some wise words from Tom Petty

OK, but there isn't a single song that sticks in my head from Kelly Clarkson. It's a quality issue for me. The songs do not compare.

 

I have song that stick in my head from both, but obviously I've been hearing the Warwick songs for a lot longer and in much more varied situations.

And I'll admit that Bacharach wrote some mightily catchy stuff so the comparison might not be that fair. (Then again, one could argue that his stuff was TOO poppy and cutesy and catchy as well at times.) But do you agree that age and time and place have a lot to do with what we think makes one pop record better than another?

I would expect kids of the 60s to prefer Warwick and kids of the 00s to prefer Clarkson. I'm largely a kid of the 70s and can see the good and bad in both.

 

Petty's a smart guy and I know what he means.
There's just not a lot of good to great Rock music being made anymore by younger bands. Many I know feel the same way.
Regardless of what one thinks of American Idol, etc..., there has really been something lacking in new Rock music for a good 15 or more years. It's not the popular force it once was.
Petty is keeping the flame burning and knows it.
Pop, dance music, hip hop and rap...have all taken over the airwaves and that's what Joe and Josephine Average knows and likes now.
That's my perspective from what I've witnissed.
...and before you call me an old man...I saw the crowds here in the last 2 weeks coming from the Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Jay Z and Katy Perry shows. They were all sell outs and most of the crowd were kids (some really young) There was no one my age coming from these shows and yet this is what's popular now...
Most men over 50 know exactly what Petty means here without disecting every word.
Is he bitter? If so, he has every reason to be in many ways.
God bless him and The Heartbreakers.

 

I just have one wish related to Tom Petty: that classic rock radio stop playing one to two Tom Petty songs per hour. PLEASE back off suits....

 

Dudes, it's all good. If you can hear it, it's good. If you can't hear it, it's good. No such thing as quality - old old school way of thinking and being in the new world. If it sells, it's good. If it doesn't sell, it's good. Demographics is destiny. Judgment is hateful. Don't be a hater.

 

None of that stuff on American Idol is nowhere as good as those bacharach/warwick tunes. not close.
the american idols would take San Jose and turn into some sort of aria, like they do with just about every song. its awful, really.

 

So one can't have an opinion?
It's not All good. There are standards. It's just smart to be careful and mindful when it comes to an opinion that could hurt someone's feeling. For example all the little girls coming from Katy Perry's show were all smiles and telling us all on the subway how great it was. Do you think anyone was going to call them down for liking her?
No.
Too many apologists out there now that consider things like Maroon 5 and Train 'good' Rock bands and accept a lot of crap as the standard norm.
These same people also don't know as much about music as those with an informed opinion.
In some ways you need 'haters' and sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade when it comes to music. I've never in my life heard so much constant 'musical' childish sounding dreck being shoved my way when I'm out in public. It's really unacceptable at this point.
When you've been listening to Rock music as long and careful as Petty has, you know what you're talking about.
So do I.

 

You can find singers as good as most on American Idol in any Kareoke bar in Toronto on any night of the week.
These shows make kids want to be instant stars and singers when they have no business being so.
...and sorry, but nothing American Idol ever produced would I even have in my home as a coaster.
It's dreck.

 

He was being sarcastic.

 

Oops. Oh well, it gave this old man a reason to rant.

 

That's the crux of the issue - if people were more interested in Tom Petty's style/sound, then they'd be going to his concerts instead of Katy Perry's.

I mean, I can think of at least 2 or 3 of her songs that are stuck in my head.

 

Tom Petty will sell out our Air Canada Centre next month when he visits with Steve Winwood as guest.
It will likely be the best Rock show of the whole summer.
The kids get their Katy Perry (she just sold out 3 nights here); the adults get their Tom Petty. In that sense it's all good.

 

You really answered all of your own questions. Rock music is a 60 year old genre that hasn't changed it's basic format --- guitar, bass, drums --- in 60 years. Why SHOULD it still be popular? Why SHOULD there have been anything good from it in the last 15 years. Why WOULD anyone from your age go to see Lady Gaga and of course most men over 50 "know" exactly what Petty means.

All of that is nothing but simple passage of time, my friend. Why be bitter about it? Petty's an old man playing music for people his age to enjoy. What's wrong with that? Nothing. I'm of that age. I love my old Tom Petty records. But I should be upset that the world has moved on to different types of music? What on earth for?

Honestly, he sounds my grandpa who thinks there hasn't been anything good written since the end of WWII.

Keeping the flame burning is one thing. Being upset that the kids have their fire and won't bring their marshmallows over to yours is just silly.

 

Only if you don't understand what is actually involved in good singing.

So did The Beatles. So what?

I'm pretty sure they aren't trying to sell records to you.

 

You lost me at "hater".

 

Good points here, my friend.
Your right. Time marches on. Best to stick with what you like, follow who you love and discovering "new" music can also mean discovering music that's new to you even if it's older; it's something different to discover. That's what I did with Jazz. Got into it when Rock music by younger bands or artists started really boring me.

 

Who cares? Ignore (what you like) at your own will.

 

Substitute the word "dislikers"

 

It's narcissism.

 

Can't say I agree. Everyone's different, even us old guys.

Here's the bottom line, imo. The kids will be fine. I don't get why anyone's worried about them -- didn't we find our way when we were their age? If anything else, they have even more of an opportunity to enjoy whatever music they like than we ever did.

They'll enjoy their music, we'll enjoy ours and if there's some crossover (or not) then that's just how it is.

 

I love tom petty, but to say an arena show will be the best show of the summer is probably not accurate.

 

Don't take it all so seriously (myself included)
Petty has always ranted about something or other within the music business and when you've been around as long as he has, you have that right.
Let's praise the man for an unbelievable career run that includes (as far as I'm concerned) not one really weak album.
I don't agree that he hasn't done anything good since 1986 as was suggested earlier in this thread. The last album "Mojo" was smokin' hot.
Watch the great doc. "Runnin' Down A Dream"; these guys are all the real thing (but we all know that don't we)
Let's all just give Tom a break; he's only saying what all my friends always say over a beer when we talk music.

 

And I'll just add (for about the thousandth time on these forums).... There are still tons of young bands cranking out killer rock and roll.

 

If you know what will be coming to Toronto, I can guarantee that it will be one of the best shows of the summer.
Only thing close will be Soundgarden/NIN and Jack White both here within the next 2 weeks.

 

Standards change and vary. Petty was upset that the "game show winners" are presented as musicians when they are not.

Well, I'm surprised that someone who has been listening to music a careful as Petty supposedly has doesn't know this, but the "standard" for a musician when Petty was a kid was much, much higher. Used to be you couldn't get past the door to a paying music gig without years of formal study. Being able to sight-read. Understanding music theory. You didn't get to be considered a REAL musician if all you could do was play by ear and attach simple melodies to the same simple triads over and over. Tom Petty would have been tossed out on his ear trying to get a gig as a musician 30 years before he came on the scene.

But Chuck and Elvis and The Beatles come along and suddenly the "standards" change. A LOT of people were pissed about that. Most especially those who considered themselves to be REAL musicians. They thought the standards weren't being met. That things were being watered down. That anybody who could plug in an electric guitar and make some noise with it was now being considered a musician, taking up vital airtime on the radio, and being shoved down the throats of kids who didn't know any better about what REAL music was all about.

But the kids understood differently. They understood that the standards weren't being lowered. Simply that the playing field was different. It wasn't the same game anymore. They weren't trying to compete with Frank Sinatra for airtime and record sales. They couldn't care less if Frank sold one album or a million. They weren't on the same field.

You'd THINK a guy like Petty would get that since he's old enough to have lived through it. Apparently not...