Pet Rocks! – Part 1

Tom Petty’s career took off when I was still in diapers and until his passing last year he was always just kind of around- celebrated and honored, to be sure, but also underappreciated and taken for granted given how much music the man’s given so many (he was still touring and selling out shows with the Heartbreakers right up until his death). Petty’s music was- and is- such a part of everyone’s life that his death really shook many of us and to think of the world without him feels strange- I'm still in disbelief.

Admittedly- with the exception of the awesome “You Got Lucky” video on MTV- I was too young to appreciate the early glory years of the Heartbreakers and arrived a bit late to the Petty party. As a teenager I was partial to Petty’s late ‘80s work with Jeff Lynne: I received Full Moon Fever (Petty’s first solo album) as a Christmas gift (who didn’t?) and even during my hardcore/punk years The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1 remained one of my favorite albums. It wasn’t until the mid-00’s that I began going back and rediscovering Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ earlier music and there’s even some pretty good Petty stuff from the ‘90s and later. Here are some of my favorites. Enjoy!

01. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “The Waiting” (1981)
02. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers feat. Stevie Nicks – “Insider” (1981)
03. Tom Petty – “Yer So Bad” (1989)
04. Tom Petty – “Time to Move On” (1994)
05. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “Two Gunslingers” (1991)
06. Tom Petty – “I Won’t Back Down” (1989)
07. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “ The Wild One, Forever” (1976)
08. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – “Even the Losers” (1979)
09. Mudcrutch – “Shady Grove” (2008)
10. Tom Petty – “Free Fallin’” (1989)

Listen to the playlist on Spotify...

Recommended Links:

Remembering Tom Petty – PBS News Hour