The rock legend that Tom Petty turned down producing
There will never be another rock band in the world that can capture the essence of Tom Petty. Although Petty was always keen to crib ideas from the early days of rock and roll, he was consistently interested in taking it one step further every time he stepped behind the microphone, creating songs that could fill the listener with excitement or leave them in tears. Although Petty had the opportunity to lend his skills to other artists, he turned down a fellow legend when asked to produce them.
Then again, Petty couldn’t claim a free schedule when working with The Heartbreakers. From the first time he started on the road for his debut album, Petty was rarely off the stage, always wanting to deliver the best performance for every fan who paid for a ticket.
Although Petty may not have fit in with the traditional punk rockers coming up around the same time, his songwriting stood out for most of his contemporaries. In an era when artists like Bruce Springsteen were writing songs about the everyman, Petty was another artist on the verge of a genre known as heartland rock, creating tracks indebted to painting a loving ode to America.
Around the time Petty had started gaining traction on the hit parade, Fleetwood Mac was going through their reinvention. With newcomer Stevie Nicks creating massive hits like ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Landslide’, the band went from strength to strength, culminating in their emotional powerhouse Rumours, centred around the band’s inner turmoil.
While exorcising her emotional demons, Nicks would say that she loved the idea of working with Petty in some capacity. When discussing Petty’s style, Nicks would recall in Runnin Down a Dream, “I began to prefer Tom’s music to Fleetwood Mac’s music. If Tom Petty had asked me to leave Fleetwood Mac and join them, I would have done it”.
Rather than leave her main outfit, Nicks decided to balance a solo career instead, only on the condition that Petty would be able to produce it. While Bella Donna would feature many of Petty’s stylistic tricks and even include a duet with him on the song ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, he ultimately turned down producing the record.
When discussing the prospect of production, Petty thought that his style never clicked with Nicks’, saying, “She was very sweet, and we liked her. But she had a whole different kind of work ethic than we had, and there were a lot of people, a lot of hangers-on — the whole Elvis kind of theme of big entourage. We’d never been a very big fan of that. And so after a track, I went, ‘Look, I can’t do this. I’m too busy, and I don’t think that I’m going to be a big help to you”.
While Petty would pass on being the producer, that did nothing to dissuade his friendship with Nicks. Throughout the next few years, Petty would continue to collaborate with Nicks on occasion, popping up at different shows together and even including Nicks on hits like ‘Don’t Come Around Here No More’. Nicks and Petty may have had a completely different work ethic, but their musical souls may be forever entwined with each other.
