does tom petty have any redeeming qualities?

Oliver: In grade school I thought his version of "So You Want to Be a Rock n Roll Star" was one of the worst songs I'd ever heard.

Josh: I have. And I switched off the radio when he came on.

John: He is??? Should I still take your word on checking out Trey Azagoth, I wonder.

I like Tom Petty but own none of his records.

and i'll stick my neck out even further and say that "American Girl" is a classic rock tune i'll never tune out in the car, and it bugs the hell outta me when shits like the Goo Goo Dolls or Everclear (who, i concede, are probably about as close to a modern equivalent as Mr. Petty has) butc

I liked "You Got Lucky" and a few of his earlier hits (notably "Refugee") but everything since has been prety mediocre at best.

Stan Lynch's playing on "The Waiting" is one of my favorite drum recordings ever.

His major flaw, for me, is his association with Jeff Lynne.

while nothing he's done even approaches the greatness that is Leave Home, I agree with Dark Horse about the 'wtf???' head-scratching thread title.

A consistent and often great songwriter, expressive vocalist (really!) and the Heartbreakers were (are) the perfect band for Petty - classic u fules

Also, and I know this is asking for trouble, but he's a really good guitarist.

doesn't mike campbell play all the recognizable guitar parts on petty's songs? does petty do anything more than strum three or four chords? (not that there's anything wrong with that.)

the last 10 or so tracks on wildflowers, for example. most of you're gonna get it, for another example. i can't give you song titles 'cause i find his album tracks so generic that i can hardly remember a thing about them, music, words or titles. i hear all of his albums as maybe three good songs surrounded by color-by-numbers twangy new wavey rootsy southerny ditties.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/215000/images/_218447_heidi_fleiss_150.jpg

The Last DJ?

Greatest Hits [MCA, 1993]
Sometimes it's hard to remember what a breath of fresh air the gap-spanning MTV figurehead was in 1976. So revisit this automatic multiplatinum, a treasury of power pop that doesn't know its name--snappy songs! Southern beats! gee! Like Billy Joel, say, or the Police, his secret isn't that he's a natural singles artist--it's that he's too shallow to merit full concentration except when he gets it all right, and maybe not then. Petty is the formalist of the ordinary guy, taking his musical pleasure in roots, branches, commerce, art, whatever gets him going without demanding anything too fancy of his brain or his rear end. Footloose by habit and not what you'd call a ladies' man, he often feels confused or put upon, and though he wishes the world were a better place, try to take what he thinks is his and he won't back down. He has one great virtue--his total immersion in rock and roll. A-

"American Girl" = Best non-Byrds Byrds song EVAH

I stand by what I wrote about Full Moon Fever on my blog about a year ago.

hope you have Let Me Up tracks; he just chose the three tracks on the double-disc comp

everyone sleeps on runaway trains. I guess it was technically a single so maybe not deep enough?

that's a great song

for some reason, my five year old daughter is reallllly into tom petty all of a sudden. she drew this picture of him
https://scontent-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11001682_10206058481601581_2667046924968240590_n.jpg?oh=b34b76efa393faecf0f861d30a60f8ef&oe=5587AA02

that mic stand is very stable

future engineer imo

petty plays a mean lute

Probably the Vox?

http://www.edroman.com/guitars/abstract/images/TomPettyVoxTeardrop.jpg

oh shit for sure!

tom should for real use that as his next album cover

totally.
someone pointed out it could also be sandy bull w/ his oud
https://oudmusic.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/sandy-bull-e-pluribus-unum.jpg

hahah!

I think every kid goes through their Sandy Bull phase

if they've got hair

lol yeah, an easy path from petty to bull. she'll be listening to nothing but deep oud jams from somalia in no time.

it is kind of interesting though... trying to figure out what it is exactly that makes kids respond to tom petty. i know i responded to him when i was eight or nine. it might specifically be the full moon fever album. i mean, obviously really catchy songs, but wondering if there's something about the production that gets right to a kid's brain.

i guess petty has some muppet like qualities

tom should for real use that as his next album cover

m@tt OTM, somebody get Mr. Petty on the phone

That picture is very good for a five year old!! Thanks for posting it!

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/0a/6a/2e/0a6a2e915a250b0feb3a8df0fe32e2ca.jpg

Finally got around to listening to Howard Stern interview Jimmy Iovine and Iovine is still dissing Stan Lynch for being behind the beat. Once you hear the shaker in Refugee, you can't unhear it.

Warren Zanes' book far more interesting than I expected.

What I came up with when we polled'em.

I just came across this post of the new Petty-produced Hillman album, with some other Byrds, Heartbreakers among participants---haven't had time to listen yet, but might be redeeming: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7968856/chris-hillman-bidin-my-time-album

Oh man, slightly unfair to OP to dredge up this thread today.

i saw chris hillman at the opry while i was in nashville, played "turn turn turn" and a righteous bros. cover from the new record, both sounded wonderful, looking forward to checking it out

Tom Petty had plenty of redeeming qualities, not to mention he had the respect of a lot of prominent musicians. On the other hand, he had no classic albums and was pretty much an American phenomenon.

Eh, I'll stand up for OP.

I'm going to keep quiet for the next couple of days though. My opinions would only sound ... *ahem* ... contemptuously trivial.

Oh man, slightly unfair to OP to dredge up this thread today.

― enochroot, Tuesday, October 3, 2017

My post answered the thread question!

threadstarter earlier noted on twitter that he's listening to the heartbreakers today to lift his otherwise shitty mood, so alfred's post was evidently persuasive

rip tom