In the spring of 1995, a friend of mine working with a band fronted by Pete Droge, who was opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. They came to Albany to play at the Knickerbocker Arena.
After their set, my exhausted friend left, and so did I, hearing only the first couple songs of the Petty concert. But I figured I’d see him and the Heartbreakers again someday, which proved to be incorrect.
Petty was very popular at FantaCo in the 1980s. My boss Tom had this weird affection of changing the lyrics of the songs from Girl to Squirrel. American Squirrel, Here Comes My Squirrel. It was weird but sort of funny.
I talways thought that the Traveling Wilburys Vol 2 was the collective albums that the artists put out between Vol. 1 and Vol. 3. This would, of course, include Tom Petty’s first “solo” album Full Moon Fever, which featured Free Fallin’ and I Won’t Back Down.
The latter song seemed to be Petty’s mantra, such as fighting with his record company over its failed attempt to raise the price of one of his album. I remember an urgent version at that TV concert after 9/11.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers backed Johnny Cash on his second American Recordings album, Unchained (1996). It won a country album Grammy, but I foolishly thought it would be a big crossover hit. It only got up to #170, and lasted a mere two weeks. Tells you what I know.
Someone was mourning the death of Tom Petty on Facebook, and some jerk said that if you didn’t mourn the folks killed and wounded in Las Vegas, to which someone asked, “Can’t you do both?” Be sad about mass murder AND the loss of someone who had provided part of the soundtrack of their lives for the past four decades?
I’m going to wait awhile, maybe October 20, 2020, which would have been his 70th birthday, before I decide my favorite Tom Petty songs. But these are a few that came to mind in the past few days:
Refugee – Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
Even the Losers – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around – Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty
End Of The Line – The Traveling Wilburys
It’s Good To Be King – Tom Petty
You Don’t Know How It Feels – Tom Petty
Walls (Circus) – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (from “America” A Tribute to Heroes”)
Plus Coverville 1188: Tom Petty Tribute
And here are just some of the stories I read:
Tom Petty Was Perhaps Rock’s Greatest Writer of First Lines
Tom Petty Was Rock ’n’ Roll’s Ambassador to the World Even if he would have been the last one to admit it
Remembering Tom Petty’s Quirky Roles in The Postman and King of the Hill
Why the Loss of Tom Petty Feels So Deeply Personal
Tom Petty’s final interview: There was supposed to have been so much more
So scary how he was here one minute and reported to be gone the next.
During the Is He Or Isn’t He phase, this was the tweet of record:
CBS News: Tom Petty has died
Tom Petty: Don’t do me like that
I liked a lot of Tom Petty’s songs, and was sad when I heard he died, but I can’t say I was necessarily an actual fan. But, as you know, I’ve also seen many people being real jerks to other people doing things like mourning a just-died pop star they liked. But I don’t think those people really need an excuse to be jerks—but they also don’t have any justification, in my opinion.