Tom Petty: End of an era I am sad to say :-(

As far as tributes go this is one of the hardest to do. Tom Petty was a legend, an absolute genius as a songwriter and the epitome of everything good about rock and roll. In the last chapter of TSORR I discuss in detail the sadness I feel that all these heroes of mine are passing away, Lemmy, Bowie, Glen Frey, Keith Emerson, Leonard Cohen, Greg Lake, Johnny Winter, Gregg Allman, Chuck Berry the list goes on. These are the guys who lived to a good age as far as that lifestyle is concerned.

I didn’t expect to be writing about Tom Petty for a few years to be honest. It just seems way, way, way too soon. It feels like Tom has been with me my whole life, he was such a big part of my formative years. He started making a name for himself in around 1976. I first heard him in 1979 when he released Damn The Torpedoes. It was my first year of High School and songs like ‘Refugee’ were such a big part of school day and that song was guaranteed to put you in a good mood. To say I had it in heavy rotation doesn’t even come close to it.

Talking about Tom without mentioning The Heartbreakers would also be just wrong. They were one of the tightest most talented backing bands ever and they give the E Street Band a run for it’s money. The Heartbrteakers were always in the background but took Tom’s songs and blasted them into the stratosphere. The brilliance of Mike Campbell & Benmont Tench should never be underestimated. In conclusion as sad as it is that he is no longer with us nothing can take away from the brilliance or his contribution to Rock.

The best thing to do is grab a beer and put his albums on and just celebrate how fantastic Tom Petty was. You won’t find a video version of ‘Echo’ but I included the song here because it is soul wrenching. Play ‘Refugee’ again then then you will see how he could take you all the way down and bring you all the way up again. A true genius, cheers Tom, RIP, you are missed the music world is a darker place without you.