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Tom Petty


Brian Fowler

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I didn't think things could get worse after this morning, but I'm sitting at work physically shaking and barely able to hold back tears right now.  

Listening to Tom Petty with my brothers is one of my first memories as a child.  I clearly remember going with them to Warehouse Music to buy my first walk-man and when they asked what tape I wanted to go with it, Tom Petty's greatest hits was an easy answer.  Living in the LA area my whole life, I feel like his music is just ingrained in the culture and soul of pretty much everywhere I love being and there's not a vacation/road trip/day at the beach/hike through the mountains/pretty much anything where his music wouldn't make an appropriate soundtrack. 

I was listening to a local radio station this morning, while driving my lady into Beverly Hills for work, after everything that happened in Vegas, and it was obvious that the station had given the DJ the greenlight to play whatever he wanted to help cheer people up.  I was just driving through LA, blasting the radio playing songs that NEVER get played and all I could think of was his Last DJ album . 

I like to think maybe he heard that on his way out and at least it would have made him happy.  

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One of the things that has bugged me about many musician deaths lately is they tend to be people I had not been given the pleasure of seeing in person yet. Thankfully, I was able to see Petty four years ago. Here's that set. This one really stings.

 

 

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Petty has a tremendous body of work with the Heartbreakers and The Traveling Wilburys, but the balls it took to bankrupt himself recording Damn the Torpedoes to fight his record company is something else. There's nothing like artists betting on themselves and winning. 

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What amazed me about Petty was after a long career of classic albums, big tours, and sold out arenas he comes out with Wildflowers. This is post his greatest hits release.  He's not a has-been but he's anything but current. He comes out with what from start to finish is one of a handful of perfect albums. 

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Sad to hear this.  

 

Both is VH1 behind the music and the Peter Bogdanovich doc Runnin' Down a Dream were really good.

 

He's definitely a guy who had great music and definitely had a number of classic music videos.

 

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1 hour ago, (BP) said:

Petty has a tremendous body of work with the Heartbreakers and The Traveling Wilburys, but the balls it took to bankrupt himself recording Damn the Torpedoes to fight his record company is something else. There's nothing like artists betting on themselves and winning. 

Wildflowers was the first CD I ever owned.  A relative gave it to me for a birthday gift.  Life-changing stuff.  Like, why did it take 13 years for anybody to tell me about music like THIS?

Easily one of the best gifts I ever got.

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I have been trying to think of a way to phrase this that isn't dreadfully grim, but can't come up with one. Yeah they are saying Tom is barely alive, but I have not seen anything at all so far disputing the report he doesn't have brain activity. That's gross to even type but there it is. I hope it's not as bad as it sounds and merely another oversight.

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Boy, MTV Classic is not good on labeling videos.  They've run a couple of Petty videos with other things mixed in, but they've had at least 3 or 4 of them wrong artist and songs listed, I always assumed the video info was on the actual video, not inserted otherwise.

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Gutted. Tom Petty was a constant in my life. He was an artist that stayed relevant long after a lot of his peers did. After watching a documentary on his life, I was amazed at all that he accomplished. He was produced by three legendary figures in Jimmy Iovine, Rick Rubin and Jeff Lynne. He recorded with two Beatles. Founded the Traveling Wilburys with four other guys that are also legends. He and most of the Heartbreakers served as the backing band for Johnny Cash on the American Recordings III album. He continued to write and record great music until the end. A lot of his peers were fine with resting on their laurels and playing the nostalgia circuit, he wasn't.

Wherever you are tonight, I wish you the best of everything, Tom.

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His run from 88-94 is legendary:

Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and 3

Into the Great Wide Open with the Heartbreakers

Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers on his own

Slapped a little number called "Mary Jane's Last Dance" on the Heartbreakers' Greatest Hits album and watched it go multiplatinum.

Shit, in that same window he wrote "Christmas All Over Again," one of the GOAT hokey Christmas pop songs.

That's a run as good as anybody's.

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My first exposure to Tom Petty was in 1990.  I was 14, and riding around with my friend in his mom's minivan.  She was playing Full Moon Fever, and Zombie Zoo came on, and I was kind of perplexed as to how anyone could like this guy with his weird, nasally voice singing about whatever the hell Zombie Zoo is about.  (14 year old me was an idiot.)  Three years later, I heard Mary Jane's Last Dance, and I finally got it.  I bought the Greatest Hits album, and have been a fan ever since.  RIP 

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7 hours ago, EVA said:

His run from 88-94 is legendary:

Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and 3

Into the Great Wide Open with the Heartbreakers

Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers on his own

Slapped a little number called "Mary Jane's Last Dance" on the Heartbreakers' Greatest Hits album and watched it go multiplatinum.

Shit, in that same window he wrote "Christmas All Over Again," one of the GOAT hokey Christmas pop songs.

That's a run as good as anybody's.

Then he and the rest of The Heartbreakers recorded Unchained with Cash in 95-96.

You know, just in case all that other stuff wasn't enough.

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Weird. I had just added basically his entire discography to my Apple Music app and was listening to Damn the Torpedoes at work Sunday night while all the craziness was happening on the Strip. Worked late because we got a huge influx of people that couldn'y get back to their hotels, came home, slept about 10 hours and woke up to this. Like someone else mentioned, part of the soundtrack of my life. Hard to believe it's real.

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