does tom petty have any redeeming qualities?

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pre-fame pre-superstardom I guess I should say.

will, Monday, 4 February 2008 21:05 (sixteen years ago) link

aboriginal?

the natives of suburban ontario are a proud people, and strong.

tipsy mothra, Monday, 4 February 2008 21:06 (sixteen years ago) link

"wait, we're talking about the guy that did that fuckin We Come From A Land Down Under song, right?"

nobody's claiming Bryan Adams is better than Tom Petty. What's being claimed is that Tom Petty is a better Bryan Adams.

da croupier, Monday, 4 February 2008 21:06 (sixteen years ago) link

men at work were pretty tight too

M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 4 February 2008 21:13 (sixteen years ago) link

"wait, we're talking about the guy that did that fuckin We Come From A Land Down Under song, right?"

Unfair. Men at Work also did Overkill, which is teh great.

Daniel, Esq., Monday, 4 February 2008 22:15 (sixteen years ago) link

and "It's a Mistake."

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 4 February 2008 22:20 (sixteen years ago) link

I'm listening to "Learning to Fly" right now. Oh the memories of early 90's LA malls...

baaderonixx, Monday, 4 February 2008 22:24 (sixteen years ago) link

and "It's a Mistake."

Yes! Johnny Be Good, too.

Daniel, Esq., Monday, 4 February 2008 22:33 (sixteen years ago) link

Men at Work are better than Tom Petty, John Cougar and Bryan Adams put together.

Daniel, Esq., Monday, 4 February 2008 22:34 (sixteen years ago) link

hahaha

roxymuzak, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:10 (sixteen years ago) link

Another one for the ILM FAQ.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:13 (sixteen years ago) link

I heard a recent song from Colin Hay (men at work singer) and was totally impressed! Let me see if I can youtube it for you guys.

Steve Shasta, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:24 (sixteen years ago) link

hahaha Steve Shasta watches Scrubs

Shakey Mo Collier, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:26 (sixteen years ago) link

scrubs is funny

M@tt He1ges0n, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:27 (sixteen years ago) link

NOOOOOOOOO I DON'T WATCH SCRUBS!

Some weird chick I met from NYC who works for MTV 0put it on a mix for me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tcRlHY-3Q

I thought the voice sounded familiar. But what interested is that the guitar playing is straight up Uncle Tupelo circa Jay Farrar's songs on Still Feel Gone.

Steve Shasta, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:29 (sixteen years ago) link

...by Uncle Tupelo.

Steve Shasta, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:30 (sixteen years ago) link

hahaha, i shouldn't post when I'm on the phone.

Steve Shasta, Monday, 4 February 2008 23:30 (sixteen years ago) link

OK, as a result of this thread I just got a hold of a Carlene Carter album produced by Howie Epstein, so maybe some good will come of it.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 01:00 (sixteen years ago) link

it's supposed to be decent!

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 01:00 (sixteen years ago) link

like I wrote upthread, I can't recommend the Epstein-helmed Prine albums highly enough.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 01:00 (sixteen years ago) link

Another one for the ILM FAQ.

THANK YOU. May I add that Men at Work are also better than LED ZEPPLIN and BOSTON combined. (n.1)

_______________________________
(n.1) Actually, I was kidding in this and the original post. I do like Men at Work, tho.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 01:51 (sixteen years ago) link

the original question could have been answered with a quick "no". i love the extrapolation but other threads deserve it more.

or something, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 02:31 (sixteen years ago) link

Lock thread.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 5 February 2008 02:34 (sixteen years ago) link

Seconded

Billy Pilgrim, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 02:49 (sixteen years ago) link

yeah let's get extrapolating on the 700 poll threads about terrorizer poll results

roxymuzak, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 04:14 (sixteen years ago) link

agreed

i do like a lot of his songs but by no means does he warrant this much discussion, positive or negative.

winston, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 04:15 (sixteen years ago) link

xp!

winston, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 04:16 (sixteen years ago) link

i love the extrapolation complaints that something isn't worth discussing, but other threads deserve it more.

roxymuzak, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 04:17 (sixteen years ago) link

It's fun to talk about Tom Petty, I think Michael Ian Black forgot to.

da croupier, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 04:18 (sixteen years ago) link

haha ok well ... bryan adams sounds like a canadian ... guy ... who wanted ... to get laid ...

B-b-but he fucked Princss Diana!

Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 07:01 (sixteen years ago) link

...or Princess Diana as she's more commonly known.

Myonga Vön Bontee, Tuesday, 5 February 2008 07:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Carlene Carter album pretty good.

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:08 (sixteen years ago) link

It's not bad. But the best song on it is one she first recorded 28 years ago, for whatever that's worth.

xhuxk, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:09 (sixteen years ago) link

We talking about the same album, I Fell In Love?

James Redd and the Blecchs, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:11 (sixteen years ago) link

that colin hay song is pretty good! it's at least as good as iron and wine and stuff like that that's big in indie circles

M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:12 (sixteen years ago) link

that colin hay song is pretty good! it's at least as good as iron and wine and stuff like that that's big in indie circles

Hey hey hey hey, easy there.

Daniel, Esq., Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:22 (sixteen years ago) link

We talking about the same album, I Fell In Love?

I guess not! I'm talking about Stronger, out March 4 on Yep Roc.

xhuxk, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:31 (sixteen years ago) link

Princss Diana has such great style sheets.

wanko ergo sum, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:45 (sixteen years ago) link

HAD *pow*

wanko ergo sum, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:45 (sixteen years ago) link

But hey James, this is about the Carlene Carter album you got -- from the rolling country 2006 thread (parts of which also ended up on a Cock Robin thread yesterday, coincidentally enough):

carlene carter *i fell in love* 1990 $2.99 (title track sounds familiar, so i guess maybe it was a hit? it also sounds like a nick lowe song, though he apparently didn't write it)
-- xhuxk, Saturday, March 25, 2006 11:04 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

I think Carlene's "I Fell In Love" was written by Al Anderson, ex-NRBQ; at least, he and she were having a rave-up with it, when I saw 'em on Austin City Limits (so astonished I forgot to hit "Record"). He's written a lot of other good songs too.
-- don, Sunday, March 26, 2006 9:21 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

actual songwriting credit is: Carlene Carter/Howie Epstein/Benmont Tench/Perry Lamek. ("The Sweetest Thing" on that album gives partical credit to Robert Ellis Orrall, who I've brought up a couple times on this thread. And more interestingly, "The Leavin' Side" gives partial credit to one Tom Gray: I wonder if that's the same guy who used to lead the Brains, of "Money Changes Everything" fame! They were Southerners, from Atlanta, right? So it wouldn't have been out of the question for him to go the country songwriting route.)
-- xhuxk, Sunday, March 26, 2006 10:44 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

The Carlene Carter album I bought seems consisently kinda fun but never quite fun *enough*, at least so far. Maybe I wish her poppabilly was more rockabilly, "The Sweetest Thing" is slow, and could amost be a Lorrie Morgan hit from around that time; "Goodnight Dallas," which I like more than most of the tracks, has mariachi horns and yodels, so it's "western" I guess. I'm still waiting for at least one track though to jump out at me. --
xhuxk, Sunday, April 9, 2006 3:27 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

xhuxk, Wednesday, 6 February 2008 23:53 (sixteen years ago) link

and "lonely nights." he had his moments

OTM I haven't heard this song in probably 20 years but iirc it is played entirely in the key of win.

rogermexico., Thursday, 7 February 2008 01:56 (sixteen years ago) link

What's up with hating Tom Petty?

Like Christgau seems to think he's like the worst human ever.

Colin_C., Thursday, 7 February 2008 05:47 (sixteen years ago) link

yes. God, just have a beer and try to get head like everybody else

Michael White, Thursday, 7 February 2008 05:57 (sixteen years ago) link

(I have a living room's worth of ladies, chatting and I'm a not terribly *yawn* inclined to engage in anything resembling civilized banter.)

Michael White, Thursday, 7 February 2008 05:59 (sixteen years ago) link

Still, you got the word order rearrangement thing going.

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 7 February 2008 06:00 (sixteen years ago) link

i think xgau suspects petty of reactionary tendencies. which is fair enough. he needs to be understood in the context of southern rock as much as california rock.

but petty was a lot more tuned in than i think people give him credit for. the whole "new wave" thing, he wasn't new wave but he had a kind of new wave energy. he loved mtv. he hooked up with dave stewart. he was kind of a fellow traveler. and he was chiming guitars a few years before r.e.m. and the edge and so forth. he really fits into that era.

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 7 February 2008 06:29 (sixteen years ago) link

plus grace jones covered him. should count for something.

tipsy mothra, Thursday, 7 February 2008 07:55 (sixteen years ago) link

"Damn The Torpedoes" is smack full of great tunes, and "Into The Great Wide Open" isn't far behind (plus it has excellent production work by Jeff Lynne in addition).

Geir Hongro, Thursday, 7 February 2008 12:01 (sixteen years ago) link

, he wasn't new wave but he had a kind of new wave energy

Well, on those first couple albums, he sounded totally powerpop -- a lot closer to the Records or Nick Lowe or Bram Tchaicovksy than to the Eagles or Molly Hatchet or Jackson Browne. (One thing that seemed to bug Christgau early on is that, in live shows, Petty acted less new wave than on record: "Onstage, he acts like he wants to be Ted Nugent when he grows up, pulling out the cornball arena-rock moves as if they had something to do with the kind of music he makes." Which I'm guessing actually made his live shows less boring -- in the same review, Xgau says what made bands like the Byrds great "was that they just got up there and played," which may or may not be true, and sounds like a snooze either way -- but we all have our preferences, I guess.)

xhuxk, Thursday, 7 February 2008 13:39 (sixteen years ago) link

^^^ This. That's why Tom Petty's early stuff (e.g., "You Got Lucky") kills his later stuff (which, to me, is listless, by-the-numbers nu-classic rock).

Daniel, Esq., Thursday, 7 February 2008 13:55 (sixteen years ago) link


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