Tom Petty’s favourite Tom Petty album: “The best record we ever made”
Few figures in rock history loom as large as Tom Petty. Whether leading The Heartbreakers, reviving Mudcrutch, or rolling with The Traveling Wilburys, Petty’s influence was seismic, shaping the sound of everyone from Dave Grohl to The Strokes. His 2017 passing was a gut punch to music fans everywhere, but the Florida native left behind a legacy of immortal tracks—‘Don’t Do Me Like That’, ‘Free Fallin’—carving his name into the bedrock of rock and roll history. A larger-than-life character, his presence is still felt in every chord of his celestial catalogue.
Like any great artist, Petty’s career was a rollercoaster. His 1979 album Damn the Torpedoes, a defining moment with The Heartbreakers, was shaped by a bitter legal battle with his label, MCA. The company sued him for breaching his contract after he refused to be passed between record labels like a commodity. Petty fought back, making a stand that would define his relationship with the industry forever.
That same defiance saw him emerge as one of the loudest voices for artistic freedom. Through the ’80s, he was a constant thorn in the music industry’s side, even taking on MCA for hiking album prices. His stance resonated with fans, and his persistence paid off—MCA backed down.
Musically, the decade was one of evolution. Petty and The Heartbreakers leaned into the shifting landscape, with Long After Dark (1982) and Southern Accents (1985) dabbling in synthesizers and drum machines. To some, this was a necessary evolution; to others, it was a sign of an old guard struggling to keep pace. The latter album, a half-formed concept record, saw Petty briefly adopt the Confederate flag on tour—something he was criticised for and later regretted.
Petty wouldn’t fully reclaim his magic until Wildflowers in 1994. Technically a solo record but featuring The Heartbreakers, it was a product of the total creative control he had fought for. The album wasn’t credited to the band because, as Petty put it, “Rick (Rubin – producer) and I both wanted more freedom than to be strapped into five guys.”
A return to the heartland rock that made him a legend, Wildflowers is often cited as his magnum opus—and Petty himself didn’t disagree. “Even on the last tour, if we played a song from Wildflowers, he’d say: ‘That’s the best record we ever made,’” Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench told The Independent. “And I appreciated that he said ‘we’.”
The album may well come complete with orchestral arrangements and an iconic producer in Rubin, but, in truth, the real beauty of the record is how connected Petty is with his sound. Rootsy and bluesy in equal measure, Petty is never overcome by what surrounds him, instead using it to embellish his own brilliance. The record is full of soul and excitement as it offers both a guiding hand and a chance for a new future. It’s a piece of Petty’s life that feels charged with the electricity of something new, and for that reason, it deserves its place at the top.
It’s easy to see why Petty held it in such high regard. From ‘You Don’t Know How It Feels’ to ‘You Wreck Me’, it’s an album of pure brilliance—one that will be talked about for generations. Though The Heartbreakers didn’t get official credit, their fingerprints are all over it.
