Tom Petty - 1950 - 2017 RIP

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Joel1963, Oct 2, 2017.

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  1. Some new expanded stuff from Bruce on Tom Petty:



    Bruce Springsteen Remembers Tom Petty

    [​IMG]
    Rolling Stone

    David Fricke3 days ago


    [​IMG]© Robert Matheu Bruce Springsteen pays tribute to Tom Petty's songwriting genius, and looks back on the close bond he shared with the late artist.
    "Of course, you're shocked," Bruce Springsteen said two days after he dedicated the first preview performance of his New York solo residency, "Springsteen on Broadway," to the late Tom Petty. "Tom's only 66," Springsteen went on, "and he had just played a week ago." In our interview for Rolling Stone's feature tribute to Petty, Springsteen described the effect in his home when he received the news of the singer's death on October 2nd. "There were shrieks of horror. You couldn't quite believe it."

    In these additional excerpts from that conversation, Springsteen recalled Petty as an artist and friend. He also insisted that in Petty's absence, the music will carry on. As Springsteen said in the story, "Good songs stay written. Good records stay made." Petty "made a lot of great music, enough to carry people forward."

    There is this feeling, especially with rock & roll artists of a certain, classic vintage, that as we grow up with them, they will always be there for us. The sudden shock of a leaving like Petty's cuts deep.

    Tom is my generation. We were from the same generation of rock & rollers. And so you feel very close to those guys. There's not that many of them that have survived. I felt a real kinship with Tom and the Heartbreakers. We started around the same time. We had a lot of the same influences. We took it in slightly different directions, but there were still so many places where we crossed over. He had a great band that he had for a very long time and a special relationship with [guitarist] Mike Campbell, like the very special relationships that I've had. And Mike produced Patti's first album [Rumble Doll, the 1993 solo debut by Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa].

    You and Petty both came up through the hard graft of bar gigs and cover versions, figuring out how to write songs – what you wanted to express – from that experience.

    It was an old-school way that doesn't happen as much anymore. It lent you a certain kinship. When you met each other, you had a lot of the same experiences, a lot of the same disappointments, a lot of the same successes. And my recollection of the time I spent with him was very lovely. When we left California, I didn't see him as much. But when I did, it was like bumping into a long, lost brother. Patti and I – we were devastated. It's unimaginable, losing him.

    How would you characterize the musical differences between you and Petty?

    Tom was a great classicist. He followed those forms pretty religiously. I veered slightly away from some of those things, into other things. But what was charming and exciting about the Heartbreakers was their formalism. It was kind of like the great bands of the Sixties, like the Beatles. It was a guitar band, something I envied very much. Because when we tried to push the guitars [in the E Street Band], it never quite worked for us. But they were a real guitar band.

    And the music was beautifully written, beautifully constructed. He had an ear to the classics. But Tom's attitude and personality, his own vision, gave it a modern edge.

    Petty had a unique connection to women in the way he wrote about them. He didn't idealize them; he told stories about them, grounded in a reality that his female fans recognized: "American Girl," "Refugee," "Listen to Her Heart."

    That was unique about what he did. It was an unusual way to go, and those were some of his most beautiful songs. "Here Comes My Girl" was one of my all-time favorites. Of course "American Girl," but also "Free Fallin'" – it's a song with a girl as the protagonist. He did something unique in that.
    Petty once told me of a conversation he had with you at the time of his legal battles with his record company over "Damn the Torpedoes." He said you gave him some very encouraging advice. What was it?

    Well, I'd been through it [a reference to Springsteen's legal problems with a former manager in 1976–77, after the success of Born to Run]. I always knew one thing. They can take this away. They can take that away. They can't take your talent. They can't take the music. They can't take the fact that you can walk out onstage on any given night and light up the room. And isn't that the most valuable thing we have? It's the gift. The rest of the stuff is going to sort itself out. It might be painful at the moment. But it will take its course, and you will come out on top, because you've got the magic. They can't take the magic.

    This is a push-comes-to-shove question: Do you have a favorite Tom Petty album?

    I liked the record he did with Jimmy [Iovine] back in the day, Damn the Torpedoes. But I like some of the offbeat things too. I like Southern Accentsand Wildflowers. Patti loved Wildflowers. It was the gentleness of it. And that particular song ["Wildflowers"] was just beautiful. So we've got a lot of favorites.

    Actually, Jimmy Iovine was something else you and Petty had in common. You made Darkness on the Edge of Town with Iovine. You and Petty often seemed like you were on parallel tracks, more than other artists of that era.

    I always felt that. We were always keeping an eye on one another.

    Competitively? Genially ...

    Of course, genially – and competitively. [Laughs] That's musicians.
     
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2017
  2. Christopher B

    Christopher B Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Castle, DE
    Is Tom Petty Radio on SiriusXM going to continue or will it end sometime soon ? I'd like it to continue obviously but dont know what Sirius' plans are.
     
  3. White_Noise

    White_Noise Forum Resident

    Location:
    Templeton, MA
    I really didn't see this coming. He still looked healthy and vibrant. He was playing as well as ever right up to the end. I'm going to be listening to all of his songs today and I feel sad. I'm glad he was seemingly happy till the end ...I do feel really sad for Dhani though. Apparently he was like a second dad to him.
     
  4. ggg71

    ggg71 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    Bonddm likes this.

  5. Here's a couple Tom- Bruce threads for your reading pleasure, since closed but contains good posts:

    POLL: Tom Petty VS. Springsteen - Who Writes/Sings Slow Songs Better?

    Springsteen and Tom Petty - Their Best LIVE Cover Songs???
     
    Hep Alien likes this.
  6. Dflow

    Dflow Listening in the time of Dylan

    Here is the video - from one Wilbury to another.
     
  7. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    There's two or three soundboard/FM recordings from there touring.
     
  8. Sean Murdock

    Sean Murdock Forum Intruder

    Location:
    Bergenfield, NJ
    A really great, sincere performance by Bob...
     
    supermd, Rockinrob, Hep Alien and 8 others like this.
  9. Dougr33

    Dougr33 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Twin Cities, MN
    Petty's death really bummed me out. I graduated from HS in '77, which was an awesome year for music for me. I thought his first album was '77, but it's Nov. '76. But '77 also brought the first Clash, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello albums, the first Peter Gabriel solo, and the first of Bowie's Eno-produced albums. So maybe just feeling old. Weirdly, just last night I finally finished binging The Handmaiden's Tale, and the credits song of the last episode was Petty's Won't Back Down. What an awesome talent he was.
     
  10. goodboyfred

    goodboyfred Forum Resident

    Bob Dylan knocks it out of the park.
     
  11. Dflow

    Dflow Listening in the time of Dylan

    I couldn't agree more. I have seen Bob several times in recent years and with his voice being so much stronger and more clear than even just five years ago - each time he introduces something new to the set - other than his Sinatra related work - it really is a treat. Given the extra emotion tied to this cover Bob and the band really did hit it a country mile.
     
    supermd, Rockinrob, Hep Alien and 4 others like this.
  12. Hep Alien and Dflow like this.
  13. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
  14. windfall

    windfall Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    Great little excerpt from the Runnin Down a Dream doc
     
    Hep Alien and rednoise like this.
  15. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
    I know some people here don't care for Dave Grohl, but Foo Fighters covered "Breakdown" last week on what would've been Petty's 67th. Grohl mentions sitting in on drums for a week with the Heartbreakers. I still remember them playing "Honey Bee" on Saturday Night Live. I'll post that next.

     
  16. Planbee

    Planbee Negative Nellie

    Location:
    Chicago
  17. KinkySmallFace1991

    KinkySmallFace1991 Will you come back to me, Sweet Lady Genevieve?

    Today, thanks to a good fellow Petty-crazy friend of mine (not on this board to my knowledge), I finally acquired Mojo Tour 2010 [Deluxe Edition] and Live 2013! While they are the inferior, brickwalled MP3s (DR ranges between 7 and 9 when run through JRiver), at this point, in my quest to acquire rare Petty, I'd rather have the two releases hot-mastered than not have them at all. Two outstanding releases, Warner Music should either a) bring them back for Petty fan club members or b) release them to the general public (even though that various tracks on both make up both volumes of Kiss My Amps).
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2017
  18. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

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  19. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Southern Pacific and Emmylou Harris had a country hit with this Tom Petty cover:
     
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  20. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
  21. Finch Platte

    Finch Platte Lettme Rundatt Bayou

    Location:
    NorCal
    If this hasn't been mentioned, TP is on the cover of Rolling Stone. Great pic.
     
  22. AppleCorp3

    AppleCorp3 Forum Resident

    Every time I hear something from Wildflowers or "Mary Janes Last Dance" I can vividly picture the bus ride home from middle school. Someone brought their boom box and would play those.

    Must have been 8th grade because we were all in the back.

    I still remember the sly smile some of the kids got on the lines "let's roll another joint" and "had a good lookin' mama."

    So rebellious!!
     
    Fullbug likes this.
  23. Malina

    Malina Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
  24. Opeth

    Opeth Forum Resident

    Location:
    NH
    I still can't believe how great highway companion, mojo and hypnotic eye are, I never really heard anything after 1993 even on the radio. I watched the first half of Runnin Down a Dream last night, such a loss. The music lives on !
     
    dougb222 and Sean Murdock like this.
  25. Trixie Jones

    Trixie Jones Raining in my heart

    Location:
    L.A.
    Love his dry, laconic sense of humor. No wonder he and George Harrison were such good friends.
     
    Hep Alien and Sean Murdock like this.
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