Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were a great band, and Tom himself was another vastly talented musician who we lost far too soon.
Tom, after growing up in Gainesville, Florida – making him, we suppose, a Florida Man – his life was changed at age 10 when he met Elvis Presley. After that, going into rock & roll seemed the only possible path forward, so he started a band called the Epics, which band later changed its name to Mudcrutch. Those efforts didn’t bear much fruit, so after a brief attempt at a solo career, in 1975 Tom joined former bandmates Mick Campbell and Benmont Tench, along with Ron Blair and Stan Lynch, to form the Heartbreakers. While the band saw some members come and go, Tom Petty remained their frontman until he died in 2017. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
Tom was also a member of the rock-star supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, who surely deserve a Friday post all on their own, and he also did some great duets with Stevie Nicks, with whom he maintained a long-term friendship that resulted in Stevie inspiring one of his songs – more on that in a moment.
It’s hard to pick out six great Tom Petty tunes, but I gave it my best shot.
Don’t Come Around Here No More (1985): In addition to proving that Tom Petty was a far better Mad Hatter than Johnny Depp ever dreamed of being, this song has a story behind it. The moment came when Tom, on the morning after a party, awoke on a couch in Stevie Nicks’ Malibu home, only to hear Stevie shouting at her ex-boyfriend Joe Walsh. Stevie yelled at Joe, “Don’t come around here no more!” Tom took it from there.
Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With Five Great '80s Music Videos
The Waiting Is The Hardest Part (1981): Tom Petty once explained how this song sprang from a Janis Joplin quote wherein Joplin explained that she loved being onstage, and everything else was “just waiting.” Tom, talking to UCR’s Dave Lifton, said:
Roger McGuinn swears that he said it to me. Maybe he did. I don't think so. I think I got it from the Janis Joplin quote. That's where it stuck in my mind. I don't think she said, 'The waiting is the hardest part,' but it was something to that effect: 'Everything else is just waiting.' And so that's where that came from.
I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s as good a story as any.
Free Fallin’ (1989): From Tom’s solo album, “Full Moon Fever,” this song was written by Tom and Jeff Lynne. Tom later said he wrote the song “just to make Jeff Lynne laugh.”I Won’t Back Down (1989): Again from “Full Moon Fever,” this one was recorded with ex-Beatle playing guitar, and was written in response to some kook who had set Tom’s home on fire. It’s an ode to defiance in the face of an enemy, and I can get behind that.Read More: Start Your Weekend Right With 6 Great '80s-Era Fleetwood Mac Songs
Refugee (1979): This song takes me back to my senior year of high school, when it was a new release getting a lot of play on FM radio. Back to Tom with the Heartbreakers; this song was from the band’s second studio album, “Damn the Torpedoes,” and was one of Tom and the band’s best – gritty and tough.
Wild Thing (1982): And, finally, something Tom and the Heartbreakers didn’t seem to do a lot of – a cover. Originally recorded by an American band, The Wild Ones, in 1965, it didn’t go anywhere until the 1966 version we all know and remember by an English band, The Troggs. Tom put his own spin on it and dip me in you-know-what if this isn’t my favorite version.If you are, like me, of a certain age, an age that involved some gray (or white) hair, then you probably have some favorite Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers tunes of your own. So, as always, the comments are all yours!
