RIP Tom Petty
Posted on October 2, 2017 Posted by John Scalzi 30 Comments
This was the song that made me a Tom Petty fan and got me to buy my first album from him and the Heartbreakers. He’s gone now but leaves a hell of a fine musical legacy. Go listen to it.
Update: Apparently early reports (by reputable news sources, grrrr) were incorrect; not confirmed dead. We’ll see what happens now.
Update 2: Confirmed now by his family.
One of the very best. :(
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “Walls”
https://youtu.be/ZfS6Nl962Qg
66 is way too young. Thank you for the music.
Son of a bitch, we’re down to only two Traveling Wilburys? That’s a damn shame.
I’m a little (just a tad lol) older than you, Mr. S, so this news (like today wasn’t horrible enough already, yuh?) is really kicking my ass. Tom Petty’s music was the soundtrack of my Jr and Sr high school years. Damn The Torpedoes played out of every parked car I can remember during those days. Very sad today. RIP Tom.
There appears to be doubt about the initial reporting.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lapd-clarifies-cannot-confirm-tom-petty-death/
I just saw an update: he has a Do Not Resuscitate order and his family does not expect him to live out the night.
That was always one of my favorites, too. (Both the song and the video.)
Time to pull out the Traveling Wilburys CD when I get home and play another one through.
What a lousy day.
Over 25 years ago, my wife (34 weeks pregnant!) and I saw The Heartbreakers at Tinley Park IL. My oldest son was born a few days later. We laughing call him Tom Petty’s love child. :-)
I last saw Tom Petty with Mudcrutch at last year’s Summer Camp in Chilicothe IL. My wife and I are going to listen to my recording of that show now…
That is horribly sad. He gave us so many great songs, and he was too young.
Aw, man…
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2cb4t
He unfortunately joins the list of artists I didn’t get to see before they die. 66 is far too young for him to go.
I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at The Fillmore in SF (with Taj Mahal opening!). It was a great show and I’m glad I got to hear him in a smaller venue. RIP.
I was lukewarm about his first few hits, but then he stood up to his record company and refused to allow them to charge $1 more for the Hard Promises album. Anybody who would go through the financial and legal issues that he did because he didn’t want his fans ripped off by the record company had my respect.
All the wrong people are dying. We need artists like Tom Petty.
HE IS NOT DEAD. LAPD report wrong. Heart attack, yes, in critical condition, but HE DID NOT DIE.
At least somebody in these last two day didn’t die.
He was taken off life support. I keep checking the LA Times Obits page, which hasn’t caught up with this so far. Variety did catch the update, but has a good overview of his career. Yeah, That is a weird video. Willy Wonka as the Mad Hatter?
Damn. I was disappointed the 40th Anniversary Tour didn’t come through AZ. I did see him when they toured with Bob Dylan way back when and I’ve always liked his music. I’ve really enjoyed hearing him do things on his Sirius XM radio channel including the Buried Treasure show.
Just seeing this and I don’t know quite how to react, because the situation’s in limbo. (I agree with his wishes against extraordinary measures, though.)
I remember “Don’t Come Around Here No More” from college. I’m just a few years older than Scalzi. Tom Petty’s stuff is great, creative, and it rocks.
Man, I wish the news would get better. We need talented people producing great stuff, now more than ever.
I’ve listened to Tom Petty for decades, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of his music videos until today. That’s something I need to rectify. RIP.
The very first CD I ever bought was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits. I bought it mostly for “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. Turns out, everything on the album is great.
Still in shock over this one. Tom was an original and his songs always had bite… never phoned it in. Oh: about that Tom Petty record that MCA wanted to hike prices with — they were going to charge $9.98 for it, and Tom threatened to title the album “$8.98”. Ha ha! Classic.
“American Girl” will keep on lifting me every time I hear it. Just a little more poignantly from now on.
@A.J.Bobo I dragged my mother into Tower Records in LA to track that album down – we were in LA on vacation and I’d been unable to find it in the UK in pre-Amazon times – and yes, it’s pretty darn great :)
So many great songs and memories: “You Got Lucky,” “Refugee,” “Breakdown,” “Running Down a Dream,” “Even the Losers,” the duets with Stevie Nicks, it goes on like that. And a great video artist at the height of that particular art form. My favorite was the sparse look of “You Got Lucky,” but the animated “Running Down a Dream” was awesome. And of course, “Don’t Come Around Here No More” was an eye opener for many, not just Scalzi.
My best wishes to his people. And my gratitude to his spirit for bringing so much beauty and fun to my own life.
‘You got lucky’ is my favourite track, but he did so many, so brilliantly…
‘Into the Great Wide Open’ was the second record I ever bought and I played it on a loop. This really hits hard. ‘I Won’t Back Down’ always helps when I feel down and I liked the fact that he forbade W. to use it as a compaign song. RIP
I first saw Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at the Riviera in Chicago in December 1977. They were headlining a show—$3 tickets thanks to the great freeform (at least then) radio station WXRT—in which Elvis Costello and the Attractions opened. I came to see Elvis, but he was in his “angry young man” phase and disappointed that night. Then Tom Petty came on with the Heartbreakers and just blew us all away. I’d never heard a band so tight, so together as I did that night. It made me a fan forever. RIP Tom, you will be missed
The waiting isn’t the hardest part, after all. The losses are the hardest part. And this one really, really hurts.
I’m locked in a loop of watching hurt the j cash ver on youtube.
Not sure how I got there.
Heartbreaking.
Skipped the comments to try and get my $0.25 in.
I didn’t care for Tom’s work all that much at first. Then we went to see the Greatful Dead at the Akron Rubber Bowl, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers AND Bob Dylan opening. It was a great show, and Tom and Bob played a set with the ‘Dead to open their part of the show. Which was all great.
He will be missed. I just recently learned that his song about “Back me up to the Gates of Hell, I Won’t Back Down” was about a real event, the arson of his home while he and his family were in there. Total loss, but no one was harmed, except for their ability to feel secure in their own home.
A great guy, and exactly my age. It sets you back a step, it does.
Now I’ll read the rest of the story.