Me and Tom Petty

When I was a teenager, my friends and I headed to the downtown record stores to check out the new releases for that week.  Some of these were the latest from our favourite band while others were records we had been reading about in Circus Magazine.  And, sometimes, we just picked up a record whose jacket looked interesting.  The first Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album fell in to that last category.

It was the Fall of 1976. The sneer and black leather jacket on the cover said "punk rock."  That was good enough for me.  When I got the album home "Rockin Around With You" was close enough. Of course "Breakdown" came next and it certainly wasn't punk but, damn, it was great.  I was hooked by the songs and Mike Campbell's guitar playing.  Of course it was "American Girl" that sealed the deal and Tom Petty was one of mine!

July 5, 1980 New York City.  Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers play the Palladium (the Joe Perry Project opened the show).  It was the end of my first year at NYU and I was staying in the city to play in Born Ready.  This was the first time I saw the band live and it was mind blowing.  There were no bells and whistles and no fancy costumes.  You couldn't take your eyes off of Tom. This was straight up rock and roll and the energy of the band made the whole thing feel relentless.  At the end of the night I was exhausted and inspired.

It was September 2003 when I took Melanie to see the band for the first time. They played at the Molson Amphitheater in Toronto.  Melanie thought that she didn't know any of their songs.  Boy, was she wrong.  The band was on fire, as usual.  Tom was a total shamen that night.  It was magic.  They could do no wrong.

July 2014.  Career highlight. When you meet your heroes it can go one of two ways.  I've been lucky most of the time.  I brought CBC to LA to talk to Tom about their latest album and the upcoming tour. Prior to the start of the interview, I got to spend 10 minutes alone with him while we waited for make up to arrive.  I got to tell him my story and he smiled appreciatively and talked enthusiastically of the impending re-issue of the expanded Wildflowers.  I commended him on never writing any shitty songs.  He sniggered and said "Oh, we've written some real stinkers.  We just don't play them for anyone."

This past summer Tom and the troupe pulled in to Toronto on their 40th anniversary tour.  The band was excellent, as always but I didn't stay for the whole set.  The folks sitting behind me kept talking and it was distracting.  And, as much as I love the band, I'd seen them at their best and it felt too much like nostalgia to me.  I have no criticisms.  I have Top Petty radio programmed in my car.

I didn't get upset when I heard the news.  I sighed and posted a thank you for all of the great songs.  Tom Petty never released a bad record.  It was a remarkable run.  If you haven't already, watch the doc and read the biog. "She was an American Girl, raised on promises" and he delivered on the promises he made in 1976.