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Why is Tom Petty so revered?

When I came home and first saw this thread, I had just heard Petty on the radio. When I left this morning, after reading more responses, Petty was on the radio. Everytime I've read this thread, I have heard Petty either 30 minutes before, or 30 minutes after.

Just thought that was interesting.

I love Tom Petty. He writes great tunes, with great playing, with a simple message, that takes on a specific depth for every listener.
 
I must admit I have never been a fan. I personally thought he was a mediocre song writer with a mediocre band in an era of some truly great bands. The one thing he did (like Springsteen) was he stuck to his guns during all of the changes in pop music of the 80's and 90's instead of changing his sound or becoming irrelevant he just went to work harder and he managed to build a loyal legion of fans, kinda like a pop Grateful Dead. He didn't change his sound like Chicago or EW & F he just did his thing and proved there is always a market for good Rock and Roll. I doubt he'll be doing a duet with Kayne or stage show with a bunch of high fashion dancing chicks anytime soon. Basically the man knows his limitations.
 
I doubt he'll be doing a duet with Kayne or stage show with a bunch of high fashion dancing chicks anytime soon. Basically the man knows his limitations.

And it's to his credit that he won't. Some people would call that a "limitation," others would call it a smart move. Trying to make a musical hook-up with the flavor du jour isn't exactly TP's style. And his fans love him for that - just solid musical values, great performances, tunes that are deceptively simple.
 


[email protected] Here:

Most of you guys are bass players.
The trick it to be a musician that plays bass.

Tom Petty writes good songs. The band is almost perfect.

They groove and rock. Very simple, very smart, very intellignent.

They are great. Might not be your type of music, but not to be overlooked.

Very serious band. Excellant.

Hey, Huey Lewis was too old to be a rock star.

Ever hear the sports album? ............. Same thing. The band is almost flawless. Great songs done high end. Truly great.

Both these bands groove and rock. Both are a great study for any musician.

Real Pros.

Have a Great one........... Later


 
I once heard an interview where Tom Petty was responding to criticism that maybe his songs were too simple musically. He basically countered the criticism by issuing a challenge to any band to cover one of his songs and make it sound as good as his band. In the 30 some-odd years that I have listened to his stuff, I have yet to hear anyone do a great Tom Petty cover. I guess he was right....
 
No, it doesn't. Tom Petty is entirely off the radar, any radar.

What was that line from the Hangover? "You are literally too stupid to insult." Or something like that.

TP's music continues to sell, a lot. His shows continue to sell out when other tours get cancelled from utter lack of interest. Why? becuase the man is just plain cool. Alway has been cool, stays true to himself and his fans and has a damn solid band behind him.

My 16 year-old son and all of his friends, who love Disturbed, A7+, and a bunch of other new bands not on my radar LOVE TP & the Heartbreakers. So yes, they're on plenty of radar screens and have managed to cross several generations.

Just because he's not on your tiny little radar screen doesn't mean he isn't filling up plenty of others.

All you have to do is open your tiny little mind and go to one of his shows, then you'll now why people dig the guy.
 
My 16 year-old son and all of his friends, who love Disturbed, A7+, and a bunch of other new bands not on my radar LOVE TP & the Heartbreakers. So yes, they're on plenty of radar screens and have managed to cross several generations.
I asked my 15-year-old nephew (big ska fan)today for his knowledge of Petty. He knew the name immediately, could name several songs, and enlightened me on the fact that TP was named one of the 50 greatest artists by VH1. I mentioned that TP has always had pretty good tasty guitar stuff on his tunes, and got a hearty agreement. He pronounced Petty "pretty cool". So a ringing endorsement there. Did I mention he's 15? He's a good kid. :D

JSK5String said:
All you have to do is open your tiny little mind...
Now now, don't be too tough on the lad! :p But opening one's mind, whatever size it is, is usually educational.

One more thing, TP did the best version of "Route 66" (live and crankin'!) I've ever heard. I need to buy that!
 
ZZ Top, while one of my all time favs, jumped the shark decades ago with all the ridiculous programmed crap. They practically got booed off the stage more than once in the late 80s when there DAT machines crashed. PATHETIC.

Didn't even know Mescalero existed until just now, yet that is supposed to be somehow ON the radar more than TP? ZZ Top's last charting song was "Rough Boy", the ballad off the drum machine record in like 1988. Sorry, but the trio of banditos rendered themselves irrelevant a LOOOONG time ago.

TP = real musicians, real songs, delivered by real performances. Still posting tunes on the charts 30+ years in, and not rehashed, mailed-in, crap like the Stones. Tom Petty's songs are still fresh, sharp, and every bit of it still full of soul and validity.


To the younguns: believe it or not, music does not have to contain endless tri-tones, double kick triplets, and some moron howling like the cookie monster, for it to be relevant.
 
I asked my 15-year-old nephew (big ska fan)today for his knowledge of Petty. He knew the name immediately, could name several songs, and enlightened me on the fact that TP was named one of the 50 greatest artists by VH1. I mentioned that TP has always had pretty good tasty guitar stuff on his tunes, and got a hearty agreement. He pronounced Petty "pretty cool". So a ringing endorsement there. Did I mention he's 15? He's a good kid. :D


Now now, don't be too tough on the lad! :p But opening one's mind, whatever size it is, is usually educational.

One more thing, TP did the best version of "Route 66" (live and crankin'!) I've ever heard. I need to buy that!

My mind was equally close at his age, but it was Geddy and the boys that did it! Age makes most of us open up a bit, doesn't it!?!
 
Funny to hear fans kind of 'claim' him as one of their own because of his geography, and Florida roots. It's funny to me, because I've lived in SoCal pretty much my whole life, and I've always felt he captures the general vibe of this local. Amidst all the hustle, and all the LA glitz, he's managed to keep with the tempo of the people from here, IMHO. I'm a surfer and so are many of my friends, and that mellow vibe kind of connects with the surfing lifestyle. So it's funny when I hear guys from Florida claiming him when we've always kind of claim him. Perhaps this is another aspect of his appeal.
 
It is unusual, and I'm trying to think of another artist claimed as "one of their own" by regions so far apart. Can't think of another.

Petty has almost always pushed the Southern-roots aspects of his music (if not necessarily the Florida-roots aspect), and it seems like he's pushed that even more in recent years, with the Mudcrutch reunion the most recent evidence of that.

But ... back to that double-coast identity. Sounds like a good topic for a grad-school paper - American Studies? Musicology?


Funny to hear fans kind of 'claim' him as one of their own because of his geography, and Florida roots. It's funny to me, because I've lived in SoCal pretty much my whole life, and I've always felt he captures the general vibe of this local. Amidst all the hustle, and all the LA glitz, he's managed to keep with the tempo of the people from here, IMHO. I'm a surfer and so are many of my friends, and that mellow vibe kind of connects with the surfing lifestyle. So it's funny when I hear guys from Florida claiming him when we've always kind of claim him. Perhaps this is another aspect of his appeal.