The two indie bands Tom Petty admired for finding “new ground”
It could be argued that Tom Petty was the birth of indie. When he emerged in the mid-1970s, his sound was different. It had the spirit of classic rock but with a new kind of cool. It didn’t seem to be tying itself too tight to any artist that had come before and instead was the result of Petty’s own musical education and evolution as he ran away from Florida and went on a journey to the top, paved with new discoveries. Off the back of his legacy, it’s easy to see his influence on modern acts today, two of which he deeply admired.
It’s always a beautiful thing to know that a legacy act remained deeply passionate about music. It’s not just about the making of their own music or their endured dedication to their own projects. But it’s especially nice to hear that artists remained forever interested in the wider music world, still listening to new music and remaining engaged with the evolution of music rather than bitter that their era had perhaps come and gone. In an industry where so many older artists fall into the trap of being disregarding of the next generation or superior about the talent of their class, Petty’s support for the new age of indie acts is an encouraging thing.
One of his favourite new acts was Radiohead, showing that his love for the world of rock and indie went way beyond his own sound. Petty’s work doesn’t exactly bore much resemblance to the often experimental world of Thom Yorke and his troupe, but that’s what the American musician loved about them. “In my view, Radiohead is the group that is at the forefront of trying to find some new ground,” he said in 2008. Where some people see pretension, Petty saw a pioneering spirit, adding, “There are a lot of people out there who say they are, and there are a lot of people musically masturbating, but I think Radiohead can do it and make it come through as real music.”
However, in the band’s less left-field works, Petty’s influence creeps in. Tracks like ‘Creep’ or ‘High and Dry’, that follow a more classic structure and step into more anthemic waters, could certainly be likened to Petty’s songs like ‘Free Fallin’’ or ‘Stop Dragging My Heart Around’ where he had the form of a good song down to an art form.
But the second pick of his favourite new act most definitely graduated from the Petty School of Rock. “I also like Kings of Leon quite a bit,” he said, picking out the beloved indie band. Forming in a small town in Tennessee, Kings Of Leon’s story feels similar to Petty’s in that they’ve grown and evolved way beyond their origins. But as the band has that country twang naturally threaded through their music thanks to their hometown, it’s reminiscent of the kind of Americana heard on tracks like ‘American Girl’.
They’re also a band that have gone far on releasing tracks that feel foolproof. While Petty’s love for Radiohead comes down to their weirdness and experimentation, Kings Of Leon seem to appeal to his enduring love for classic rock and the kind of guitar music that dominated his era of the 1970s. As they lean heavily into nostalgia in their music, the band probably made Petty somewhat nostaglic in return.
