does tom petty have any redeeming qualities?

Oh man, those Bowie reviews are soooo much more generous to the singer, even when the album is a stiff. At least Christgau acknowledges his talent and occasional genius, rather than grudgingly accepting his product despite him being a jerk. With Bowie, it's a failure despite his intentions and intelligence, With Petty, it's a success despite his bad attitude, banality and lack of ambition.

haha good way of putting it

Wow – he played "Rebels," "Love is a Long Road," and "Tweeter and the Monkey Man"!

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, June 19, 2013 12:21 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Rebels" was acoustic and slowed-down, ruminative. But "Tweeter" was a jam, in the good sense.

mike campbell's dreads really bother me way more than they should

He invented the strokes. Sort of. That could be a bad thing depending how you look at it.

The only thing I can think of that's worse-looking is that book of interviews with him.

― Matos W.K., Sunday, January 4, 2009 11:35 PM (4 years ago)

lol, this was like the best book i read last year. favorite anyway. it really inspired me for some reason. had no idea it would have such an effect.

ha yeah, i wish there were more books like that! i dunno, i like huge interviews with musicians.

this is like 10 petty songs in one song - you could say that about a lot of his songs - and yet i've probably watched this 20 times. i love the studio mudcrutch promo vids.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlYeq5f9lqM

you know, scott, now that you mention it, i can see a tom petty influence in your posts about what's popular today

Worth seeking out Campbell's web series where he goes through his guitar collection on by one and explains their stories, what songs he wrote with them etc.

mike campbell's dreads really bother me way more than they should

― personal yeezus (upper mississippi sh@kedown),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-campbell/the-guitars_b_1406937.html

Wish he would release this on DVD.

The promo videos from Petty's last Heartbreakers album are great too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_iBKacXIA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LAA6lF6uFI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSvlJe1mwlw

And by the way, how nuts is it that Scott Thurston, who used to be in the Stooges (he plays on Metallic K.O.!), has been in the Heartbreakers for the last 20 years?

I was amazed to learn he contributed so much to New Values.

This video of Petty's 1994 Bridge Concert set is fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9unEh3WeyKc

for anyone born from 1980 on, his career really starts with Full Moon Fever.

I think that was the point of his well-timed Greatest Hits album which was wisely promoted with possibly his most famous video. And kids/teenagers were definitely fans of his hits in the early 90s. Everything between Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers (including his tenure in the Wilburies and the MTV Video Vanguard award) definitely helped to place him in a marketable void that Neil Young's lack of commercialism wasn't able to fill. During the time, the only Neil song that really got anywhere close to Tom Petty's biggest songs was "Rockin in the Free World," and he was supposedly the "godfather of grunge."

I was also amazed to recently learn about their co-writing credits during that time... Tom Petty helped with Roy's "You Got It" while Mike Campbell helped with Don Henley's "The Heart of the Matter."

He invented the strokes. Sort of. That could be a bad thing depending how you look at it.

haha More like he invented 1 thing the Strokes did in 1 song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcAiEzlycFk

best part of this is 40 was "he said my son looked like tom petty but in a negative way"

Likely to score his first #1 album next week, healthy numbers too.

Hypnotic Eye is pretty good and sometimes quite more ("Fautlines").

i heard a live version of "mary jane" on the xm at the place i get my hair cut. that one is the secret tp classic rock jam of my generation i do believe. the chorus pays back the try-hardiness of the verses imo. it's a good song. i'll probably check out the new one.

Fully expecting to buy the new album at Target this weekend.

Review: http://www.spin.com/reviews/tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers-hypnotic-eye/

god old school ILM is so clueless about anything American

the chorus pays back the try-hardiness of the verses imo. it's a good song.

having back-to-back singles about weed always cracked me up

what was the other single?

i don't have sources for these things nor do i aspire to

"You Don't Know How it Feels"

"Mary Jane" was the new single on GH.

i'll have to pull out the liner notes for the copy of wildflowers i still own and haven't looked at for almost twenty years, lol.

xp nice review, alfred.

yup, in '93. "You Don't Know How it Feels" was the lead-off single from Wildflowers the following year (which was originally supposed to have a b-side called Girl on LSD lol)

xp

"about weed" would be a stretch imo

of course the new single is "u get me high" so

weird that he already wrote a song basically called that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLq-wa_4nlI

Tom Petty & The Bongbreakers

As predicted, new album acquired ($9.99 at Target). I love that he tells you in the CD booklet exactly what day each song was recorded (oldest: 8/9/11; newest: 11/20/13).

"You Don't Know How it Feels" was the lead-off single from Wildflowers the following year (which was originally supposed to have a b-side called Girl on LSD lol)

It did! My wife (who was in middle school or something at the time) says she bought the single solely for that reason, and she and all her friends thought it was hilarious.

Listened to the greatest hits while catching up on the top 20 of the classic rock poll countdown. Bliss.

I'd like to see a greatest hits 2 covering the era from 'wildflowers' to the present, I'm only really familiar with that album and a handful of cuts from 'she's the one' tbh.

I guess one of the big casualties of radio's move away from certain types of rock music was tom petty, I mean probably if I still listen to wxrt in chicago I'd be hip to all of it.

dude lasted longer than most of his peers, though - came in new wave, made friendly with the old guard but wasn't fazed by grunge. eventually just became too old to function

hit-wise i mean, obv still has his cult and can join any all-star award show jam he likes

i was wondering if he'd ever made the slightest effort to tap into the pop-country scene, where 80s rock has gone to die (shit, even the b-52's did love shack with sugarland at one of those award shows), and apparently he's got this to say

http://tasteofcountry.com/tom-petty-blasts-country-music/

“I don’t really see a George Jones or a Buck Owens or any anything that fresh coming up,” Petty explains. “I’m sure there must be somebody doing it, but most of that music reminds me of rock in the middle 80s where it became incredibly generic and relied on videos.”

BIG TALK from a rock star from the middle 80s with an MTV Video Hall Of Fame award

Said mr. Petty, clad in top hat and sitting cross legged on a mushroom

on my FB wall J0dy R0sen wondered if he made peace with the women who stole his sound. I don't think the guy likes women much.

country women, that is

tbf, i doubt he likes keith urban either

Urban gives him serious hair competition.

sartorially he might want to hang with the zac brown band but sound-wise he'd probably find them too pablo cruise

as hilariously un-selfaware as his dis on country was, i kinda admire that he won't let florida georgia line prance around him going "the WAAAAAAAiting" at the CMAs