Tom Petty ’s Wisdom and Will Transformed American Music Forever

Tom Petty, who passed away on Tuesday at 66, felt like part of the rock firmament in a way that was different from your Pauls, your Micks, your Anguses. Both solo and with his storming backing band The Heartbreakers, Petty specialized in a loose-limbed style of rock that grooved as it felt utterly human, with Petty’s wizened voice, full of wisdom even when it was recounting the simplest boy-loses-girl yarns, leading the way. His formidable catalog, which spans the biting “Refugee” and the dreamy “Free Fallin’,” the sardonic “Into the Great Wide Open” and the gently menacing “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” the determined “Runnin’ Down A Dream” and the chiming “The Waiting,” encapsulates a particularly American ideal — it’s music for the open road that chews on humanity’s foibles in a way that doesn’t short-circuit its pleasure. This year, Petty and his band celebrated four decades of making music together, with their final show as a band taking place at the Hollywood Bowl — about an hour east from Petty’s adopted home of Malibu, Calif. Petty had been playing in The Heartbreakers alongside guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench — who were also in the country-rock band Mudcrutch — since 1975. Hailing from Gainesville, Fla., Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their self-titled debut in 1976. Its initial reception f...
Source: TIME.com: Top Science and Health Stories - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Music tom petty Source Type: news