RIP Tom Petty

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

Decided TP as straight guy is stealth amazing: https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y

at my request, after i got my citizenship, mr veg made “american girl” his ring tone for me

i dont even know when i first fell in love with Tom but it’s been a long time. my eternal rock n roll boyfriend, i never didn’t have a crush on his voice especially when he sang about my girl’s, she’s, or her’s. i even liked his grouchy later years.
he was a cool handsome grouchy funny talented dude

fare thee well...

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/63/1c/2c/631c2cd71e6bae0039e3194f7ff4015f--rock-bands-tom-petty-tattoo.jpg

<3

http://www.newsweek.com/tom-petty-lucky-king-hill-676150

RIP. great 'uplifting' songs. I bet he had helped a LOT of people through his music.

I got nothing yet... don't know if I will...

There's a great story in Trouble Boys about Tommy Stinson giving Petty shit for playing the Allentown Fair on the Full Moon Fever Tour. Basically joking that this sort of gig was beneath them. Petty reveals how much he was getting paid (it was A LOT) and leaves Stinson in stunned silence.

Someone earlier mentioned PEtty not having any classic albums, but I think it's overlooked just how consistently good his output has been over the years. His low points were probably Southern Accents and Let Me Up, but even those records have moments. His last three or four albums which no one really talks about are worth checking out too. RIP.

ha – Let Me Up is easily one of my top fives of his. I agree with Southern Accents, ruined by too many cooks and drugs.

can I just

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7bjXWzms5I

What is this Petty doesn't have classic albums b.s.?

And how is Damn the Torpedoes reputation based on Refugee when that's not even the best song on the album?

Listening to Full Moon Fever right now and god this is such a perfectly crafted piece of music

Re: Damn the Torpedoes, you can easily make the case it's not your favorite, but there's no denying Refugee.

Anyway, I gravitate toward that album mostly because I've lived my entire life hearing that it's his masterpiece, or a masterpiece, but I, personally, have never got that from it. Breakout hit, sure, but classic album? I dunno. He wrote a bunch of great singles and a bunch of great non-single songs, more than most human beings. Every one of his albums is worthwhile, no outright turds in the bunch. And yet I stand by what I said, that he's somehow still not a great album artist. It's not a criticism, imo, I just find his output very much in the classic vinyl mold: maybe 40 minutes of music, some absolutely classic hits, some great album songs, and then some filler. Back when people were counting down his best stuff here I re-listened to all those albums. Loved lots of them, but I haven't changed my mind.

I love Wildflowers best.

wildflowers suffers from cd-era bloat and yet it still just breezes by. it’s my fave too

part of that is down to the “you don’t know how it feels” video being my first encounter with petty

Wildflowers is my favorite too. I suspected the double disc version of Wildflowers that was promised a year or two ago will finally see a release now.

Also totally disagree with Josh. He has three classics IMO. DTT, FMF, and Wildflowers.

I just find his output very much in the classic vinyl mold: maybe 40 minutes of music, some absolutely classic hits, some great album songs, and then some filler

I agree with this. I just wrote something for Stereogum (it's not up yet) where I placed him in the lineage of Chuck Berry and Lemmy more than Dylan, and said that his albums are like Motörhead, AC/DC, or ZZ Top albums - four or five great songs, and then a bunch of others that are just better than whatever else is out there.

Not to pick on Josh, but, really, what else do we expect from good albums besides "40 minutes of music, some absolutely classic hits, some great album songs, and then some filler?" That's how it goes, that's how it should go. I don't listen for flawless albums - I assume they're flawed and make peace with them or explain how the flaws make the good stuff sound better.

Plenty of filler on Back in Black, Tres Hombres, and Full Moon Fever? You're out of your damn mind.

who cares if there is? They're good albums.

Plus, you said "plenty of" filler. I didn't. I wrote "some filler."

OK you're slightly less wrong.

oddly enough, i listened to SO MUCH tom petty last week. feel bad that i never went and saw him live. but i think he was always playing casinos around here and tickets were probably 200 bucks.

what was that more recent thread revive where we had a lot of good petty talk? i remember raving on there for days. reading that oral history/interview book made me go on the most epic petty binge. love that guy.

I liked "scare easy" from the Mudcrutch album…anyone listen to the two records, or see 'em? did they play any Heartbreakers shit?

reading that oral history/interview book made me go on the most epic petty binge. love that guy.

― scott seward, Tuesday, October 3, 2017 10:05 AM (nine minutes ago)

For real. Reading that interview book prompted a deep dive into his catalog a decade ago.

I will also add that there's a lot of "if you grew up in the USA, then TP soundtracked your life" going around. This is doubtful vis-a-vis the african american community, latino, ad infinitum… if you're a white kid, you bet, but saying that his appeal was universal is a consequence of having to pull pseudo-profundity out yr ass real fast with next-to-no editorial oversight…

This is doubtful vis-a-vis the african american community, latino, ad infinitum…

I would be willing to bet that Petty's appeal is broader than you think. He came up in the 70s and 80s, when things were (somewhat) more monocultural.

Weird reading the other mostly negative Petty thread in parallel with this one... esp. when you realize a lot of the negativity is on that thread is expressed by the same people getting all misty-eyed and nostalgiac on this one.

You might say death brings along a little...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McOu5lvMlrs

I know a lot of history has been forgotten/rewritten but I'm old enough to remember that Petty/Heartbreakers were tour-packaged along with The Ramones (their first UK/Europe tours) and even Petty/Ramones/Blondie in some late 70s LA shows (first west coast swings?).

He used to play a lot of soul and r&b on his radio show, but that is one thing I never really got from his music. For that matter, he sang a bit like Dylan, but I never really got any Dylan from his music, either. He's an interesting amalgam of generally not terribly interesting ingredients, which I think accounts for some of his appeal, or at least why and how he worked so well with everyone from Beatles to Dylan to Roger McGuinn to Johnny Cash.

The Zanes bio is great. You would think after the oral history and epic doc that would pretty much get the job done, but all three have a lot to offer, individually and collectively.

who cares if there is? They're good albums.

Well, it's not a matter of *caring." My person experience has been that if your album is 35-40 minutes long, and 2 or 3 songs are forgettable or filler, that doesn't leave much to grab onto, let alone bolster the act's reputation as more than just (one of the best ever!) singles acts. Still enjoyable discs, and I pretty much like them all, not *least* because they are generally pretty short. Like I said, there's a lot to love on all of his records, even when they eventually stretch out to an hour and prove harder to sift through. But his two-disc anthology imo more than does the guy justice.

xpost I've heard/read lots of stories of labels struggling to promote acts like Petty and Dire Straits when they first came up. It's astounding to think of those acts as left of center, or somehow too rough around the edges to market to the mainstream, but they had to work for their acceptance. Shows how conservative radio was back then, which my older friends will affirm, scarred by numerous cross country trips stuck listening to the Eagles on AM radio.

https://68.media.tumblr.com/0dc708019d780e5209eb145467c5c2c6/tumblr_o6ckwpD4pl1qzy30io1_1280.png

weirdly, i think the she's the one soundtrack is one of his best later albums (and most solid!) and i don't think a lot of people have ever heard it. but maybe i'm wrong.

I love this one, scott:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFIeeb5D9_k

I love She's the One. It has some of my favorite songs of his, and a couple of great covers.

She's The One really is great — it's amazing that it's chained to such a garbage movie.

otm

great beck cover

Walls was the single from that record. Not sure if it's true, but it feels like his last semi-big radio hit. I really dig the Last DJ which Jon Brion did some work on.

and Lucinda Williams!

post

"Walls (Circus)" was the last time I heard him on pop radio, but AOR radio played "Swingin'" and "Room at the Top" plenty.

Was "Walls" also the last time he made a video that got play?

does seem like he was the last of his ilk to get any MTV play — which is strange since he was such a fixture for about a decade.
i heard "saving grace" quite a bit on the radio out here when it came out, but i guess it was probably far from a "hit"

Echo was the last album that really pushed Petty as more than a nostalgia act, but they did score their first #1 record with Hypnotic Eye.

guy's music videos were usually pretty great