YOU RANK ME BABY, YEAH YOU RATE ME 1-2 - ILM Artist Poll #71 - Tom Petty (results)

here's one: George Harrison's awfully good at harmonies, isn't he?

yeah and petty's big on them. there's a reason Campbell doesn't get a mic, and Howie Epstein got the gig with his voice not his bass.

http://i.imgur.com/htAsSRa.jpg

18. You Wreck Me - 181 points (8 votes)
http://youtu.be/B8m5p6V_NPQ

Yay. It's like he and Mike said, hey let's write a rocker like we usedta do.

pretty much!

Petty
That was one that I really felt like it paid off. When you're writing a fast rock'n'roll song, that's one of the most difficult things to do... It's not where you're drawn to when you're gonna write. You tend to find yourself going to the minor chords, and going to the slower tempos. But to write an uptempo rock'n'roll song, and have it work, God, that's such a huge payoff...

[Mike] had completely mapped out the chords and the arrangement. I just had to find a tune and lyrics for it... [and] Ferrone's playing on it blows my mind. I mean, I've heard drum machines that can't do that! ... I still marvel when I hear it on the radio: "Damn, is that us? Did we do that?"

i'm as big a campbell stan as we have around here but I also gotta say Tom's phrasing in the vocal on this one (and really all over Wildflowers) is really exceptional. the sessions were 180 degrees from Lynne, a ton of meticulous takes, but Rubin got him on some deep shit. wherever those performances came from, I want some of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgl1VER_Pz4

i always have to go back and listen to "Yer So Bad" trying to remember what it sounds like and then i hear it and go, oh yeah, it's not very good, nevermind. "Michelle" is the Beatles song i always have that relationship with.

Didn't Stan sing harmony, at least early on?

"You Wreck Me" is good, but it's basically his cleaned up AC/DC. A la:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bP6aVG6L1w

Yes, he did. He sang them all until Howie came, after which Howie dealt with the high end.

The drumming on You Wreck Me is what makes it NOT sound like early Heartbreakers, for sure. I'm a Stan stan, but he didn't have that precision or power.

precision, no; power, yes. That's what Petty loved about Lynch.

Different kind of power, though. Lynch is more locomotive than explosive.

http://i.imgur.com/fRllr8U.jpg

17. Runnin' Down a Dream - 188 points (8 votes, one #1)
http://youtu.be/Y1D3a5eDJIs

Petty
The most incredible thing about that one to me, which to this day amazes me, was the solo at the end... There was no one there but me, Mike, and Jeff… Mike was just sitting there with his head down, and that bit came, and he started to play. And he played that incredible solo. But he looked like a stone statue. He didn't ever blink or move. And he had his back to us. I remember Jeff looking back at me, making this face, like, "Is he really doing this?"

It was one take. One take.

wooooow. that's an awesome story. my one FMF vote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QutOcNIQBg

http://i.imgur.com/oiZAMvB.jpg

16. Free Fallin' – 199 points (9 votes)
http://youtu.be/1lWJXDG2i0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYCHnDUQki0

WOW! That is legitimately surprising. I figured Free Fallin was a mortal lock for the top ten.

Didn't vote for it

free ballin'

My one FMF vote. Overplayed and all, but the only thing on that album that resonates for me. Personal connection: The day I told my terrible boss that I would be leaving my first post-college professional job to move out of state -- with no job lined up to go to and no place even to live -- I went out to the parking lot, started the car, and this was on the radio.

xp me neither

Like, I don't hate it, but at this point I like the memory of when the song was new and fresh more than I like the actual song, I guess?

Love Is A Long Road was my lone FMF track.

one of the great LA songs imo.

Lynne's polish fits, and even though looking at the lyric sheet its sense of place shouldn't add up to more than a little name-checking, Petty somehow works Mulholland Drive and Ventura Boulevard into myth like he did for U.S. Route 441.

I take Phil D's point a lot but somehow when I hear this one it doesn't fail to remind me of when it was new and fresh.

http://i.imgur.com/Y8CDJgL.jpg

15. Rebels – 200 points (9 votes)
Original: https://screen.yahoo.com/rebels-103736884.html
Live Aid: http://youtu.be/6RN7lv9Xn2I

Love the rhythm guitar sound on 'Rebels.'

Responsible for Petty's pulverized hand too.

yeah, the first 30 seconds is a hell of an album opener. if the third verse were just a little less on the nose this could have been top 5 for me. no big solo but campbell's fills on the verses are sweet and the horns work for me

to this day, petty's not so sure about those horns...

Zollo: You wanted horns on it?
Petty: Well, I wound up with horns on it...

Zollo: Were you ever happy with how "Rebels" turned out?
Petty: No.
Zollo: It became a hit.
Petty: Yeah. I still think it could have been better. I don't think the vocal's that good on it. I could have sang it better.

http://i.imgur.com/0h6J034.jpg

14. Jammin' Me – 201 points (11 votes)
http://youtu.be/TCFAzPl1QmE

EXPLAIN YOURSELVES

hell yes.

fun fact: "jammin' me" appears on more ballots than any other track to place so far

it's a fun song!

#19 on my ballot but I kinda wish I had voted it higher. It's better than I remember it, dated Joe Piscopo reference and all.

DAMN

In my top five. Was Petty so horrified by the Let Me Down era that he couldn't make room for "Jammin' Me" on the first comp? It outcharted several other included singles.

One thing I like about it is that it shows just how important every member of the Heartbreakers is to the sound of the band and the success of the tracks. Imagine this song without either Tench or Lynch, let alone both of them!

Guess that's it for Let Me Down which is a personal fave. The Damage You've Done is a great deep cut imo.

Is "Jammin' Me" the highest-charting Bob Dylan song of the 1980s? (Not counting Rod Stewart's "Forever Young," which was a retroactive writing credit.)

(I like it fine btw, just not enough to vote for.)

Guess that's it for Let Me Down which is a personal fave. The Damage You've Done is a great deep cut imo.

― campreverb

title song and "My Life/Your World" too

for years i thought it was odd that Let Me Up was the only album that didn't have a song on the Greatest Hits comp and wondered why they didn't include its biggest hit. then I heard "Jammin' Me" and went hmmm okay i see why they decided to just put another song from Damn The Torpedoes on there instead.

I think I had Think About Me on my ballot as well.

Jammin' Me >>>>> I Need to Know

title song and "My Life/Your World" too

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, December 16, 2015

"ain't love strange" too

http://i.imgur.com/NVAPVHx.jpg

13. Change of Heart – 219 points (9 votes)
http://youtu.be/H0Zxs5TspQA

Great sound on "Change of Heart" – Stan Lynch owns this – but I loathe Petty's vocal.

This was my #2 ;_;

I almost wish he had gotten Nicks to do backing vocals on this, because this one feels to me the most like a Petty song that could actually have been a Fleetwood Mac song, from the sound to the sentiments to the arrangement. The "you never needed me" pre-chorus part really makes the song, too.