The stars Tom Petty didn’t want to be compared to: “I prefer to be a little off my rocker”
Tom Petty never felt comfortable going along with the status quo. The entire ethos behind the Heartbreakers may have been about making authentic rock and roll music, and no amount of trendy effects or new music was going to deter Petty from making the music he wanted to make. That can often get people into trouble when working on classics, but the public welcomed him with open arms, and Petty wasn’t always comfortable with that.
That is because when Petty first got started, the idea of ‘heartland rock’ hadn’t been coined yet. Although he rose to prominence in the same years that brought the world both punk and new wave, Petty didn’t like fitting into either camp, usually being just as happy to play his favourite Beatles records than worrying about what’s hip.
While he stuck in his own lane, many acts around him started to bring their own earnest take on rock and roll. Despite Petty coming later, he fell under the same umbrella that housed people like Bob Seger and John Mellencamp. Both sang about the everyday lives of American people with gruff voices that sounded like someone at the far end of the bar.
And let’s not forget about Bruce Springsteen. Petty may have come second, but Springsteen was the true face of what heartland rock looked like, almost picking up where Bob Dylan left off in terms of songs about people on the ground and the common man looking for a means of escape from their nowhere town.
Petty held each of those artists in high esteem, but he wasn’t exactly looking to join them amongst the greatest of all time, telling Hot Press, “I prefer to be a little off my rocker. I am the one that’s maybe not as healthy as them. I get just a little uncomfortable when I start to look like too good a guy. I don’t ever want to get where people have me figured out ‘cause I certainly don’t have me figured out.”
Despite framing himself as someone who can’t be tied down to one genre, Petty certainly had his signature sound well before he became famous. It’s not exactly hard to mistake a Tom Petty song for someone else, but his attitude might have more to do with the philosophy behind his music.
From day one, Petty had a chip on his shoulder when it came to the music industry, and anything that he saw as unjust wasn’t going to go over well with him. Even if his financial stability depended on it, Petty wasn’t going to sell his songs to his label or try to keep music outside the reach of his fans to make a quick buck. For an industry that prioritises the business side before anything else, Petty still looked out for the people at the bottom before anyone else.
Even though Seger and Springsteen had their fair share of rebellious tendencies, Petty was determined to live life on his own terms, which actually makes him more of a punk rocker than maybe he gave himself credit for. He had his way of delivering commercial music, but Petty wasn’t looking to serve the music industry. He was going to be the persistent thorn in its side.
