NYS Music 20​17

Tag: tom petty

  • Best of NYS Music: Biggest Musical Losses of 2017

    As we continue to look back on the year in music in 2017, no retrospective would be complete without recognizing the artists that we lost this year.  Fortunately, even though they may no longer be with us, their music is eternal and will survive the test of time.  The following musicians are huge musical losses, and each impacted audiences on a large scale and surely served as inspiration for some and will be missed by all.

    Tom Petty

    Perhaps no celebrity death this year, musician or not, impacted as many people as Tom Petty’s did, serving as a testament to just how influential his music has been not only in America but worldwide.  Petty succumbed to cardiac arrest just weeks shy of his 67th birthday in October, shortly after his last tour had finished.  His music was and is pure Americana, often featuring simple, heart felt lyrics that had a personal touch to them combined with passionate guitar work and melodies.  Starting with his first band Mudcrutch in Florida and ending with his long time backing band and friends The Heartbreakers, Tom Petty’s music spanned generations and served as inspiration to aspiring song writers everywhere.  It’s hard not to even know a Petty tune as song like “Free Fallin,” “Running Down a Dream,” and “American Girl” have been thoroughly infused into popular culture, proving that his music not only spanned generations but tastes as well.  Even if you weren’t a huge fan, odd’s are that there’s at least one Tom Petty song you know and like.  Petty was fittingly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 and leaves us with an enormous musical catalog to remember him by.

    Here’s a clip from Petty’s final show at the Hollywood Bowl in September, showing that he still had plenty of speed on his fastball and, in a way, went out on top.

    Chuck Berry

    In terms of influencing other artists and redefining an entire musical genre, no one we lost this year had more of an impact with that than Chuck Berry who literally forged a new era of music.  Taking elements of rhythm and blues, Berry combined them with frenetic guitar work and pure showmanship in serving as one of the true fathers of rock and roll.  When artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles cite you directly as an influence, something must have been done right.  Songs like “Maybellene” and “Roll Over Beethoven” were unheard of at the time in the late 1950s with their rousing guitar-driven sound and Berry’s on stage showmanship.  But Berry helped bring this new form of musicianship into the light and served as inspiration to entire generations of musicians who took this and ran with it. Fittingly, Berry was one of the first ever members inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it opened in 1986.

    Charles Bradley

    Self dubbed “the screaming eagle of soul,” Charles Bradley’s voice was synonymous with soul music and his death in September after a battle with stomach cancer was felt by many in the music industry.  Bradley’s performances were known for his visual outpouring of emotion, connecting with his audience on a personal level and, of course, soul.  Bradley started out his career as a James Brown impersonator and wound up as an acclaimed performer and one of the faces of the Daptone Records label.  His delivery was known to evoke memories of Otis Redding and his influence has even spread to the world of hip hop where his unmistakable voice can be heard in samples.

  • Runnin’ Down a Dream: Remembering Tom Petty (1950-2017)

    Remembering Tom Petty as the venerable wizard of feel-good music, the kind we cranked with the windows down while driving at full speed can bring solace to this tragic loss. “I felt so good, like anything was possible / I hit cruise control, and rubbed my eyes.” His songs were perfect for beach parties, heartache, conflict, and respect. Petty’s songs gave us perspective, relating to us to say, “life will be all right: you will get through this; stand tall and be proud of yourself.”

    tom petty lockn

    Petty was a philosopher, a poet, a troubadour, and a comic. He had a keen sense of humor and did what was right for his fans, even if it meant going to battle against overbearing record company execs. He fought for the common cause and helped all musicians in his wake by keeping industry powers in check. He fought labels to keep cd costs down, including his own first record label, and he succeeded. Most early contracts were rigged against the artists, and musicians often had no choice but to sign their lives away in order to “make it big.” Now the battles are fought against Pandora and Rhapsody, but some of these streaming services are losing the fight as new services take over and fans rally behind artists who are continuing the fight Petty pioneered.

    Early in my formative years, I enjoyed watching my friends in Final Warning rehearse and perform Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ “Breakdown” countless times, while Adam Sandler gave us his best Tom Petty impersonation, complete with the twangy accent and rock moves. His basement was where I followed my first band, becoming the band’s light guy and roadie. Petty was the lovable rocker we all related to. He crafted songs that were simple, catchy, and about real life: powerful, inspiring, soothing, and enlightening. His fans felt like he was their best pal, and that he spoke to us through his music. Petty was one of the greatest artists, with the uncanny ability to reach our hearts and alter our minds. In his music was great wisdom and peacefulness, but also a sense of celebration, confidence, and courage.

    “Petty was a giant. Damn the Torpedoes is one of the greatest rock albums of all time, and certainly would have been the best album of the 80s, if it were released 3 months later.” (Peter Lavallee, lead guitarist of Final Warning) That was Petty’s third studio album, his most popular and highly-acclaimed, which was certified triple platinum in the US and reaching #2 on the U.S. charts. Every song on it was a masterpiece. Petty didn’t write fillers – he wrote every song to strongly stand on its own.

    “I first worked with the Tom Petty Camp at The Hangout Music Festival. I became friends with Josh, who looks out for the band and tour. I gave Tom and his wife a ride from the tour bus to the headliner dressing room compound and upon introducing myself with ‘Hi, I’m Tony’, Mr. Petty nasally replied ‘Hey, I’m Tom.’ Fare thee well, Tom Petty, and thank you for fueling our FM radio memories for all those decades with simplistic truth. You are loved and will be missed.” (Tony Hume, tour manager, artist relations, and operations for Bonnaroo, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The Fox Theatre, Wanderlust, and All Good, among many others).+Remembering Tom Petty

    Petty was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, and inducted his friend, the “Dark Horse” himself, George Harrison, in 2004. He had countless friends in the music industry, being likeable, approachable, and one of the hardest-working performers and songwriters of all times. Petty had more top 10 hits in Mainstream Rock than any other artist in the chart’s history, with 28 total top 10’s. Petty has been on the charts 48 times since the chart’s inception in 1981 (source: Billboard). Petty was competing against The Rolling Stones and The Who, and has scored top hits in 5 different decades, selling over 60 million albums worldwide.

    In his last year, Petty played 53 shows in 2017, and has performed over 1,000 shows in his lifetime. Petty has appeared and recorded with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison, Steve Winwood, Lucinda Williams, and countless other music legends. One of Petty’s first guitar teachers was Don Felder of The Eagles, a fellow citizen of Gainesville, FL, where Petty was born on October 20, 1950. Early on, Petty was so impressed by The Beatles that after seeing them, he dropped out of school at 17 to play bass with his new band, The Epics. They soon evolved into Mudcrutch, who had 2 of the Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, along with Tom Leadon on guitar and Randall Marsh on drums. They recently played a sold-out show at The 930 Club in DC on June 6, 2016, having been recently reformed in the summer of 2007. (Washington Post).

    Remembering Tom PettyPetty directly influenced Dave Grohl, who has covered ‘Breakdown’ 69 times. Petty influenced many other prominent artists, including Ryan Adams, Bon Jovi, and Taylor Swift, who wrote, “To me, Tom Petty represented a kind of songwriting I idolised: complex simplicity. His hits have defined rock radio since the Seventies, and he never stopped writing great music. It said so much in the lyrics, the concepts, the stories, the message, the nuances … but always brought you back to a hook that got stuck in everyone’s head. He motivated thousands of guitarists to learn to play just because they wanted to be able to play ‘Free Fallin”. Count me as one of them.” (NME Music).

    Because of his huge popularity, Petty played the largest festivals, including headlining acts at Bonnaroo in 2006, alongside The Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Nicks and the Black Crowes. Petty was enthusiastically greeted by his devoted fans, who chanted the words to every song with unity and pride. I had the great fortune to experience the power of this rock icon first opening for The Grateful dead in the mid to late 80s, a few other shows throughout the decades, then more recently at New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2012, and again at Lockn’ Festival in 2014. I covered that year for NYS Music, and was lucky to catch this shot as Tom looked right at me, with an elvish grin and a gleam in his eye.

    Thank you for your musical magic, may you rest in peace, Tom.

  • Tom Petty Dead at 66

    Tom Petty lived a life that was one of persistence and a never say die attitude. The same could be said of his death. On Monday, reports began circulating that Petty had been found unresponsive in his Malibu home due to cardiac arrest. He was transported to UCLA Medical Center, placed on life support then removed from life support due to no brain activity. Reports of his death began populating social media despite the fact that there was never any official indication that he was dead.

    tom petty deadLate in the day, news of his death was retracted. Petty had been taken off of life support but began breathing on his own. He was fighting death just as he had fought record labels throughout his career.

    Late Monday, Tony Dimitriades, Petty’s long time manager, confirmed the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s death, “We are devastated to announce the untimely death of our father, husband, brother, leader and friend Tom Petty,” Dimitriades said on behalf of the family.

    He died peacefully at 8:40 p.m. PST Monday surrounded by his family, bandmates and friends.

    Petty was a rare artist who transcended generations. Throughout the day Monday, tributes to Petty were posted on social media from fellow musicians and fans both young and old. His songs have been staples of FM radio since the late 1970s, beginning with the debut album Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers through the 1980s as a member of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne.

    Petty took pride in the fact that the band maintained an ability to attract young fans over the decades. He headlined both the 2006 and 2013 Bonnaroo Festivals and told Rolling Stone about the experience, “We’re one of those old, lucky bands: Young people come to see us. It makes a difference. There are people who have picked up on you fairly recently, or they’re just learning about you. It brings a different excitement into the crowd.”

    Recent years saw Petty reuniting his original Gainesville, FL band Mudcrutch as well as the Heartbreakers. Petty and the Heartbreakers just wrapped up a 40th anniversary tour last week at the Hollywood Bowl.

    Thomas Earl Petty was born in Gainesville on Oct. 21, 1950. His admiration of cowboys led him to take up the guitar. He once stated, “I always liked the idea of the guitar, because cowboys played the guitar.” This passion escalated when his uncle took the 10 year-old Petty to the set of a movie Elvis Presley was working on. It was this meeting that propelled him to make music his life passion.

    The band’s 1976 eponymous debut took time to gain traction in the U.S. Once it did, the single  “Breakdown” crept into the lower reaches of  the Billboard charts.

    Petty famously battled record labels early in his career. When MCA Records attempted to buy out his contract with ABC Records, Petty declared bankruptcy, claiming the contract signed with ABC was made under duress. Petty was able to renegotiate his contract and MCA resigned the band, releasing its third album Damn the Torpedos under its own imprint, Backstreet Records. Torpedos went on to sell over two million copies behind the strength of Petty classics as “Refugee” and “Don’t Do Me Like That.”

    Prior to the release the band’s next album Hard Promises, MCA wanted to cash in on Petty’s celebrity, introducing a new level of pricing for superstar LPs. The label planned to price the new release at $9.98. Petty relented, even threatening to name it The $8.98 LP. MCA eventually caved and released it at the $8.98 price. Hard Promises furthered Petty’s superstar status with the hit “The Waiting.”

    The mid-’80s had Petty and the Heartbreakers branching out. They performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, collaborated with the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart on the Alice in Wonderland themed video for “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and toured with  Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead.

    Petty joined Harrison’s Traveling Wilburys in 1988. This collaboration of rock royalty resulted in a triple platinum album and renewed success for Petty after a disappointing Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) in 1987. He parlayed that success into Full Moon Fever, his first solo release, although accompanied by Lynne and the Heartbreakers in the studio.

    https://youtu.be/L8s9dmuAKvU

    In 1994 Petty began a working relationship with producer Rick Rubin for his second solo album Wildflowers. The album again sold in the millions, earning him a legion of new fans. Rubin then recruited Petty and the Heartbreakers to be Johnny Cash’s backing band for the landmark 1996 album Unchained, which earned a Grammy for Best Country Album of that year.

    The end of the Wildflowers tour also resulted in the end of his 22 year marriage to Jane Benyo. Petty moved from their home and fell into a heroin habit. He eventually cleaned up after entering detox and the resulting album, 1999’s Echo revealed a dark side of Petty that he has rarely visited since.

    In 2001, he married Dana York Epperson while beginning work on The Last DJ an indictment of the recording industry that he saw as having little regard for the art or artists it promoted. This period of Petty’s career didn’t generate radio hits, despite solid efforts both solo and with the Heartbreakers but he was still a successful touring act.

    In 2007 Petty reunited with his old bandmates in Mudcrutch (Tom Leadon and Randall Marsh along with Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell) for a self-titled album and a brief tour. They released a second album, 2 in 2016 that was followed by a national tour.

    Petty and the Heartbreakers returned in 2014 with the band’s first ever number one album Hypnotic Eye. They had toured behind it in 2017, a tour that also celebrated the band’s 40th anniversary.
    Prior to the tour, Petty told Rolling Stone, “I’m thinking it may be the last trip around the country.” Sadly, it was.

    Petty is survived by his wife along with a brother, Bruce; his daughters, Adria and AnnaKim; his stepson, Dylan Petty; and one grandchild.