The one singer Tom Petty said never got boring: “A great inspiration”
For the longest time, it felt like the average rules of rock and roll didn’t matter to Tom Petty.
As much as people like to make their impact and are virtually irrelevant by the time they reach their 30s, Petty managed to create his most iconic tunes long after most people of his generation would have forgotten about. He was clearly in it for the long haul, but his drive only came from him listening to his friends, who kept things interesting every time they made a new record.
Then again, it’s not like Petty was on the same level as David Bowie in the studio. He wasn’t going to walk out with some prog-jazz masterpiece or a concept album about the dangers of the world, but he knew how to keep up a track record of writing great songs after great songs whenever he decided to work. And in the Heartbreakers, he at least had the perfect truth serum every time he played as well.
Despite being a backing band in name, none of the former members were ever going to take shit from Petty. Benmont Tench was acutely aware of when he thought something sounded like crap, and he had no problem telling Petty that it was below his standard and that he should go back to the drawing board. It was a hard truth to hear, but even the biggest names in heartland rock need to be put in their place.
After all, Rick Rubin had been the one to challenge what Johnny Cash was playing during the final years of his life, and since Petty idolised the country legend, he figured that it was time for him to start working in that same framework. While he wasn’t going to be taking the wild chances that Neil Young did when making something like Trans back in the day, he did have a healthy respect for what Bob Dylan was doing whenever he switched things up.
Any songwriter worth their salt would have found merit in what Dylan was doing throughout his career, but what made him stick out was about more than simply being a great songwriter. He was unafraid of leaving some of the mistakes in his songs, and when the times continued to change around him, he would always do whatever he wanted on his later albums, like Time Out of Mind or Modern Times.
So when Petty was making an album like Mojo, he felt that it was good to look to Dylan as a model for what he was doing, saying, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna keep doing it. Bob is a great inspiration. That’s somebody who hasn’t let his age get in the way of his creativity at all.” And even though Petty is no longer with us, Dylan has continued to live up to that compliment on his later records.
It wasn’t everyone’s first choice to see him make an album of standards or have the massive collection of songs that came out on Triplicate, but Rough and Rowdy Ways was another example of him trying to push himself. Rarely does anyone release a song as good as ‘A Murder Most Foul’ after 50 years of releasing music, but that’s the kind of high that both Dylan and Petty were always chasing.
They were happy to stand side by side as Wilburys, but their musical pursuits were about something a little bit more personal. It’s one thing to have records like ‘Free Fallin’ or ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ under their belts, but they knew that their track record was only as good as the next song they put out, and Petty was going to make sure that he could make records he could still be proud into his twilight years.
Never Miss A Tale
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.