RIP Tom Petty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ5hu-ux4CY

IIRC, Alex Chilton used one of those Ric mandolins on "September Gurls", which--oddly enoguh--I heard last night on Pandora Deep Cuts after "Something Big" by TP.

I'm sad about Tom Petty's passing, but I'm equally sad the Heartbreakers lost their leader. I'd love to see them back somebody else for a tour, but I'm not sure anyone is worthy besides Bruce and he has the backing band thing covered.

they should work with Miley.

does seem kind of amazing that petty, tench and campbell worked together pretty much nonstop since the early 70s (Tench didn't play on Full Moon Fever but he toured behind it, I guess) — quite a run.

i’m only an hour into the Bogdanivich doco but it’s kind of amazing that Petty convinced both Campbell & Tench to quit college. And even met with Tench’s Dad to convince HIM as well!!

Tench is an...intense fellow. I can see how he became an alcoholic.

i've always wondered if there are recordings of the mid-70s Tench solo project that Petty hijacked into the Heartbreakers ... would be interesting to hear.

I'm sad about Tom Petty's passing, but I'm equally sad the Heartbreakers lost their leader. I'd love to see them back somebody else for a tour, but I'm not sure anyone is worthy besides Bruce and he has the backing band thing covered.

― DavidLeeRoth, Thursday, October 5, 2017 1:09 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Stevie Nicks is available!

OTM. The doc has an embarrassing moment when we're supposed to laugh along with Tom when he reminds Nicks that she can't join the Heartbreakers because she's a girl.

boooo

was this in the 70s at least?
i would love to hear stevie nicks sing tom petty songs

Early '80s. She's written a few songs with Campbell and Tench.

Been spending some time reconsidering his work over the last few days and now I think Here Comes My Girl might actually be my favorite Petty song.

she said at the beginning of the doc that by 1978 if Tom had asked her to join the Heartbreakers she would have left Fleetwood Mac

XPS And she was an unofficial guest on the Highway Companion tour (there's a PBS Soundstage ep floating around).

Benmont plays piano on the Apartment Song so I think he has appeared on every Petty album except one, Highway Companion. Tom even played drums on that one so no Ferrone either!

I actually think the Heartbreakers wouldn't mind becoming Nicks' solo band. And she pays well!

I wonder if Maria McKee would entertain leading the Hearbreakers?

Petty and Campbell gave her this song (Iovine produced and Tench plays Hammond):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOCT5RDnJIY

Lone Justice opened for TP&tHB on their 86 tour iirc.

If the Revolution can tour on their own, the Heartbreakers can too

xp: The original (which was left off of Damn The Torpedoes!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHecyucnY9E

Could totally see Nicks picking up the band (she did a nice "I Need To Know" on that Soundstage), but it'd have to wait until after the upcoming Mac tour.

I can see see them doing something along the lines of the MC5 reunion and working with a rotating cast of ringers.

IIRC, McKee & Tench used to date, and it did not end well.

Tench wrote "You Little Thief" about McKee, covered by Feargal Sharkey, who scored his biggest hit with a McKee song.

I like you Little Thief" but all these years later I can't decide whether David Stewart's production is too much. Two drummers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS4ALgm6Rsc

bet all involved can taste the coke in the back of their mouths

Forgot about this other song that Petty gave Maria (later covered by Roseanne Cash):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8a0kq30F7I

xp: that's right! also pretty funny knowing that Maria wrote "A Good Heart" for Feargal which was about getting into a relationship with Tench (great mime vid lol):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlh_JJihv4g

the Rosanne Cash version is one of my favorite songs

the only Petty-Tench collaboration ever released btw

the doc:

a.) dave stewart sez TP and the HBs was the only American band of the time that his friends in the UK liked. this statement needs some qualifiers, otherwise I'm calling booshit.

b.) Stan goes through a lot of looks throughout; mid late 70s, he looks a Johnny thunders poseur…

c.) it suffers for a four hour effort that does not answer questions: when Stan says "i was successful by 1994 and didn't need this shit": what is Stan talking about here, Peter B?

d.) don't know much about Peter B. but don't know him to be a big rock fan a la Scorsese, only know him to be a big cineaste. seems possible that he had his team do the whole thing, said "OK warner bros.,you can call this my work, cut me a fat ass check."

Been spending some time reconsidering his work over the last few days and now I think Here Comes My Girl might actually be my favorite Petty song.

― IF (Terrorist) Yes, Explain (man alive)

leaning towards this as well after my first trip through the big parts of the catalog and all of DTT & 1st album

(xp) i like the doc but i thought it weird that for a movie in which every single person says "the songs" "it's all about the songs" "he had the songs" "incredible songwriter" "songs songs songs," it's about two hours in before the writing of said songs is ever mentioned. they finally talk about it with "the waiting" and it's a fantastic little scene.

They could get Tom Leadon from Mudcrutch to sing for them.

Here's a good piece from Stereogum: https://www.stereogum.com/1965601/74-artists-on-their-favorite-tom-petty-song/franchises/list/

i was successful by 1994

Maybe he meant he had plenty of cowrites with the likes of Don Henley?

Biggest failure of the doc is cutting out all the stuff about Petty's drug abuse. Which itself doesn't change much, but it does raise the possibility that other huge but secret revelations were left out as well, which hurts its credibility as a comprehensive, definitive account, as good as it is.

that's exactly what he meant, but Peter B., or his lackeys, or Tony Dmitriades, or somebody should have clarified, being that a goodly portion of the people sitting through 4 hours of the thing may not know. similarly, no mention of the "boys of Summer" and any of Campbell's work with Donster.

Isn't it time for Don and the ghost of Glenn to well yeah Tom's passing?

Mike Campbell’s dreadlocks sure are...something

no mention of the "boys of Summer"

this was really glaring

fairly long section on it in the Petty bio iirc — at some point Tom apologizes to Campbell for rejecting it (or at least admits he should've taken the song, since it was clearly a hit). Always thought that "Runaway Trains" was Petty's "oh shit why didn't I use the 'boys of summer' track" moment.

another kinda sketchy thing re: campbell in the Zanes bio — Campbell recorded a solo album in the 2000s that Petty wouldn't let him release (because it sounded too close to the Heartbreakers style or something).

By every account Petty gave "Boys of Summer" a shot. It's not unlike Phil Collins and "In The Air Tonight" - Collins played his demo for the band and they passed. There's a chance Petty poo-pooing Campbell's solo album had something to do with saying no to "Boys of Summer" and not wanting to make the same mistake twice, but iirc his biggest concern was, yeah, how much it sounded like a Tom Petty album. Which, tbf, if you're the guitarist and co-writer of much of the Heartbreakers stuff, is pretty much going to happen.

Xpost

That and 'no girls' are the two things that have come up itt to make me mad at him

patterson hood

so good

fairly long section on it in the Petty bio iirc — at some point Tom apologizes to Campbell for rejecting it (or at least admits he should've taken the song, since it was clearly a hit). Always thought that "Runaway Trains" was Petty's "oh shit why didn't I use the 'boys of summer' track" moment.

― tylerw, Thursday, October 5, 2017 6:42 PM

Agree.

By the way, in the Zollo book, Petty says that rejecting "Boys of Summer" had as much to do with drugs as anything else; the Southern Accents period was the only time, he said, that they took more than a year off the road, camped in L.A., and fell prey to every vice.

lol

At one point, lead singer Paul Westerburg told the crowd, “Last night, Tom Petty said that if we fuck up again, we’re fired. Fuck you, Tom Petty. And fuck you, Nashville.”

Then, they played an instrumental version of Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wild Side” for about 10 minutes before leaving the stage 20 minutes before their scheduled time.

The Heartbreakers came out 20 minutes early and told the crowd, “Since the opener didn’t bother to finish their set, we’ll play a little extra. Because we care!” Then, they pulled out a scathing version of The Clash’s “Should I Stay Or Should I Go.” My sister has been a Petty fan ever since.

A year or so after that, Petty wrote a satirical song about a musical screwup called “Into the Great Wide Open” which lifted a line — “rebel without a clue” — from a Replacements song (“I’ll Be You”) for the chorus. A case of supreme assholery, but done just right.

The accounts of that tour in Bob Mehr's Replacements bio are pretty fascinating. Westerberg was wondering why the 'mats couldn't break through, and watching sidestage as Petty and the crowd exchanged "yeah-eah!"s during "The Waiting," Paul realized, "Whatever that is, our music doesn't have it."

not falling facedown on stage or cancelling every other show kiiiiiinda helps too

Ha, true, and iirc the 'mats actually made an effort for the first couple of shows of that tour before deciding, fuck it, let's do that thing where we fuck everything up. But Paul was thinking more in terms of being able to write something with that rousing quality that would connect with a huge crowd.

(I don't know if it was this tour or another one where they were given a per diem of $150 and literally set fire to it on their bus. And they didn't have any other money.)

he did write things of that rousing quality though -- he just treated his audience with more contempt/disdain/whatever you wanna call it than tom petty did

at least from my perspective