I really wanted to hear the records he would have made in his 70s. The albums he made in his 60s felt like a return to the reasons he embraced music, less emotionally abundant but filled with a bar-band joy. The albums he made in his 40s, "Wildflowers" and "Echo," revealed a deepening pain and stand as some of his finest, most introspective work. Sixteen albums, 80 million sold, all from a complex kid who became a complex adult and let us ride along.Īs he aged Petty took his music with him. He ran away from home to join a band/circus and his drive to rise above buoyed him through one of the most celebrated careers in modern rock history, both critically and commercially. That code sometimes got in his way, as detailed in the excellent documentary "Runnin' Down a Dream," but it also sustained him.Ī lot of damaged kids from abusive families develop a moral high ground because they were treated unfairly and Petty was one of those damaged kids. He was a battler, a guy with a code of conduct and a sense of right and wrong that he fiercely protected. He won and then beat down MCA again two years later when he refused to raise the list price of his next album, "Hard Promises." The songwriting was next-level Petty, cinematic and ferocious, and it was made all the better by his behind-the-scenes battle with MCA Records over a fraudulent contract. He had hero qualities.Īs Petty's music grew more rich and dense, his latch-key poetry became more resonant. "Damn the Torpedoes," from 1979, did everything it needed to do and remains the ideal rock 'n' roll album: passionate, literate, funny, loud. More: Katy Perry is headed to Louisville and here's all of the crazy stuff you'll seeĮveryone knew a kid who looked like the scrawny smart-ass staring at us from that first album cover, but our version of that kid stole everyone's bikes and this guy, Petty, he was different. More: Award-winning songwriter Paul Kelly brings decades of superb songs to Louisville More: Remembering Tom Petty, American icon and eternal rock 'n' roll underdog Hinton and never sounded better than it did after a few stolen beers. Petty and the Heartbreakers laid down the template with their first album, in 1976, which was filled with echoes of S.E. His emotional directness felt exactly right from the moment I first heard him sing, and his songs made perfect sense as a reminder of everything I couldn't understand and as an escape from same. Combing Bob Dylan's lyrics for hidden meanings and literature references were beyond me. To this day, that voice has always been one that I've turned to, always one that I wanted whispering in my ear. Somehow, the overwhelming fear, anger, hate, love and longing that kept me up at nights found a voice in Petty's songs. I know I did.Īs a teenager who felt way too much and yet couldn't articulate any of it, Petty and the Heartbreakers began making exactly the kind of rock 'n' roll I craved. Not lately, anyway, but we sure needed it. Tom Petty has died at age 66 and there's a good chance this sad bastard of a world never deserved his music. Watch Video: Best of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers by Vintage Vinyl
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