RIP Tom Petty

The whole process of obituary writing was dealt with in detail in Obit last year, an excellent documentary about the New York Times obit department (including one time they were really caught short--I think it was Michael Jackson).

how tf did they not have one ready for him?

The list of big rock figures who might need obituaries is pretty long. I actually have a running tally of potentially shitty classic rock deaths (let's not even get into R&B):
Paul
Ringo
Plant
Page
Mick
Keith
Rod
Clapton
Bruce
Neil
Angus

And then Petty, who was always the one where I thought "this is going to feel a lot worse than anyone expects."

(Steven Tyler and Joe Perry are also up there, although that could be Allston bias showing. Stevie Nicks and Joan Jett too, with Chrissie Hynde probably as Petty's female analogue.)

(I know that's morbid. I write a lot of death related content.)

I forgot about Daltrey and Townsend and Dylan. See?

i know he is not dead but this is pretty sad news on top of really sad news today.

It really is.

RIP Tom Petty. this was such a crazy heavy day it is sad to see him go. i remember learning his music as a kid when it was on the radio. he had a very classic sound, he was the closest thing to a 60s artist operating 20 years later in real time. he had so many hits that sort of felt like maybe they could be different bands or something. i dunno, it was very Beatlesy, to later be like "Oh he did _this_ song?" to a whole bunch of classic tracks. i strongly remember hearing "Running Down a Dream" as a kid in the car and yeah "American Girl" and "Don't Come Around Here Nomore" and "Refugee". there are the classic videos they used to show on VH-1. i remember being a teenager and seeing "Last Dance With Mary Jane" and he was trying to do this 90s alt rock thing and pulling it the fuck off that video and song was so cool holy shit. anyways very sad to see him go. i look forward to exploring his music, i have only ever heard his singles and "Full Moon Fever", and will definitely pick up anything i find of his. RIP

...wait a fucking minute is he not dead? wtf?

Everyone assumes he's a singles artist until you've heard even one of his albums.

...wait a fucking minute is he not dead? wtf?

it's been a confusing day

i love the Traveling Wilbury's so much

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/business/media/tom-petty-cardiac-arrest.html

When CBS reported Mr. Petty’s death on Twitter, preceded by a capitalized banner “JUST IN,” the network attributed the news to the Los Angeles Police Department. In an article published online, there was no mention of the L.A.P.D., merely the phrase “CBS News has confirmed.” (CBS later deleted the tweet.)

Numerous other news outfits, including Entertainment Weekly, Slate and HuffPost, soon posted articles about Mr. Petty’s death, all attributing the news to CBS. Rolling Stone even got a statement from Bob Dylan, who said: “I thought the world of Tom. He was great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”

But about an hour after the CBS report went online, the Los Angeles Police Department said it could not confirm his death, setting off mass confusion on social media over Mr. Petty’s actual condition. Mr. Petty, 66, had been taken to a hospital after going into cardiac arrest at his home in California, TMZ reported. But while TMZ had also reported that the singer was unresponsive and had been taken off life support, it never reported that he was dead.

Yeah, been saying that on Twitter -- TMZ, for all of what it is, consistently avoiding saying he had actually passed.

AvoidED, I should say.

"Unresponsive and taken off life support" seems a pretty standard euphemism for "dead," which makes it extra confusing.

Re: Petty the album artist, he's in a weird purgatory for me. Clearly he is a great singles artists, and there are a lot of great album tracks that weren't singles, but weirdly not many (imo) of his albums are great, as such. I think that's one reason "Wildflowers" is held in such high esteem, because it seems closest to a traditional "great album," the whole package.

I'm astounded that both "Change of Heart" and "Straight into Darkness" were singles, the former top 40, but they've almost been relegated to deep cut status for all the play they get (that is, seemingly none)

Meanwhile, the lack of confirmation of Petty's status stems from, well, just that. It's weird that the family has yet to even put out a statement. Obviously they are entitled to their privacy, but lack of word seems ominous.

And then Petty, who was always the one where I thought "this is going to feel a lot worse than anyone expects."

maura otm

I think that's one reason "Wildflowers" is held in such high esteem, because it seems closest to a traditional "great album," the whole package.

Also DTT and even Hard Promises in recent years

Now here's a tale.

From my 2011 Set List w/ Dave Stewart, here's his very funny story about how he came to work w/ Tom Petty on Don't Come Around Here No More. pic.twitter.com/UfY0aNUl7y

— Will Harris (@NonStopPop) October 3, 2017

maura just seeing keef’s name in that list gives me a panic ... feels like i’ve been bracing myself for it my whole life i dunno what’s gonna happen when that news finally hits

meantime i heard his cover of “feel a whole lot better” in the car on the way home and bawled my eyes out for the confusion & for the inevitable confirmation ;_;

xp Ned that's great, thanks

Even better:

On The Howard Stern Show, Stewart explained that the title's phrase was actually uttered by Nicks. She had broken up with Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh the night before,[2] and invited Stewart to her place for a party after an early Eurythmics show in Los Angeles. Stewart did not know who she was at the time, but went anyway. When the partygoers all disappeared to a bathroom for a couple of hours to snort cocaine, he decided to go upstairs to bed. He woke up at 5am to find Nicks in his room trying on Victorian clothing and described the entire scenario as very much reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland. Later that morning, she told Walsh, "Don't come around here no more."

For the record, Petty says "Don't Come Around Here..." was a nightmare to record and the band hated it.

Hilariously, it remains my favorite song by them.

I can never remember most of side two of damn the torpedoes.

I listened to it an hour ago and forgot how poignant "Louisiana Rain" is.

Yeah we had that on tonight too. "I may never be the same when I reach Baton Rouge." 2nd side of DTR is good -- "Don't Do Me Like That" is top 10 Petty for me, and "Louisiana Rain" is great. "You Tell Me" is totally fine, and "What Are You Doin' in My Life" is the most unfairly overlooked song on the record.

DTT I mean

The list of big rock figures who might need obituaries is pretty long. I actually have a running tally of potentially shitty classic rock deaths (let's not even get into R&B):
Paul
Ringo
Plant
Page
Mick
Keith
Rod
Clapton
Bruce
Neil
Angus

Elton and Brian W. maybe not as classic rock as some of these but would be just as devastating.

Re Damn the Torpedoes, if any album could keep up the momentum of those first three tracks alone it would truly be one for the ages. Hell, despite housing plenty of good songs, I suspect a huge hunk of that album's reputation stems from Refugee alone. Perhaps rightly so.

my job requires me to keep a list of potential shitty deaths too, and my current rock list also includes my beloved billy joel, joni mitchell and the brothers davies.

"Refugee" is a fucking powerhouse but "Don't Do Me Like That" is my favorite from DTT

his SNL performance from 83 is up on youtube for the moment and man...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI95tu8BMwU

Brian Wilson will be gross because it will be a loop of "teenage symphonies to god" followed by "God only knows"

wow @ that SNL performance

And whichever beatle is next will be gross bc when George died someone did a shop of his and John's face blacked out.

Sorry. Dark times.

Blacked out on meet the Beatles. Sorry still dark times.

Like a year or so before our Petty poll, I started picking up his early albums in order from CD bargain bins. Hearing them in that context helps underscore the leap forward DTT was--the first two LPs are nice, quick "barband made good" albums, and had they broken up then they would have been just a footnote; a couple cool hits, but NBD. But here comes My Girl album #3--by all accounts a make or break moment for the group--and everything falls into place: songs; singing; playing; production..., the whole fucking shebang. It's one of the greatest 'Flip The Switch' moments in Rock'n'Roll.

i'd forgotten that the world was tilted 45° in 1983

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJj6GwfCWu8

Behind The Music ep from when Echo was released.

As predicted, sadly.

Breaking: Tom Petty has died, his longtime manager has confirmed. Story to come. pic.twitter.com/08FEa3u3ON

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) October 3, 2017

fuck 2016

RIP

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-tom-petty-20171002-story.html

The family's spokeswoman, publicist Carla Sacks, released this statement Monday night: “On behalf of the Tom Petty family, we are devastated to announce the untimely death of of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty. He suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu in the early hours of this morning and was taken to UCLA Medical Center but could not be revived. He died peacefully at 8:40 p.m. PT surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends.— Tony Dimitriades, longtime manager of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on behalf of the family.”

I never got to listen to the Dylan-hosted satellite radio channel, but I loved the heck out of the Tom Petty Buried Treasures show. He played all sorts of great stuff, with very affable fan-like introductions.

In August, a case of laryngitis forced him to postpone some performances on the 40th anniversary tour.

“It was scary,” he told The Times last week, in one of his final interviews. “It was very scary.”

But after several days of vocal rest, he was able to complete those shows, albeit a week late, then make a headline performance on Sept. 17 at the KaaBoo Music Festival in Del Mar en route to the homecoming shows at the Bowl on Sept. 21, 22 and 25.

Two days after the final performance, he rejected reports that the 40th anniversary string of shows would be the group’s swan song.

“Why would we quit?” he said. “The band is playing better than ever.”

Damn.

A favorite deep cut of mine from later in his career:

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