“Idolised”: The only two people Tom Petty looked up to
Tom Petty was never shy about wearing his rock influences on his sleeve. Regardless of how many times he tried to twist his sound into something different, there was always bound to be a few chords that were stolen from Chuck Berry or a harmony line that seemed to be borrowed from Roger McGuinn. The heartland rocker was a child of rock and roll, but he thought that these two artists were the only people who were worth modelling a career after.
Before he embraced music, though, Petty didn’t have a clear vision of where he wanted to go. He knew that he loved listening to records, but it was hard for him to put a face to what he wanted to do until he heard Elvis Presley playing tunes like ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ on the radio.
Because compared to every other rockstar that came before, Presley seemed like a wild animal unleashed. Despite a lot of parents having some questions about his vulgar gyrating every time he got onstage, Presley was the epitome of what a rock and roll frontman should be, whether that meant putting his all into every performance or trying to squeeze every last bit of emotion out of one of his ballads.
While Presley was a legend before Petty even knew him, The Beatles were a better example of what he saw himself doing. No matter how many hearts he set on fire, Presley was being treated like a god by that point, whereas The Beatles seemed like a bunch of friends who got together to play music.
Even though Presley would develop a long-time relationship with George Harrison, he had his eye firmly on what John Lennon was doing. Compared to Presley’s rock and roll tunes about love, Lennon always had something more on his mind whenever he sat down to write a song. Whether talking about politics on ‘Revolution’ or working through his own mind on Plastic Ono Band, Lennon became the trademark example of how someone can be completely honest with their audience.
Petty only ended up missing Lennon before he died in 1980, but he still held the former Beatle and Presley as his only true idols, saying, “His death hurt real bad, still hurts. Each time I see his picture or hear him sing, I immediately get pissed off that some fucking jerk could just blow him away. In fact, the only two people I have ever looked up to, idolized — Lennon and Elvis — are both dead. And I’m not someone into idols.”
And it’s not hard to see where Petty got a lot of his ideas, either. While the Presley influence showed more prominently whenever he led his band onstage, the Lennon influence came in Petty’s ability to be honest on his later records, whether that was documenting the highs of Full Moon Fever or being open enough to let the audience in on the background of his divorce on Echo.
Because no matter how far Presley and Lennon went in different directions throughout their careers, they are perfect examples of what any rock and roller should aspire to. One may have taught young musicians how to catch everyone’s attention, but the other showed them how to keep that attention going forward.
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