 by Carl Spackler

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

I've seen a lot of rock and roll acts over the years, I saw Tom 4x.  I'd say 3 of the 4 were the best shows I ever saw.  The man was a consummate showman who could put the crowd in the palm of his hand.

 

Damn the Torpedoes got flat out worn out on my turntable.

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 943]

One of my favorite ACL Fest memories is Leaning to Fly in the rain.  That was before 2 weekends, ridiculous prices, and all the assholes putting their damn phones in the air.  His set got delayed due to the rain, but he still came on an hour late and played 2 hours.  
 

It stands as one of my favorite live music  experiences ever.

[dcbc 14,463]

The number of hits is just immense.  And it's not a bunch of fluff either.  The guy (and the Heartbreakers churned out song after exceptional song for decades.  They managed to stay relevant and, more importantly, cool throughout.  I just about wore out Full Moon Fever.  Can you imaging if an artist released an album that solid and full of greatness today?  By the time Wildflowers came out, the radio wore out and irritated me with the overplay of You Don't Know How it Feels to the point where I didn't buy the album until 20 years later.  A crime, I know.  But I got to enjoy it in full for the first time later.  And then, there's Echo.  Good grief, it's amazing.  Room at the Top may be one of my favorite TP songs of them all.  The guy (and the Heartbreakers) are a treasure.  I need to get out and see the Dirty Knobs when they eventually tour again.

[dcbc 14,463]

13 hours ago, Celery Man said:

not to veer into Don Henley discussion, but one of the reason why The Boys of Summer doesn't suck is because Mike Campbell wrote it (just like he wrote Stop Draggin My Heart Around)

Mike Campbell is a great Instagram follow.  That Boys of Summer story was unexpected.

[tbone_ 14,105]

Mike Campbell is a HOF guitar player and songwriter who has never once wasted a note.

[dcbc 14,463]

3 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Mike Campbell is a HOF guitar player and songwriter who has never once wasted a note.

Cosigned.

I would add that Mike Campbell, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children.

Edited January 3, 2022 by dcbc

[harpercollins 394]

At some point in college "American Girl" started bouncing around in my head. That song got categorized in my head as the perfect road trip song, which it is (also the most perfect rock song ever written)

I agree, except for the instrumental bridge. Feels super hokey to me.

[smuggs 9,350]

11 hours ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

One of my favorite ACL Fest memories is Leaning to Fly in the rain.  That was before 2 weekends, ridiculous prices, and all the assholes putting their damn phones in the air.  His set got delayed due to the rain, but he still came on an hour late and played 2 hours.  
 

It stands as one of my favorite live music  experiences ever.

I was there too. We were real close to leaving when the storm came through and they left the stage. When he came back out and cranked back up with lightning still in the sky, holy shit that was an incredible set.

My parents and brother were TP fans so growing up his music was always echoing through the house. When Wildflowers came out my senior year in high school and I was a temperamental teen who had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, Time To Move On hit pretty hard. Still get the goosebumps when I hear it.

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by smuggs

[Al_4_ISU 12,447]

I don't remember a time when Tom Petty wasn't a huge figure in my life.

When I was in pre-school (about a year after Full Moon Fever came out), my mom was picking me up from class and the teacher pulled her aside and said that she had concerns about what I was being exposed to at home.  My mom looked at her dumbfounded, and she went on to explain that they had all the kids sing nursery rhymes that they knew, and all the other kids had sang nursery rhymes like they were supposed to.  I sang (and the teacher had to pull out a piece of note paper as she had written this down) "Free Fallin'" because that was my favorite fucking song and I didn't want to sing dumb-ass nursery rhymes. 

I went with a bunch of buddies to see the Drive-By Truckers (one of my all time favorite bands) open for him and the Heartbreakers on my 25th birthday.  It remains one of the best days of my life.

My brother once pointed out that Tom Petty is the one artist that almost everyone at least likes a little.  Have you ever met someone who hated Tom Petty?  It doesn't really matter what kind of music someone listens to, you can almost guarantee they're going to be fine with putting on Petty.

Petty is the man.  His songs are cornerstones of my life.  I can't really say enough about what his music means to me.

Edited January 3, 2022 by Al_4_ISU

[Al_4_ISU 12,447]

Here are some of my favorite album cuts (or maybe just non-mega hits) from over the years:

 

[Al_4_ISU 12,447]

9 hours ago, dcbc said:

The number of hits is just immense.  And it's not a bunch of fluff either.  The guy (and the Heartbreakers churned out song after exceptional song for decades.  They managed to stay relevant and, more importantly, cool throughout.  I just about wore out Full Moon Fever.  Can you imaging if an artist released an album that solid and full of greatness today?  By the time Wildflowers came out, the radio wore out and irritated me with the overplay of You Don't Know How it Feels to the point where I didn't buy the album until 20 years later.  A crime, I know.  But I got to enjoy it in full for the first time later.  And then, there's Echo.  Good grief, it's amazing.  Room at the Top may be one of my favorite TP songs of them all.  The guy (and the Heartbreakers) are a treasure.  I need to get out and see the Dirty Knobs when they eventually tour again.

That song is fucking devastating.

[South Austin 52,427]

This was posted on some other thread or possibly on the other site, but this is a cool video of Tom Petty and Gary Shandling, just two good friends just hanging out together. 

 

[Celery Man 20,928]

1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I went with a bunch of buddies to see the Drive-By Truckers (one of my all time favorite bands) open for him and the Heartbreakers on my 25th birthday.  It remains one of the best days of my life.

I would go to that show. I would go to the shit out of that show.

 

Was "Walls" a hit at the time it came out? As someone who... didn't grow up among Tom Petty fans or anything and more backed my way into realizing I'm a huge fan, I'm not actually sure if I knew that song before the Lumineers covered it. The Petty version is on my dad approved background baby jams playlist and I eventually looked it up, I guess it was from a movie soundtrack. Good song.

Also on that baby jam soundtrack is the Wailing Jennys version of Wildflowers

 

[Al_4_ISU 12,447]

2 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I would go to that show. I would go to the shit out of that show.

 

Was "Walls" a hit at the time it came out? As someone who... didn't grow up among Tom Petty fans or anything and more backed my way into realizing I'm a huge fan, I'm not actually sure if I knew that song before the Lumineers covered it. The Petty version is on my dad approved background baby jams playlist and I eventually looked it up, I guess it was from a movie soundtrack. Good song.

Also on that baby jam soundtrack is the Wailing Jennys version of Wildflowers

 

I remember Walls being on the radio in the 90's.  I don't think it really qualifies as a hit, because it doesn't get played on classic rock radio now, and a lot of people seem to not know it.

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

I first heard "Walls" on the soundtrack for "She's The One".  It's one of my favorite Petty tunes.

[Carl Spackler 3,479]

2 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

My brother once pointed out that Tom Petty is the one artist that almost everyone at least likes a little.  Have you ever met someone who hated Tom Petty? 

I've met one or two people who don't like his voice -- too nasally, too Dylan-esque, etc. -- so they aren't fans of his songs.

I don't hang out with those people.

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by Carl Spackler

[Bogeywon 2,519]

If you haven’t seen the doc runnin down a dream watch it now. He’s the best so is his band. They are all very down to earth low key humble guys. 
 

a few things to expect from a petty live show:

you WILL feel like you just had a religious experience 

The harmonies are always perfect.

Mike Campbell and his long list of cool guitars

Also I saw him do “southern accents” once live and wow what a song

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

My long time partner-in-crime, with whom I've been in many bands and written probably a hundred or more songs over the decades, is not a Petty fan.  But, he's kind of a moody arty dude (indeed, he's a well-known visual artist), and his musical tastes lean towards dark British pop and punk like The Damned, Bauhaus and The Cure.  So, I don't push it.

[tbone_ 14,105]

Please someone stage an intervention if I ever start acting like I dig the Cure more than Tom Petty.

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

18 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Please someone stage an intervention if I ever start acting like I dig the Cure more than Tom Petty.

I think they're both spectacular artists.

[Bogeywon 2,519]

The heart breakers > E street band 

[Ten Bears 2,479]

19 hours ago, dcbc said:

The number of hits is just immense.  And it's not a bunch of fluff either.  The guy (and the Heartbreakers churned out song after exceptional song for decades.  They managed to stay relevant and, more importantly, cool throughout.  I just about wore out Full Moon Fever.  Can you imaging if an artist released an album that solid and full of greatness today?  By the time Wildflowers came out, the radio wore out and irritated me with the overplay of You Don't Know How it Feels to the point where I didn't buy the album until 20 years later.  A crime, I know.  But I got to enjoy it in full for the first time later.  And then, there's Echo.  Good grief, it's amazing.  Room at the Top may be one of my favorite TP songs of them all.  The guy (and the Heartbreakers) are a treasure.  I need to get out and see the Dirty Knobs when they eventually tour again.

The Dirty Knobs have rescheduled their twice covid canceled Antone's shows for late May 2022. 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

15 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

My long time partner-in-crime, with whom I've been in many bands and written probably a hundred or more songs over the decades, is not a Petty fan.  But, he's kind of a moody arty dude (indeed, he's a well-known visual artist), and his musical tastes lean towards dark British pop and punk like The Damned, Bauhaus and The Cure.  So, I don't push it.

 Why not both comes to mind, but I'd just give him a push off a ledge, but that's just me.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

14 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I think they're both spectacular artists.

I wouldn't say the Cure is spectacular, but I've always dug 'em.  Their musical range was nowhere near what TP's/Mike Cambells was.

[Napoleon 8,657]

double post

 

Edited January 4, 2022 by Napoleon

[South Austin 52,427]

5 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

I wouldn't say the Cure is spectacular, but I've always dug 'em.  Their musical range was nowhere near what TP's/Mike Cambells was.

I agree with this. I was a fan of The Cure in the 80s, but never liked their stuff as much in the 90s and beyond.

A couple years ago I saw The Cure at ACL Fest and had two distinct reactions: (1) Holy shit, Robert Smith is looking old and pudgy, and (2) Holy shit, those old farts can still play.

[stc 1,460]

greatest american rock band. saw them 10+ times and it was always amazing. their acl festival performance is definitely a favorite...the band took a break because of the rain and A LOT of people left the festival. significantly improved my spot in the crowd. 

speaking of stevie nicks...i always liked this song more than stop draggin my heart around.

 

[tbone_ 14,105]

Never could get with the whiney-ness of the Cure. Just a personal preference.

[jimmyjazz 45,877]

16 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Never could get with the whiney-ness of the Cure. Just a personal preference.

This isn't whiny, it's just pure pop mastery:

 

[Underdog 28,543]

On 1/1/2022 at 10:16 PM, dcbc said:

Top 5 Band for me and my biggest regret is not ever seeing them live.

Only saw him/them once, early 80s at FEC.  The stage setup was such that FEC was half draped off for more intimate/theater feel.  Great show from what I remember, never bought any of his albums though. 

[Post Oak 20,204]

8 hours ago, stc said:

greatest american rock band. saw them 10+ times and it was always amazing. their acl festival performance is definitely a favorite...the band took a break because of the rain and A LOT of people left the festival. significantly improved my spot in the crowd. 

speaking of stevie nicks...i always liked this song more than stop draggin my heart around.

 

I've never heard that one before.  Thanks for posting it.  What a fantastic song.

[Deej 76,747]

Got into Petty the first time I heard "Refugee", or should I say the first time I saw the video on MTV.

My favorite Petty song to play on guitar.

Thanks, Mike Campbell.

[Celery Man 20,928]

Yeah, Refugee is great. 
 

Jamming Insider right now. I never was into Fleetwood Mac at all but I’ve had to rethink that as my appreciation for Tom Petty has grown.

 Sorry to continue the Cure tangent - their recordings suffer with age (or sometimes scratch that exact 80s itch) like almost any genre band but they are minute for minute one of the hookiest bands on the planet. I love hooks, love cramming little hooks into every crevice of a song, they are so great at that.

[Al_4_ISU 12,447]

16 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

This isn't whiny, it's just pure pop mastery:

 

There are a handful of Cure songs that are just fucking brilliant to me, with this topping the list.  But I've never been able to get too deep into them.

[stc 1,460]

mike campbell gets a ton of credit (deservedly so) but i also think benmont tench is criminally underrated. good to be king, breakdown, don't come around here no more, etc wouldn't be the songs they are without his influence. same can be said for the harmonies with howie epstein, their voices blended together so perfectly. really that's what makes them such a great band, take out any individual piece and it just isn't the same. there's a magic that happens when they're all working together. 

i fucking love this acoustic version of king's highway so much, better than the original version i think. 

 

Edited January 5, 2022 by stc

[Judge Roybeanbag 11,818]

On 1/1/2022 at 12:38 AM, jimmyjazz said:

I was ambivalent until many years after he broke.  I remember the day the light bulb came on -- I lived off Far West in NW Austin, spring 1986, giant apartment complex, and I headed up to the swimming pool to hang out.  I took my cassette boombox, and the only tape I could find was my roommate's copy of "Damn The Torpedoes".

For some reason, that day it clicked.  Might have been the smokin' hot undergrad in a bikini on the next chaise over, I'm not sure.  She dug the music, and then her dumbass football player boyfriend showed up.

I just kept that tape rolling.  That dude never even started.

Wait, what apartment complex?  I lived at Wood Hollow that year.