Rest in Peace, Tom Petty

In the shadow of one of the worst shootings in American history, in between the news network full coverage, and the madness that follows such things, we have lost one of our great musical lights. Tom Petty was found unconscious yesterday morning, and finally, after much heartache and misinformation, pronounced dead of cardiac arrest at the age of 66, early last night.

The first time I saw or heard Tom Petty, or Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, was in the movie FM, friends had referred to him as the new Mick Jagger. I don't know how accurate that is or was, but it was memorable. His music was the sound of my teens, my twenties, and so on, it truly mapped the 1970s, the 1980s, and 1990s for me. Hard Promises was one of three albums I bought with my very first paycheck. The great thing about Petty albums consistently is that you not only got the hits like "A Woman in Love (It's Not Me)" and "The Waiting," you also got AOR tunes and hidden gems like "A Thing About You," "Kings Road," and "The Criminal Kind." Yeah, I wore those grooves out.

I can remember having two, not just one, cassettes of Tom Petty's songs recorded from the radio when I first got a cassette recorder. He was an FM rock favorite and almost all of his music got airplay. Even before I graduated high school in 1982 (and Petty was white suburban FM rock and roll then) he had a catalog that included some of the best of the time, from "American Girl" and "Breakdown" to "Listen to Her Heart" and "I Need to Know." He was not a favorite, like Bowie or Prince, but man, he was always there, and always rocking. Yeah, he was a favorite, I just didn't know it.

Later favorite albums would include Long After Dark, which holds a special place in my heart for getting me my first date with a college girlfriend. She was a Petty fan, and my inside knowledge of when the album was coming out (easily found in Billboard magazine which I read obsessively when I worked at the college radio station) dazzled her enough to date me. This album also included Petty's move into the MTV era from that of FM AOR. I remember loving the post-apocalyptic music video for "You Got Lucky," the red vinyl single for "Change of Heart," and my favorite tune off the album, the B-side "Between Two Worlds."

My favorite Petty song comes from the next album Southern Accents, an album full of oddities mixed into the usual southern rock and roll highlights. This one had the hilarious country ditty "Spike" about a punk rocker, as well as the hit single with acid trip video, "Don't Come Around Here No More," coolly co-written by genius co-producer Dave Stewart from Eurythmics. But it was the weird dance vibe of "It Ain't Nothin' to Me," also with Stewart, that still blows me away. I don't know why, but I love this song even today and turn it up whenever I hear it.

Later Tom Petty, already a superstar in his own right, would officially go solo from the Heartbreakers, and also join with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Obrbison, and George Harrison to form the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. Petty, with and without the Heartbreakers, would continue to release albums and singles through to 2014. He was always producing and always innovating. We have lost another legend, a man who filled my life with music, creating a soundtrack of memories. We will all miss Tom Petty. Rest in peace, man.

Lost Hits of the New Wave #29

"Bop 'Til You Drop" by Rick Springfield



There was a time when Rick Springfield was cool, we may all want desperately to want to forget it, but it's true. Memory is a tricky thing. We may want to remember Rick Springfield as bubble gum pop, but there was a time he was considered not only rock, but even a little tiny bit new wave. I heard "Jessie's Girl" for the first time on WMMR, and follow-ups "Affair of the Heart," and the two videos featured here, all on WYSP during their new music hour.

Rick Springfield was impossibly huge in the early 1980s, between his music career, appearances on "General Hospital," and even a feature film Hard to Hold, before vanishing into semi-obscurity.

The truth is that he had been around a long time before his 'overnight success,' was a minor pop idol and even had his own Saturday morning cartoon in the 1970s. And after, he was the original "Forever Knight," the original "Human Target," and released what I think his best album, Tao.

I fully agree with my online friend DJ Marilyn Thomas, "Bop 'Til You Drop" is a New Wave song, no matter what you say, you selective memory music heathens.

And then there's this one...

"Human Touch" by Rick Springfield



Rocker trying desperately to be new wave in a music video, trying to capitalize on the odd music video fashions of the time, pretending it's the future, and looking uncomfortable the whole time - check. For a long time, this was what music videos looked like. At least it's not...

"You Got Lucky" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers



Wow, the future looked kinda bleak in the early 1980s...

Lost Hits of the New Wave #17

"Shelter" by Lone Justice

Lone Justice, fronted by Maria McKee, was formed in 1982 as part of the Los Angeles cowpunk (I bet there's a word y'all haven't heard in ages) scene. With help at different times from Tom Petty and Steven Van Zandt, they managed to chart with "Shelter," but were unable to have any higher charting singles.

Maria McKee went on to have a solo singing career but has been much more successful as a songwriter, penning hits for Bette Midler, Feargal Sharkey, and the Dixie Chicks.




Special thanks to my Twitter buddy Cathi for reminding me of this one. Sadly, I had forgotten.

Quickies 3-4-2007

God Said, "Ha!" - I have always been a fan of Julia Sweeney's work on the big and small screens and her writing. Well, almost everything. I can't say I've ever been a fan of her "It's Pat," which unfortunately what she is primarily known for. There is thankfully very little of "Pat" in this flick. God Said, "Hi!" is Julia's fairly successful one-woman stage show set on film. She talks about her experiences with a brother dying from lymphoma and her own battle with cancer. She manages to inject humor into the situations smoothly and effortlessly. There are also difficult parts where you know she's having trouble continuing where you know know she just wants to run off stage crying. Sweeney holds it together though, and puts on a wonderfully bittersweet and amusing show.

FM - This used to be one of my favorite movies both before and after I worked in radio. Unfortunately with the radio industry so changed in the last decade or so, the entire concept of this flick is outdated, like a piece of ancient history. Many hilarious performances, Martin Mull especially, displays why he was so popular in the 1970s. Highlights include bits of a Linda Ronstadt concert and a Tom Petty cameo. Great music of the era.

The Conversation - A terrific thriller that I can watch again and again. I never tire of Gene Hackman in this one. He is at his most intense pre-Luthor brilliance. His character reputedly even reappears in 1998's Enemy of the State. Great twist ending and fun early performances by Harrison Ford, Cindy Williams and Teri Garr.