“I play these same albums over and over”: The band Tom Petty claimed to be the biggest fan of
Tom Petty never claimed to be a snob of rock music. As long as it had a strong beat and something to say, chances are he would prefer over 90% of the substance-less music coming out of the mainstream at any given time. For everyone who wanted to be a star, it was all about integrity for Petty, and he knew that he had found his calling when listening to the sound of jangly rock and roll.
Then again, if we want to talk about ground zero for Petty, it circles back to seeing Elvis Presley in the film Follow That Dream when he was a little kid. However, whereas ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ looked like a superhero by comparison, The Beatles were the ones that gave him the drive to actually form a band and not have to worry about being a pinup star.
Even though Petty had that conversion moment when he was little, Roger McGuinn may have slightly beat him to the punch. As soon as The Byrds frontman heard the chime of George Harrison’s 12-string electric guitar, he abandoned his roots in Americana music to start making rock and roll. Although folk-rock never really left them, hearing the chime of his guitar while playing Mr Tambourine Man was enough to make The Beatles’ ears perk up a little bit.
And listening to Petty’s discography, some of the same influences ended up creeping into his material as well. Since the second half of The Byrds’s career involved them soaking themselves in country music on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Petty also wasn’t afraid to tackle a few Americana tunes as well, down to working with Johnny Cash on a few of his comeback albums in the 1990s.
In fact, maybe that inspiration was a little bit too on the nose. Petty certainly wore his rockabilly influences on his sleeve, but when listening to the early takes of tunes like ‘American Girl’ and ballads like ‘Magnolia’, you’d swear that McGuinn is owed subsequent royalties for existing rather than any concrete lyrics or melodies.
It’s not like Petty could deny that he took his fixation with the folk-rockers a little too seriously at times, saying, “I just love the Byrds so much. I’m their biggest fan, to this day. It’s kind of embarrassing sometimes ’cause I play these same albums over and over.” When they started putting together covers of ‘I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better’, though, it was more than a tip of the cap to his influences. It was a glorified love letter.
Listening to his later material on Full Moon Fever, Petty wanted to ensure that every song had some connective tissue to his favourite bands from days gone by, down to having a Buddy Holly-style guitar break in the middle of ‘The Apartment Song’. It may have the sweet touch of Jeff Lynne on production duties, but that signature sound doesn’t really go away with a few tweaks in the production.
But Petty never tried to look at himself as a purely nostalgic act. He knew that the best music that he had ever heard had been written years before, and if you wanted to make something even better, that meant going back to those old records to realise where you come from.
