Did The Heartbreakers have a problem with Tom Petty’s solo debut?
By the end of the 1980s, Tom Petty was looking for something different. For the previous decade and change, he had taken on the role of heartland rock pioneer through his iconic with his backing band, The Heartbreakers. Petty was one of the most recognisable faces in rock music, but he always had his trusty band behind him for whatever project he took on. The group had recorded seven albums and backed Bob Dylan on his ‘True Confessions Tour’ in 1986 and 1987.
The following year, however, Petty got his first true taste of independence. Through a bit of serendipity, Petty was invited to become a member of The Traveling Wilburys, the supergroup formed by George Harrison and featuring Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. Petty was now on equal stature with these rock legends, and when he asked Lynne to help him produce his next album, it turned out to be Petty’s solo debut, 1989’s Full Moon Fever.
The reactions to Petty going solo were mixed. Longtime guitarist and songwriting partner Mike Campbell was there to co-produce and provide guitar lines, but the other Heartbreakers were used sparingly, if at all. Keyboardist Benmont Tench played on ‘The Apartment Song’ while bassist Howie Epstein provided backing vocals on ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and ‘Love Is a Long Road’. Drummer Stan Lynch wasn’t even featured on the album, having been replaced by session player Phil Jones.
“It was Tom’s first solo album and I didn’t realize it would be such a big thing for the band, Tom going off on his own,” Lynne later told Rolling Stone. “I ended up doing most of the stuff, playing the keyboard and the bass and telling the drummer what to play. Mike [Campbell] was there, but I found out afterwards it was a problem for the other guys.”
“Bands are so complicated. You ask a guy that question, and they go, ‘Oh, I never had a problem with it,’ but deep down they were jealous,” Campbell also told Rolling Stone. “I don’t know. I would assume they probably felt the same way when we became Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It’s also a free country. Anybody that wants to do songs outside the group is allowed to do that. So I don’t know. Ask ’em.”
“I remember calling our offices and asking what day we were getting started because I figured we’d get started on like a Wednesday or whatever,” Tench recalled in the documentary Running Down a Dream. “And I heard, ‘uh… they’re doing it by themselves, just Tom and Mike.’ And I was shocked”.
“When I got called in, they just said ‘could you go ding-ding-ding-ding-ding?’ And the feeling of the record was so bad that I couldn’t even do that very well,” Tench added. Lynch claimed that “There were more than a few songs on that record that I just didn’t like”. Epstein even walked out of the sessions that produced ‘Free Fallin’. The Heartbreakers had to swallow their pride when a number of songs from Full Moon Fever became a part of the band’s repertoire, but it was clear that their issues cut deep.
