Musicians have been talking crap about each other since the Neanderthal Cave Man Quartet days. Huey Lewis and the News is the type of band that if you were a teen riding in the car with a top 40 station on and one of their songs came on your parents wouldn't complain about it. or change the station. To me there is absolutely nothing wrong with that especially in this day and age where our consumption of music is so splintered. MTV really made them and I'm sure that had to annoy someone like Petty who busted his tail for years before breaking thru. I don't own any Huey records and I'm not a fan of his music but was sad to learn his career ended due to hearing issues. He seems like a decent guy.
Eh, Petty was aided greatly as well by MTV, who played his videos non-stop for the entire 80's. Sure, he and his band likely make it anyway even without that support, and it is certainly easy to argue that Huey and his band may not have without MTV, but Petty's popularity in the 80's likely doesn't sky rocket the way it did without MTV.
TBH there was a 3 year period in the 80s when Huey and co were marking terrific music and Tom was in a career free fall. The quote does not reflect well on Tom IMHO. It does not make anything he said worth further consideration.
Good point. Damn the Torpedoes was a hit before MTV but the video for Don't Come Around Here No More was played so often I can still remember every detail of it. I'm sure that did serve to introduce Petty to some younger folks.
For sure. And I got sick of both Free Fallin' and I Won't Back Down really fast as both were played seemingly every hour for months on MTV in the late 80's.
I saw Tom and Huey on back to back nights at Summerfest Milwaukee in 2017. And I have to agree with Tom. I actually sent an email to my friends back home in Australia about both concerts that said Tom was pure magic and Huey is like the Miller Lite of rock n roll. Mass produced and designed to go down easy. Literally almost exactly what Tom is getting at here.
It like apples and pears. Or some snooty critic looking down his nose at whatever is popular. The two artists over their careers are not worthy of comparison but that does not make Tom’s conceited opinion valid. The public voted with their wallets in the opposite direction and to be fair there is a fair bit of so-so output in the Petty catalogue.
You saw Huey 30 years after his peak and think that is a fair comparison - legacy act versus active artist? Compare them at Huey’s peak and it would be a very different race.
Without context, this seems totally random. Why was Tom Petty even commenting on Huey Lewis though? Thing is Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were a glorified bar band. Then we could extend it to his fellow Wilbury. It's not as if Jeff Lynde was exactly oozing with talent as a vocalist and guitarist.
Yeah well Tom did not see it that way and although he is the greater artist, it does seem like he had a fairly high opinion of himself. The recent behaviour of his estate seems to make it genetic.
I didn't have MTV in 1982 but I think "You Got Lucky" probably got a lot of play, too. It was a pretty "fancy" video for the day!
Tom Petty was 29 and on his 3rd album when he "broke through". Huey Lewis was 32 and on his 2nd album when he "broke through". Love him, hate him or otherwise, Lewis "busted his tail for years" as well before he gained real success. He wasn't some kid who got a contract at 20, made a video and enjoyed overnight success...
The fact that Huey was just a legacy act (or a legacy act in the making) for most of his career speaks volumes. And I say that as someone who’s only owned one or two Petty albums over the years (and haven’t owned any for about 10 years) — but it’s clear that Petty had a significantly more varied and important output of the two. Huey never was anything more than a fun band who played popular and very middle-of-the road music that did garner some hits and significant radio play (some might argue a some overplay too, at the time). Looking back at his hit singles a moment ago, to remind myself of them, and the word that comes to mind is “pablum”. I’m hearing the choruses of half of them in my head now, and none of it has aged well, by my reckoning (I was about to try and say “imho” — but clearly I have a somewhat strong viewpoint on this one). Whether Tom should have said this on tape or not is immaterial. Any argument that Mr. Lewis and his News Organization were anything more significant, is almost laughable.
TP wasn’t comparing Huey Lewis’ music to his, but rather expressing his opinion of it. Their efforts really shouldn’t be compared as they were obviously aiming for different audiences, but I will express my opinion that Petty likely took rock ‘n’ roll a bit too seriously and perhaps should have relaxed and had a bit more fun. As for me, Huey Lewis’ music is feel-good music requiring little to no thought, whereas Petty’s music provokes thought. I am not a thinker! Personally, I do not want to engage my brain when I take in music and I quite enjoy Huey Lewis’ material; It makes me tap my feet and smile! P.S. I wonder if anyone asked Petty what he thought of disco!
Although I agree Petty is more creative and a great songwriter, a lot of his biggest songs seem just as superficial as Huey’s. I was big into Huey when I was a kid and laying in bed at night his songs would take me away into the lyrics. Especially those lonesome ones like Finally Found A Home. Was into Petty in my teens but have since moved on from both of them. Now I feel more nostalgia for Huey Lewis. For whatever that’s worth.
News alert: musicians whose work you like (and even musicians you work with) might not have the same opinion as you about other artists.
So why this thread other than to demean a guy that earned his stripes and it seems a condescending arrogant comment from Tom Petty?
