Tom Petty found Unconscious in Cardiac Arrest [Update: Tom Petty has passed away]

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers went through a grueling battle for the fate of their career while recording their third album, Damn the Torpedoes — and they faced yet another fight while working on the follow-up, 1981’s Hard Promises.

For a guy whose best songs achieved brilliance with a few simple chords, Petty’s business life had grown increasingly complicated while he and the Heartbreakers shot to fame. After slugging it out in court for the right to declare themselves free agents in the wake of their label’s sale to MCA — and declaring bankruptcy in the bargain — they scored a lucrative deal with their onetime opponent, landing on a newly established MCA imprint for Damn the Torpedoes.

Yet Torpedoes‘ subsequent success helped cause another problem for the band — namely, that MCA tabbed the follow-up for part of an experiment in “superstar pricing” that would have seen Hard Promises arriving in stores with a $9.98 price tag, a full dollar more than the established cost for less in-demand acts. For Petty, who joked that he’d been prepared to sell peanuts for a living rather than accept the original terms of his contract’s absorption by MCA, the inflated price point was yet another line in the sand.

“A lot of fans have been with us for a long time and I think they trust us,” Petty told The New York Times regarding the subsequent standoff. “MCA has done a great job selling our records, but they couldn’t see the reality of what it’s like on the street — they couldn’t see that raising the album’s price wouldn’t be fair.”

Insisting he didn’t see MCA as “the enemy,” Petty told the Times that his biggest problem with the price increase was that he’d originally been led to believe Hard Promises would sell for the traditional $8.98. “I’m not usually as concerned with record company business as you might think; I like to devote my time and energy to being a musician,” he added. “But sometimes there’s a communications breakdown and, when that happens, you just have to stand up for yourself.”

After threatening to withhold the record (or title it Eight Ninety Eight), Petty scored another victory against MCA, earning the right to sell his music for less than “superstar pricing.” Although the industry would still eventually fulfill Petty’s prophecies regarding the end result of steady, insidious price increases, when Hard Promises arrived on May 5, 1981, it looked like a victory for regular rock fans everywhere — and it sounded like yet another musical evolution for Petty and the Heartbreakers.

“I’ll tell you something, no matter what anybody ever tells you, life is never sweeter than when you have a hit record. I mean, it is a sweet ******* feeling. It felt great, especially after [the lawsuit]. It was really the only time in my life I felt like justice was done,” Petty told Musician. “And that’s why, this record I just wanted to up the quality. I think we can always up the quality; I don’t understand rock groups that go down, that get worse. I really don’t understand. There is no reason for that, if you just keep aware of what’s going on.”



Read More: 35 Years Ago: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Face Another Battle on 'Hard Promises' | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/tom-petty-hard-promises/?trackback=tsmclip

 

my favorite petty song

 

Officially confirmed by the family. RIP.

 

I recognize all these artists b/c Tom Petty would want to be recognized along with his peers.

What I admire about all these artists is that each sustained a career beyond the trends, put out multiple high-quality albums, wrote music and lyrics that make you rock and think, and presented a unique American perspective - not afraid to criticize aspects of the U.S. when it was warranted, but also quick to praise its many virtues. Rock on.

In Petty's 2015 biography by Warren Zanes, simply titled Petty, a brief interaction between Petty and Springsteen is detailed, demonstrating the kinship between the rockers that The Boss references in his tweets:

Around the time he drove the car off the lot, he got a call from Bruce Springsteen. Petty had seen Springsteen at the Roxy, in the months before Born to Run was released, and liked what he saw, recognized a fellow traveler. Petty didn't know the man, but Springsteen wasn't shy in the way Petty was. The guy from New Jersey put in the call, just to hang out, one rock and roller to another…

Petty picked him up at the Sunset Marquis. They went down Sunset Boulevard to the water, stopping at Tower Records on the way, picking up half a dozen eight-tracks. They drove until they'd listened to every song on every one of them. The Stones' 12 x 5 was among the tapes. When "Congratulations" came on, Springsteen raised his arms to the heavens and said, "You can take me now!" Petty loved that. He liked knowing another man out there who went to the same church.

 

Yeah, just saw confirmation, just sucks to say the least... RIP

He made some great music!

 

Man, as celebrity deaths go this one really hurts. Tom Petty and Pink Floyd are my top 2 and theres not a close number 3.

Simple songs with often simple lyrics but Ill be damned if he didnt make one iconic song after the other. Full albums you can listen to on repeat and never get tired of. American music at its finest. I was still buying his new material to this day.

This sucks

 

This much talent on one stage....

 

Yeah, I've never been too torn up about actors and other celebrities...this one seems personal.

 

Absolutely- deceptively simple lyrics. You know, singing about normal stuff, and then you get:

"God, it's so painful, something's that so close, but still so far out of reach..."

And you're like, brilliant- this is no longer just about a American Girl- that's a statement about the American Dream itself.

 

The first time I heard this, I was pumped b/c I was playing the cassette in my parent's car, and I yelled "he cursed! he cursed!" When you just turned 13, that's a huge deal. My dad made me take the cassette out. Loved it.

 

I need tissues after that.

Them and The Highwaymen are my 2 favorite supergroups, I miss Johnny Cash.

 

Yep. Irritates me when people ask, "Who's Jeff Lynne?" Not only all the ELO stuff, but Lynne was a very big part of the success of Full Moon Fever, as Mike Campbell tells it:

Songfacts: You've been a part of a whole lot of studio sessions. Are there some that stand out?

Mike: When we did that first record with Jeff Lynne, Full Moon Fever, that was an amazing time for me because it was mostly just the three of us - me and Tom and Jeff - working at my house. Jeff Lynne is an amazing record-maker. It was so exciting for a lot of reasons. First of all, our band energy in the studio had gotten into kind of a rut, we were having some issues with our drummer and just kind of at the end of our rope in terms of inspiration - having a lot of trouble cutting tracks in the studio and getting inspired and try to make it happen. This project came along and really we were just doing it for fun at the beginning, but Jeff would come in and every day he would blow my mind.

It was so exciting to have him and Tom come over and go, "OK, here's this song," and then Jeff would just go. I'd never seen this done before, he'd say, "OK, here's what were going to do: Put a drum machine down. Now put up a mic, we're going to do some acoustic guitars. Put up another mic, were going to do a keyboard. OK, here's an idea for the bass. Mike, let's try some guitar on this. I've got an idea for a background part here..."

Sure enough, within five or six hours, the record would be done, and we'd just sit back and go, "How the **** did you do that?" We were used to being in the studio and like "OK, here's how the song goes" and everybody would set up to play, and just laboriously run the song into the ground, and it usually got worse and worse from trying to get the groove and the spirit and trying to get a performance out of five guys at once. This guy walked in and he knew exactly how to put the pieces together, and he always had little tricks, like with the background vocals how he would slide them in and layer them, and little melodies here and there. Tom and I were soaking it up. Pretty amazing, a very exciting time, like going to musical college or something.

With the drums, he'd go out and we'd put the mics up on the drums, and he'd walk out and he'd take the microphone over the drum and he'd turn it away from the drum facing the corner, and he'd go "OK, record it like that." Sure enough, 99% of the time he'd be right. We'd go, "Yes sir, Mr. Lynne."

That's one way to make records, it's not the only way. Nowadays we like the band to play all live again on most stuff, but we learned so much from him about arrangements and counter-melodies and all kinds of stuff.

You can hear where the sound from Full Moon Fever comes from :



“Free Fallin'”: “Jeff Lynne and I were sitting around with the idea of writing a song and I was playing the keyboard and I just happened to hit on that main riff, the intro of the song, and I think Jeff said something like, ‘That’s a really good riff but there’s one chord too many,’ so I think I cut it back a chord and then, really just to amuse Jeff, honestly, I just sang that first verse. Then he starts laughing. Honestly, I thought I was just amusing Jeff but then I got to the chorus of the song and he leaned over to me and said the word, ‘freefalling.’ And I went to sing that and he said, ‘No, take your voice up and see how that feels.’ So I took my voice up an octave or two, but I couldn’t get the whole word in. So I sang ‘freeee,’ then ‘free falling.’ And we both knew at that moment that I’d hit on something pretty good. It was that fast. He had to go somewhere, and I wrote the last verse and kind of just polished the rest of the song and when I saw him the next day I played him the song and he was like, ‘Wow, you did that last night?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ And he said. ‘We’ve got to go cut this,’ and we just took off to Mike Campbell’s studio where we knew we could get in and get it done that day. So we went in and made the record that day.”

 

I miss the guy already, RIP and thanks for the great times.

 

have always had a soft spot for this one

 

Wildflowers

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
Sail away, kill off the hours
You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, find you a lover
Go away somewhere all bright and new
I have seen no other
Who compares with you

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
You belong with your love on your arm
You belong somewhere you feel free

Run away, go find a lover
Run away, let your heart be your guide
You deserve the deepest of cover
You belong in that home by and by

You belong among the wildflowers
You belong somewhere close to me
Far away from your trouble and worries
You belong somewhere you feel free
You belong somewhere you feel free


"Don't Come Around Here No More" was probably my favorite video back in that time. I was always drawing to trippy things like that (which speaks to choices I made later in life). "Free Fallin", always one of my favorites became "Free Walrus" when my kids would sing it. I can listen to The Traveling Wilburys on a loop and never get sick of it (might be doing that with "End of the Line" today.

When they started the Tom Petty station on Sirius, my radio was glued to channel 31 almost permanently until I dropped the service. It was constant great music that has been a part of my life since I started paying any attention to music around the time I was 5 or 6. The Buried Treasure show was an awesome listen and education about the music of the 50's and 60's that made what Rock would become. Even down to the bumps between songs, the dude was just silly. He honestly seemed like the most down to earth, just good hearted guy. I thoroughly enjoyed the latest Mudcrutch album and thought how cool it was for them to be able to go back in the studio after 40-something years and just pick up like it was still 1972. Just cause he wanted to play with his friends and finish the music they had started all those years ago.

This one hurts. His music is such an enormous part of the soundtrack of my life.

All I can say at this point is...Thank you, Tom.

 

Hearing his songs is really gonna piss me off now. Petty, of all the southern rockers, was the absolute best at plucking your heart strings with some badass riffs or lyrics while not sounding too overdone or poppy. Simply put, everyone loves him. Everyone.

 

I didn't get into Petty until a few years ago and I'm ticked off it took me so long. May he RIP.

The song that got me was probably "Refugee" but "Walls" for some reason also resonated with me.

Another legend gone. What a time we're in.