does tom petty have any redeeming qualities?

the Coug's biggest hits aren't as bland (or maybe just overplayed) as Petty's, but there are more Petty songs I'd rather hear (half of Wildflowers, etc.)

I call it a draw.

The best comment on the performance, by the inimitable K-Jean Lopez:

"God bless" you too, dude. That was a nice, subtle Super Bowl moment. This American Girl is grateful.

He should have played "American Girl" last.

i <3 tp AND his heartbreakers and at least the tv mix was better than it usually is for these things, but it was funny how it was "american girl" + 3 from "full moon fever." i guess "full moon fever" is the tom petty lowest common denominator. i don't hate it or anything, but most of the albums before it are better. (and so is wildflowers.) anyway, he looked old and kinda tired but wtf. he's 57, i guess he's allowed to look old.

"i am not a tom petty fan at all, some of the early hits are decent enough, but he is x1000 better than unlikely ilm hero john cougar mellencamp

-- gershy"

ILM is some white ass motherfuckers. TP actually wrote a few good songs, that's way better than i can say about mr cougar.

retract

Those crowd shots during the halftime show: Good Lord, was even half of that audience even born when Full Moon Fever came out?

I mean, "WOOT! IT'S A FIFTY YEAR OLD MAN PLAYING SONGS ABOUT ELVIS AND DEL SHANNON!"

he's had some great moments, but it's been all downhill after stan lynch was fired.

yeah i miss stan lynch a lot.

wonder which sports columnist will use "even the losers get lucky sometimes" tomorrow.

good lord i don't even know where to begin

his halftime show sucked.

Not so much cuz of the music, but it isn't the right type of music for a halftime show. that and it was boring.

Prince was the halftime show to end all halftime shows last year.

he's a rock musician, he writes rock songs

but ilx never tires of picking on aging rockers...

he was way better than the stones were, that's for fucking sure

i mean, in terms of halftime show performances

not saying much, I've never liked the Stones.

then again it wasn't as bad as the debacle of Aerosmith w/Britney Spears

"but ilx never tires of picking on aging rockers...

-- winston"

there has to be a way to age better than most seem to have been doing it.

Prince rocked the fuck out last year.

And he's old, too.

I've always been fond of a lot (though not all) of Tom Petty's music -- mostly the earlier stuff, but "Wildflowers" is pretty nice too.

That said, his show tonight was awful. Guy needs to retire.

Interesting quote I just read on wikipedia: * "I want to give the radio back to the kids. That's one thing I'd like to see. I remember a time when you could turn on the AM radio and just set there all day and listen. Now I keep punching the button and hope something will come on that's worth listening to. There's nothing. They don't play the young bands. Boston is just MOR as far as I'm concerned. There's no threat there. And disco just ain't right." - Los Angeles Times 1977

The disco remark doesn't startle me, but I was surprised that he slagged Boston.

Also I read through this entire thread and found only the slightest mention of "Here Comes My Girl". Am I the only one that thinks that song is brilliant?

Prince rocked the fuck out last year.

yeah obviously. no comparison.

Guy needs to retire.

i think that sort of already happened.

Am I the only one that thinks that song is brilliant?

hell no. it came up on my ipod last week and i played it three times in a row.

A quote where the rocker slams disco is the ILM equivalent of finding racist newsletters from political candidates "back in the day."

At least one of the other quotes in the wikipedia entry is so outrageously rockist that if I were to paste it here I think it would make people's eyes bleed.

x-p:

so then what is a rocker touring with a giant rebel flag the ilm equivalent of?

i mean, i love tom petty, but i'm not defending that.

"About to Give Out" is fantastic late Petty and a classic old guys rocking out hellraiser. We need more of them.

He smokes weed...

Vocally, he sounded incredible. I don't think he's sounded that good in about 25 years.

I thought the show was well-performed but boring. Good job to him for doing what he does well; I just don't like what he does.

Me? I'm not a fan of the Nu Country.

I was surprised that he slagged Boston.

He was new wave then; he had to slag Boston. (Honest -- he even had songs included on "new wave" compilation albums.)

Anyway, didn't watch the Super Bowl thing. But I still have nothing against the guy, even if his albums have been mostly useless for the past couple decades, even longer than albums by Cougar (who is still way, way better, career-wise.)

(Well, okay, guess I could see owning Full Moon Fever from '89; that's technically two years later than The Lonesome Jubilee. So I'll give him that. But I've always figured the Greatest Hits CD would make owning Full Moon Fever redundant. And Cougar's early/mid '80s beat Petty's early/mid '80 by several miles.)

ilx never tires of picking on aging rockers...

Most of them deserve it. (Then again, so do most young rockers. And most aging and young non-rockers, too.)

some excellent singles, thus the greatest hits compilation plays very nicely
don't think i really have the patience to sit through his studio records though.

i liked the outrageously fecund imagery of the gibson flying-v guitar outline swerving towards the open and waiting heart outline, which exploded into flames the moment the guitar "penetrated" it

first prince with his guitar-cock last year, now simulated neon intercourse with a flying v - next year's going to be crazy

I thought it was great, but I like all those songs. At different points it looked like there were no fewer than 6 guitarists onstage at once (7 necks total).

One of those balearic dudes does a crazy dub edit of "Don't Come Around Here No More."

Anyway, yeah, I am definitely surprised by the Petty hatred on here. But then, I'm a definite rockist (who happens to like dance music (aka "but several of my closest friends are minorities")).

Petty's double-disc comp is as solid as Mellencamp's, although JCM produced better albums.

haha i'm kind of the reverse. i think petty has better albums (i like damn the torpedoes and long after dark both better than any jcm album), but i might give jcm's best-of the edge.

Better than any Petty album, easy:

American Fool
Uh-Huh
Scarecrow

Better than any Petty album except maybe Damn the Torpedoes (a close call, but I honestly think I'd go with the Cougar records):

Nothin' Matters and What If It Did
John Cougar
The Lonesome Jubilee

Better than any Petty album except the first three (and quite possibly better than Petty's first two):

The Kid Inside

Vocally, he sounded incredible. I don't think he's sounded that good in about 25 years.

Did anybody else think he sounded really processed, though?

ugh, i think he's abt as bad as it gets. whenever i hear his voice i feel the life force seeping out of me.

so then what is a rocker touring with a giant rebel flag the ilm equivalent of? i mean, i love tom petty, but i'm not defending that.

That's pretty much indefensible. I remember at the time (1985? 1986? Southern Accents tour) he tried to defend it along the lines of "I'm proud to be from the south." R.E.M. said something like, "Hey, so are we, but you don't see us with a fucking confederate flag."

I like Tom Petty a lot, but the rebel flag's gotta go.

petty is a bro hands-down

poor j0hn d upthread feels like he has to apologize for defending petty's guitar playing!

if bryan adams kissed ass he'd be tom petty

his mistake was to make nice with tina turner rather than bob dylan