Beautifully said! You capture the unassuming charm and bold talent that gives Tom Petty such wide appeal. He's not sexy and his voice is sometimes unremarkable, and yet we love him. In fact, I'm tired of sexy. Flesh and fantasy is coming before all else these days, and likewise to the poptart factory on American Idol--although this season I admit I'm watching because Stevie Nicks' namesake is competing. Guess you can't always resist pop culture's laire.
Old_Davy
· 10 months ago
No other artist quite defines American Rock as well as Tom Petty. As good as "Damn The Torpedoes" is (and I think it's TP's best album by far - I own all but 2 of his official releases), I still feel like Tom has never really made that one great album he has in him. Sure, there's flashes of brilliance on just about every album he makes, and DTP has a LOT of great moments, but something about it makes me think he could have done just a little better, pushed himself just a tad more, and made an all-time classic album that defines American music and would be talked about for years to come.
Well, since we ARE talking about it 30 years later, and TP is still relevant today, maybe "Damn The Torpedoes" IS that all time classic American album.
mojo
· 10 months ago
WHat I want to know is, why no one appreciates "Southern Accents."
Like, even hardcore Petty fans deny its existence.
I think it's one of his best records, and the craziness Dave Stewart adds on a couple tunes might have alienated the Rebel Yellers among his fan base...but I like that record, beginning to end. That and Long After Dark are my hands-down fave Petty records.
David_E
· 10 months ago
I echo your love of "Southern Accents." Frankly, this is the "mature Petty" is prefer over the more pop-oriented route he took in the '90s, the brilliance of "Full Moon Fever" be damned.
Across his catalog, "Southern Accents" is maybe third for me, behind "Damn The Torpedoes" and "Hard Promises." Well, maybe fourth, slightly lagging the also-slagged "Let Me Up."
For me, his only semi-clunkers have been "Echo" and "The Last DJ," both of which were redeemed by a handful of stellar tracks. ("Room At The Top" off the former, and the throwback "Have Love, Will Travel" from the latter.)
jefito
· 10 months ago
"Room at the Top" slays me every time I hear it. What's that line -- "I love you, please love me"? Man oh man.
Darren
· 10 months ago
I agree...vulnerable would be an understatement. I had always known (even as a fan) that Petty's marriage to Jane was a tumultuous one. When I heard that song for the first time, though, I knew this was a guy who'd just watched a huge part of his life fall into the ocean.
DwDunphy
· 10 months ago
Back at ya about Long After Dark. Yeah, the fans were repulsed by the prospect of The Heartbreakers becoming a new wave entity, but the album has my most favorite Petty track, "Straight Into Darkness"
Paula
· 7 months ago
Just returned from two back-to-back driving trips (total distance 2,600 miles). Southern Accents and Long After Dark were the only music I played, over and over. Enough said from this fan.....
outsidecounsel
· 10 months ago
By definition a victory cannot be Quixotic. I think you are right about Petty-- he's an important artist who stayed a fan. His satellite radio program is proof-- he's as excited by playing a Yardbirds cut today as he was when he was 14.
Darren
· 10 months ago
Point taken...consider it artistic license (long expired). :)
Adam
· 10 months ago
It's long been a contention of mine that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is the greatest American rock n' roll band we've ever had. My criteria are as follows:
1. Longevity. They've been around for 40+ years in pretty much the same incarnation. 2. Quality of work over the entirety of their career. TP has really only made a couple of albums that are hard to listen to, and he's made a lot more masterpieces. What would the American musical landscape look like without their debut album, Damn the Torpedoes, Hard Promises, Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers? (I recognize those last two are solo albums, but most of the Heartbreakers play on them.) Many more peaks than valleys. 3. Signature sound. I think you can always tell when Mike Campbell plays on a song and I don't think anyone else sounds quite like him. 4. Amount of work in the American lexicon. If there were any justice in this world, new babies and immigrants would be issued a copy of TP's Greatest Hits and be told, "This is how it's done around here."
Keeping those 4 criteria in mind, is there any other band that comes close? I don't think so.
steve
· 10 months ago
To me, the brilliance of Petty is that he never seems to run out of ways to put 3 or 4 simple chords together with a melody and make something really good. I mean, haven't all the possible combinations of simple roots-rock been played out? Nope, he has some bottomless well of ideas to make those simple ingredients great even after they've been seemingly exhausted for 50+ years now. And better yet, for an amateur guitarist like myself, he writes songs that are easy to learn and play. So I sit there playing them, saying to myself "damn this song is so easy to play", yet I could never write one like that myself. That's brilliance. He makes it look easy.
Elaine
· 10 months ago
I had a big crush for awhile on Benmont Tench when I was in HS.
Elaine
· 10 months ago
I heard "Breakdown" on the radio yesterday. I've always wondered, and this seems like a good place to ask, why does he sing the verses with a Cuban accent? Anybody know?
All Comments
Well, since we ARE talking about it 30 years later, and TP is still relevant today, maybe "Damn The Torpedoes" IS that all time classic American album.
Like, even hardcore Petty fans deny its existence.
I think it's one of his best records, and the craziness Dave Stewart adds on a couple tunes might have alienated the Rebel Yellers among his fan base...but I like that record, beginning to end. That and Long After Dark are my hands-down fave Petty records.
Across his catalog, "Southern Accents" is maybe third for me, behind "Damn The Torpedoes" and "Hard Promises." Well, maybe fourth, slightly lagging the also-slagged "Let Me Up."
For me, his only semi-clunkers have been "Echo" and "The Last DJ," both of which were redeemed by a handful of stellar tracks. ("Room At The Top" off the former, and the throwback "Have Love, Will Travel" from the latter.)
1. Longevity. They've been around for 40+ years in pretty much the same incarnation.
2. Quality of work over the entirety of their career. TP has really only made a couple of albums that are hard to listen to, and he's made a lot more masterpieces. What would the American musical landscape look like without their debut album, Damn the Torpedoes, Hard Promises, Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers? (I recognize those last two are solo albums, but most of the Heartbreakers play on them.) Many more peaks than valleys.
3. Signature sound. I think you can always tell when Mike Campbell plays on a song and I don't think anyone else sounds quite like him.
4. Amount of work in the American lexicon. If there were any justice in this world, new babies and immigrants would be issued a copy of TP's Greatest Hits and be told, "This is how it's done around here."
Keeping those 4 criteria in mind, is there any other band that comes close? I don't think so.