Tom Petty, the definitive rock and roll star and one of the finest musicians of our times, died of a cardiac arrest recently. Kalyani Majumdar pays tribute.
Published in The Free Press Journal; December 5, 2019
Just last year in an interview with the Rolling Stone magazine, Tom Petty had mentioned that his 2017 live performances might be the ‘last big one’. He was scheduled to perform in New York this November. However, on October 2, 2017, the world woke up to the shocking news of his demise. Petty was a singer, songwriter and musician with a career that spanned for almost five decades. His musical journey is an inspiration to us to never give up on our dreams. Perhaps, the most endearing aspect of his personality was that even after becoming a rock star, he remained modest, and never forgot where he came from.
Growing up in Gainesville
Tom Petty was born in Gainesville, Florida on October 20, 1950. He came from a very humble background with his father and mother both working to make ends meet. What many don’t know about Petty is that he had a Native American connection too, as his paternal grandmother was a Native American. Petty’s father was a heavy drinker and was quite critical about his son’s passion for music and irked him that he wanted to make a career as a musician. His mother was supportive and even encouraged him to pursue his dream. In several interviews Petty spoke of how people in his hometown told him that he could never be a rock star. But that didn’t deter him from his life path to become a rock icon.
Elvis Presley and Beatles
Petty was only 11 when Elvis Presley came down to Florida to shoot a film. Petty’s uncle worked on a movie crew and took Petty along with him, to see Presley. In the book Conversations with Tom Petty he described that moment when he saw Presley, “He stepped out radiant as an angel. He seemed to glow and walk above the ground.” It was life changing for Petty. Henceforth, he started to collect Elvis record albums and listened to them day in and day out. It was 1964, a British group was taking over America. It was the Beatles. Petty, now a teenager was caught in Beatles fever like every kid growing up in the ’60s. He even started wearing his hair like the Beatles. His long hair posed problems in his school and also with his father. Petty practiced Beatles’ songs from the songbook on his electric guitar. From then on, he knew he wanted to be a musician and didn’t keep a fall back plan in case he failed. That was not an option for the young Petty.
Music and Tom Petty
Before fame came to Tom Petty he had formed a band in 1970 called Mudcrutch. They played in his hometown of Gainesville. After they broke up in 1975 some of the band members came together to form the Heartbreakers. Their album, Breakdown in 1976 helped Petty to get into the mainstream music scene. However, it was, Damn the Torpedoes in 1979 that was the breakthrough album for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers receiving rave reviews from Rolling Stone magazine. Refugee and Don’t Do Me Like That were the songs from this album that made it to the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. But the best from Petty was yet to come.
In 1989, Tom Petty released his album, Full Moon River and with this album Petty was a global star. There is hardly anyone that has not heard Free Fallin’ and I Won’t Back Down, perhaps even hummed along with Petty’s voice in the background. This was the album that had given some of the major hit songs in his career. His album, Into The Great Wide Open, again is considered a classic rock album with a lineup of amazing songs, Learning To Fly and Into The Great Wide Open became extremely popular.
I Won’t Back Down
The song, I Won’t Back Down could easily be Petty’s personal anthem. Even through hard times in his life Petty never backed down. In 1979, when he had legal issues with his recording company he stopped the release of Damn the Torpedoes by announcing bankruptcy, till the company cleared the issue. For his next album, Hard Promises, his recording company was planning to raise the cost of albums, Petty was appalled by it, hence stood his ground by threatening not to release the album. The record company had to come around.
More Music and Collaborations
Tom Petty was in this business purely for the love of music and even after achieving stardom he never lost his focus from creating good music. He was always collaborating with other artists such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and so on. In the 80s Petty was part of a super group, The Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison as the band members. Together they created many beautiful songs.
In 1982 with MTV coming into the music scene, Tom Petty saw it as a great opportunity to use it as an artistic platform to express his music. His videos were different as they were mini movies. Who could forget Petty with his top hats that he wore in those videos. No wonder, he was the mad hatter in Don’t Come Here No More. Some of his videos could be considered quiet morbid, but nonetheless, they were creative and won awards.
His Southern accent, calm demeanour and uncomplicated songs that always had a sing-along quality has left a lasting impression on generations of music lovers worldwide. And no, he was not your regular pinup rock star. He never planned to be one. He let his music be the star. Maybe that is why he was relatable, and his songs were your songs, everyone’s songs.
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