When Tom Petty got into a fight with John Lydon
Tom Petty was never known to back down to anyone. Corny dad joke notwithstanding, Petty had always played by his own rules and would never let any of his naysayers get in the way of what he wanted to do at every opportunity. While he may have been able to make a fantastic career out of following his muse, one of his first interviews involved him getting into a scrap with another up-and-coming rock and roller.
Compared to the rest of the rock scene in which he was brought up, Petty felt a bit out of time with his generation. Coming from the same vein as artists like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Petty was more than happy to play the music he loved growing up rather than listening to anything new.
As Petty channelled his Byrds and Beatles dreams, the rock scene underwent a massive change. After years of hearing hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith tear up the charts, the punk scene was quickly arriving to turn the music world on its head, with John Lydon at the spearhead of the movement.
After becoming known as one of the most controversial frontmen ever to touch a microphone, Lydon was known for poking at the establishment at every opportunity, including the massive attack on authority Nevermind the Bollocks. While Petty often got mislabeled as a punk during the band’s glory years, one of his first interviews for Rolling Stone saw him nearly come to blows with Lydon on tour.
During his first cover story, Petty recalled seeing Lydon in the hallway and almost getting into a fight, recalling, “We were talking into our hotel lobby in London, and I hear this snotty voice saying, ‘Oh, it’s the American pop star Tom Petty’. I start walking towards the elevator. I hear the same voice whining, ‘There the hippies go’. At this point, [drummer] Stan [Lynch] wheels around and starts heading for whoever it is. He wants to kill”.
Even though Petty had to deal with being heckled by one of the biggest names in British music, he knew that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the throngs of journalists standing in full view of both Lydon and him. Rather than settle their differences physically, Petty found his way back to Lydon and levelled him in just a few words.
Coming up to him, Petty explained, “Stan has to be restrained. I went over there and said, ‘Who the fuck are you talking to?’ [Lydon] immediately went into that wounded-punk act, says nothing. There ain’t no Robin Hoods in rock, man. All that punk shit is just a little too trendy”.
Even though Petty may not have identified with punk, his way of working the music industry to his advantage aligned with the mindset people like Lydon were preaching. Rather than rest on his laurels, Petty ended up going to war against his record company, keeping the price of music down, and working his record contract on his terms without ever having to put a safety pin through his nose. Lydon may have been living to provoke at every opportunity, but Petty proved that day that the true punks don’t necessarily need the adulation.
