Tom Petty on “the only two people” he idolised
While Tom Petty wasn’t one for idolising celebrities or artists, there was an undeniable larger-than-life appeal to Elvis Presley and John Lennon that influenced his childhood and ignited his imagination. Their music showcased alternative possibilities, inspiring Petty with a dream beyond his immediate surroundings. Therefore, their untimely deaths of his idols left Petty deeply saddened, mourning the loss of their talent and presence in the world.
Both Presley and Lennon were involved in pivotal moments during Petty’s early years that permanently changed his perspective for the better. The first of these occurred when he was 11, a time when the most famous person in the entertainment industry, Elvis Presley, was working on a film near Petty’s home in Florida, and Petty was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of The King in person.
Before this occasion in 1961, Presley was an artist Petty felt would only be possible to see on his television screen or magazine pages. While there was no profound conversation between the pair, the fleeting encounter with his hero inspired him to brilliance.
Presley was local to Petty while working on Follow That Dream in Ocala, Florida. However, his other set of heroes was much less accessible. Still, it only took one performance on The Ed Sullivan Show for Petty to become obsessed with The Beatles, who went onto become an immovable object in his life.
As much as The Beatles were his favourite band as an adolescent, John Lennon was his favourite member by a significant distance. In Petty’s mind, Lennon was the coolest man to walk the earth, and it knocked him sick to hear the news of his harrowing murder.
During a conversation with Playboy in 1982, Petty said of Lennon’s death: “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.”
Elaborating on Lennon’s death, Petty revealed: “I was in the studio when Lennon died. My producer, Jimmy Iovine, had worked on a few of John’s albums, and Ringo was recording just down the hall from me. The day before John died, we heard that he was planning to come out and so something with Ringo, and I thought, Great! He’ll be right next door. When he got shot, Jimmy got a call with the news. We went on working for a while, then stopped. The spark was gone. It hurt for so long, it fucked me up.”
In the same interview, Petty also looked back upon his encounter with Elvis. He described it as a “scene with thousands of people” that featured Presley in a white Cadillac while the adoring masses watched on at their collective hero. According to Petty, “he looked great”, and it proved to kickstart an infatuation.
Despite admitting to not being “into idols”, their passings stung greatly, and both Lennon and Presley were more than musicians in his eyes. They were figures that transcended their work, and took Petty out of his reality during a time when his horizons seemed bleak.
Petty then explained how his mother also died in 1980, which, combined with the painful loss of Lennon, made it a “black year”.
Without the influence of Lennon and Elvis, Petty likely would never have had the courage in his convictions to follow in their footsteps. For that alone, he was forever grateful, and their deaths were comparable to losing a family member.
