Alphabet Beats #108: P is for....Tom Petty

P is for....

My first impressions of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers when I first heard them on the radio in 1976 where not good ones. 'Breakdown' was the first track I heard and I was in no way moved by it, but Nicky Horne (Capital Radio DJ) kept on spotlight tunes from the debut album on his show 'Your Mother Wouldn't Like It', and 'American Girl' and especially 'Anything That's Rock and Roll' blew me away as did 'Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)'. I still cannot understand the mentatlity of his record company in releasing 'Breakdown' as the first single from the album in 1977 but they got their heads right in releasing 'Anything That's Rock and Roll' as a single (though not in the USA) and following it up with 'American Girl' which I can remember rushing out to the record store on a Saturday Morning to buy with my pocket money, and I got the 12".

Since then the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers has been almost ever present in my listening, I say almost because there were a few albums that for one reason or another I didn't connect with. But I think the stage is the best place for them rather than the studio because the energy of the live show is rarely captured in the studio. Two live shows worth checking out are the Santa Monica gig from New Years Eve 1978 and the 30th Anniversary show back in their home city of Gainsville, Florida.

 The Music

*denotes incomplete
    Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976)
    You're Gonna Get It! (1978)
    Damn the Torpedoes (1979)
    Hard Promises (1981)*
    Long After Dark (1982)
    Southern Accents (1985)

Pack Up The Plantation: Live! (1985)
    Let Me Up (I've Had Enough) (1987)*
    Full Moon Fever (1989)
    Into the Great Wide Open (1991)
    Wildflowers (1994)
    Songs and Music from "She's the One" (1996)
    Echo (1999)

Anthology: Through The Years (2000)
    The Last DJ (2002)
    Highway Companion (2006)

The Live Anthology (2009)
    Mojo (2010)

Kiss My Amps (2011)
    Hypnotic Eye (2014)

The Soundtrack4Life Top 20:

Tom Petty

20. American Dream Plan B.

19. So You Wanna Be A Rock and Roll Star.

18. Southern Accents.

 17. Fooled Again (I Don't Like It).

16. Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid).

15. The Waiting.

14. Into The Great Wide Open.

13. All The Wrong Reasons.

12. Even The Losers.

11. Free Fallin'.

10. I Won't Back Down.

09. Anything That's Rock and Roll.

08. Learning To Fly.

07. I Need To Know.

06. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks).

05. Rebels.

04. Listen To Her Heart.

03. Refugee.

02. Running Down A Dream.

01. American Girl.