The Timeless Impact of Tom Petty

Where do you begin with an artist who — at least throughout my life — has always been there to lean on, relate to and sing along with. It is a strange, almost silly feeling to mourn someone you don’t know personally, but the impact music has had on me is much bigger than an Instagram tribute post, especially when that music is Tom Petty’s.

I can remember my mother sliding the Full Moon Fever cassette into the tape deck of our Ford Astrovan on trips long enough to drive the five children in the backseat crazy. Instead of what would otherwise be madness, my siblings and I would all just end up singing along to “Zombie Zoo”.

The appeal of “Zombie Zoo” is obvious to a young boy. But as I got older, and my love for music grew into an academic pursuit, the depth of my appreciation for Tom Petty’s music also grew. Something begins to happen when you dive deeper into the arts: our tastes become expanded, yet refined, and we begin to search for something a bit more complex than our previous obsessions. Even so, Mr. Petty was always there to remind us that harmonic complexity is not a requirement of what makes music great.

As an artist, it seems to me that Tom’s strength was not overthinking a song, but letting them go where ever it was they dictated. If it felt good, you followed it. There is a confident simplicity found in nearly every single one of his recognizable hits — and even among the deeper cuts — that remains unmatched in rock n’ roll. A catchy-and-simple guitar riff met with an even catchier vocal melody is all it takes to lay the ground work for a great song. Yet in the content of his lyrics, which on the surface may seem simple, often sat a nostalgia for the innocence of adolescence which adds the depth of emotion that every great song requires and, in Tom’s case especially, becomes relatable to just about anyone who has grown up in this country.

The verses on “Here Comes My Girl” — arguably my favorite of Petty’s songs — are still some of the most heart-aching melodies I’ve ever heard, even when half of the verse is essentially spoken word. And with the brilliant sentiment of the hook aside, “Even The Losers” opens on a moment in time that will never cease to give me chills each time I hear it…

“It was nearly summer, we sat on your roof
Yeah, we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon
I showed you the stars you never could see
It couldn’t have been that easy to forget about me…”

…perfectly capturing those beautiful moments we have growing up which we are nostalgic for as adults — the ones where a relationship or a feeling or a moment can transcend time.

Perhaps the greatest feat of his music is its timeless nature. ‘Timeless’ is a word often overused these days, but it seems to be so appropriate for the music of Tom and his band. You cannot plan for it, you cannot search for it, you cannot add it in the studio like one of his Rickenbacker 12-string guitars. You can only measure it with years gone by.

The discography of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (and that of Tom as a solo artist) is one of amazing consistency. Pull up any of the ten albums Petty released — with the band or solo — from 1976–1994 and you’ll be able to sing along with at least a few songs from each album. One of those hits was written for a 1993 release of his greatest hits — which remains Petty’s top played song on Spotify (and one that, I would argue, remains his most popular among my generation). Only Petty could write a song for a “greatest hits” release only to have it become a huge hit after the album comes out. Relying on production tropes or the latest fads among pop music was not a crutch that he leaned on. Save for “Don’t Come Around Here No More” (which Tom sang, but was produced by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame) his songs could fit into any album of the discography. “Listen To Her Heart” would sit nicely among the tracks on 1994’s Wildflowers, and “You Wreck Me” is the kind of rocker that would feel right at home on the 1979 breakout Damn The Torpedoes! — an achievement that will remain unmatched among rock artists for a long, long time.

Whenever we need the feeling of a Tom Petty song, we can turn to forty years of music. He spoke for the Everyman without compromising himself as an artist. He got to the core of those feelings you cannot articulate, which in itself, is a gift. The music has always been there for us, and has stood the test of time — that’s the legacy Tom will leave behind for the people who didn’t know him on a personal level. Twenty-five years after those impactful listening sessions from my car seat in that old Astrovan, my mother flew into Denver, Colorado to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 40th anniversary tour at Red Rocks. Forty years of great songs — and we can still both listen to them and be moved by their impact on our lives. It will certainly not be that easy to forget about you, Tom.