“He was just transcendental”: The artist Tom Petty said kicked the Heartbreakers’ ass
Even for people at the top of their game, meeting a legend is no small thing. We talk a lot about this idea of a ‘god-tier’, of a class of musicians who loom over the rest as the true best of the best. They’re the undefeated greats; they’re the ones from which everything else was born as the kings and queens of distinct musical lineages. So even for someone like Tom Petty, who looms large in the minds of so many fans, peering into that higher realm was overwhelming.
It happened many times, over and over again, throughout his career. As Petty himself climbed the ladder, reaching dizzying heights when his band Tom Petty and Heartbreakers took off, it placed him in some powerful rooms. He’d make friends with plenty of powerful people – Stevie Nicks, Bruce Springsteen, and the rest of the pack that would later make up the Traveling Wilburys: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. While all incredible musicians that Petty undeniably revered, they were also just his peers.
But in this one instance, there was no friendly comfort to meeting this legend. It’s one thing to meet and make friends with people working somewhat in the same realm as you. Petty and Nicks were both on the come up at the same time, Petty and Harrison would quickly form a collaborative friendship; despite all their lofty reputations, there was an undercurrent of mutual respect or a level playing field to allow that.
Yet Petty himself would be the first to admit that that didn’t apply the day he met John Lee Hooker.
Given that Petty made a career out of being a guitar slinger, meeting John Lee Hooker was always going to be a big deal. Hooker was a truly historic, formative figure. He was another person who literally shaped what rock and roll would be with each performance he gave and each time; he put his own unique styling and electric guitar skills into the tradition of blues. It’s men like Hooker who taught all the rest; without him, there would be no Beatles, there would be no Stones, there would be no Petty.
So naturally, the idea of meeting someone like that is pretty terrifying. Add on top of that a weird context, involving an argument with his bandmate and then the sight of Bob Dylan falling over on stage; it all makes for a weird atmosphere in which to meet a legend.
“Me and Stan got in a big fight, and I left the stage. Stan was wound-up about something, and he gave me the finger during the show. I just took my guitar and walked off,” Petty recalled of this one night in San Francisco in the 1980s. After storming off stage midshow, Bob Dylan coaxed him back out with perhaps the ultimate sentence; “Bob came in and said, ‘Come on, come back. John Lee Hooker is here, and he’s going to play. Come on. Let’s go play with John Lee Hooker.’”
That’s one way to get out of a bad mood. Petty skipped the joy and landed straight in a state of pure euphoria, stating, “John Lee Hooker came out and kicked our asses. He was just transcendental,” as he watched the musician with complete and utter awe.
