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

Regardless, can we talk about Even The Losers? The bridge (two cars park...) is the greatest moment in Tom Pettydom. It's the song with his most evocative lyric, strongest melody, best use of "oh oh oh oh" on the outro, most melodic chorus and more. Holy mackerel what a song!!!

― kornrulez6969, Thursday, December 17, 2015 11:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cosign all of this, it was my #1 too.

2 Cougar Town episodes actually were named after Mudcrutch songs!

"Even The Losers" really is a song that sums up Petty in a nutshell. he wasn't an outright weirdo, but he had an underdog quality that central casting-looking natural rock stars like Springsteen and Mellencamp didn't have, and yet he managed to have so many triumphant moments.

he's about as weird as a traditionalist can be

^^ that's it right there

xpost Eh, natural or no, Bruce was a big dork for a long time. Skinny, bad skin, beatnik style, underbite. He grew into his stardom. But if by your comment you meant more that Tom Petty kind of looks like a human chicken crossed with a goat and ergo makes an odd rock star, that's for sure.

Robert Christgau--who is not a fan--summed it up nicely. "Grant him this--he's a hooky sumbitch"

It is interesting that of that era he doesn't and never did seem even the least bit interested in or influenced by punk. He just skipped over it straight to new wave. Sort of like Dire Straits, I guess.

i never end up singing at karaoke on the rare occasions i go to a karaoke night but i always think i'd probably do some Petty. "Don't Do Me Like That" has long been my imaginary go-to but listening now i think maybe "Here Comes My Girl" would be more fun.

here comes my girl would demand some practice runs imo

probably true but i feel like you could get away with lightly crooning the chorus if you have fun with the verses

There's some quality in Tom Petty's spoken vocal in "Here Comes My Girl" that chills me out every time I hear it. Like, "Sure, Tom, I'll have a seat. What's on your mind? Oh damn, I feel you, man."

i feel like we're not going to get the top 2 until someone says that age-old line, so i'll just say it...

the anticipating is the most difficult part

(And then Tom steers the conversation toward his girlfriend. Typical.)

Stan, if you could tear yourself away for a sec...

http://www.stanlynchmusic.com/Pic3.png

we could use a drum roll...

http://www.drummercafe.com/images/stories/artists/StanLynch2.png

http://i.imgur.com/dAoI2Yw.jpg

2. American Girl – 422 points (16 votes, two #1)
Old Grey Whistle Test: http://youtu.be/12_RbUfdpW0
Live, Santa Monica, New Year's Eve 1978: https://youtu.be/QnS8577gBNc?t=29m55s

that song is fuckin' lightening in a bottle. last week i worked an event where "American Girl" was one of the music cues and every time it started up i was so happy to hear it again.

the bridge of "American Girl" is one of the all-time great funky licks. you'd think it'd have been sampled a hundred times, but the only time i can think of is the Fun Lovin' Criminals saying "I got supermodels on my d" over it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6PUncMEtdI

He IS one of the great singles artists--in that he has a lot of great singles, and his singles are among his best songs (which this list seems to show)--and that he has never made a consistently great album. (I own 'em all--I can say that.) And one of my favorite non-singles didn't make this list, so EXPLAIN YOURSELVES, When The Time Comes. #readytoargue

"american girl" is pretty indisputable. almost impossible to fathom that it's nearly 40 years old.

great intro. great bass. great drums. great backing vox from stan and benmont. great lyrics, great melody, great little rock'n'roll solo... it reaches back to the 50s but doesn't feel dated musically or lyrically. still hits hard if it catches me when i'm not looking.

sugarlips, fwiw when the time comes got some votes but faced tough sledding as a deep cut off maybe his most slept-on record

i have some love for the title track from that one too... not a perfect song but an interesting road not taken

I voted for a #1! this has never happened before!

can I just say that I love the Heartbreakers? Every player was gold. Not even the E Street Band had so many of its members have outside writer and producer credits. Listening to Through the Years, I noticed how every song had a different Campbell guitar tone or pedal, Lynch drum pattern, Tench melodic or contrapuntal keyboard part. I just love the sensation of listening to them.

great lyrics, great melody, great little rock'n'roll solo... it reaches back to the 50s but doesn't feel dated musically or lyrically

Petty said somewhere--presumably after hearing the Byrds soundalike thing for the umpteenth time--that the bands real aim for the track was to update vintage Bo Diddley.

and years later...Bo opens up for them, and stays on to jam!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVRtQUTd7Gk

re: the Heartbreakers, no doubt. without implying any comparisons, they're up there with the MGs and The Band for me. just a bunch of kids from Gainesville...

was it Petty or someone else who said that his greatest strength as a musician was talking people out of going to college?

xpost I hear Buddy Holly too, but i suppose that's redundant QED

Yeah the classic-era Heartbreakers were a heckuva unit. And bringing Howie in for Ron Blair made them even stronger on the harmonies. Between all of their extracurricular work, you could put together an impressive degrees-of-separation map.

and playlist. I knew Howie had produced those exquisite early '90s John Prine records, but not Carlene Carter's 1990 comeback.

Carlene Carter was in that stolen car with him in Albuquerque. If things had turned out different that could've been a funny story. To this day Petty's just like, "Man, Howie didn't even drive..."

well. shall we do this?

DO IT!

Christmas All Over Again time, right?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41uvs63vDnL.jpg

HEARTBREAKERS BEACH PARTY!!!!

at last!

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

1. The Waiting – 442 points (14 votes, three #1)
Studio: http://youtu.be/uMyCa35_mOg
Live, 1985: http://youtu.be/QpG09PenZt8
Live (dueling acoustics!), 1988: http://youtu.be/-4L4Hh0-JmQ

not my #1 but not far off. the platonic ideal of a Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers song. i remember exactly where i was the first time i heard it.

haha I knew it was going to happen by process of elimination

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0OYQm0pNI8

^^ tom in storytelling mode is always worthwhile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mDcZGRKQ_M

hearing him talk about coming up with the riff and then getting stuck for a week and then coming up with the chorus and getting stuck for a week is a real eye-opener -- you think about the 200 or so songs he's churned out at a pretty high level of quality and you wonder if most of them came together much quicker or if he's just agonizing over a different one almost every week.

i don't think it's agony exactly (except maybe for the other people in the house). you know you're on to something and you just have to stick with it long enough for it to start speaking to you.

i'd lay good money campbell has ~thousands~ of ideas recorded at various stages of polish.

waiting for Don Henleys

well, yeah

Great poll roger, many thanks.

http://www.newsobserver.com/latest-news/2byywf/picture7338920/ALTERNATES/FREE_640/15bft.So.156.jpeg

Huh. Like "The Waiting" a lot, but love "American Girl" so much more.

It's interesting, Petty and Springsteen. They're both about the same age, worshipped Dylan, etc., but Petty veered Byrds and Beatles while Bruce, as much as he, like everyone, loved those bands, veered Roy Orbison and some of the more dramatic '50s stuff. Which is ironic, of course, given Petty and Roy in the Wilburys later. And yet per that Dylan worship, there is so much more of him in Springsteen than there is in Petty, imo, vocals aside, and yet that's about the only non garage rock '60s stuff you hear in Bruce, whereas Petty is steeped in that era.

christ i can't believe "Deliver Me" didn't place esp considering "The Waiting" is #1 and the choruses are practically the same

great poll. you guys have weird taste in Tom Petty songs though.