I have a lot of nostalgic feelings for one, and the song “Southern Accents” gives it a nice down-home vibe, but the rest is a mash-up of Dave Stewart’s synth-rock and strange R&B infusions that gives the album a spaghetti-against-the-wall feeling. Favorite tracks: You Got Lucky, Deliver Me, Change of Heart, Finding Out, Straight Into Darkness. Favorite tracks: King’s Highway, Learning to Fly, Out in the Cold, The Dark of the Sun, #5: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1976). Not to mention the rhythm section-while holding everything together they simultaneously push things along, and make it seem effortless, this is a real rock ‘n’ roll band.”. The songs “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Refugee”, were all over the radio, in people’s cars, and blasting out of people’s living rooms. Now we’re getting into Tom’s great classic albums, legendary stuff, where the misses are rare and my choices become so much harder. It had such potential, and it marked a period where Petty wanted to honor his blues fandom and roots, and it was also a nice step back into a more rocking mood for Tom and the band. This album meant a lot to me because it came out at the point in my life when I started giving up on the radio for my musical fix, and Tom was talking about that same thing in this theme album, extolling the horrors of the modern music industry, but it doesn’t really work. Petty, merely another in a long line of rock and roll missionaries whose life was irrevocably changed by Elvis, rock and roll radio, and the Beatles’ performance on Ed Sullivan, was the natural leader: headstrong, determined, and shrewd.

Also, it feels like every 10 years or so someone releases a song called “Learning to Fly” and it becomes a huge hit (see: Floyd, Pink; Fighters, Foo) and we’re due another one.

And then to have songs like “Here Comes My Girl” and “Even The Losers” on top of it-well, Petty and the band don’t get much better.

It had stellar hits and some good deep cuts, but too many lows to rank higher on my list. There are a few rocking tunes, a few sweet somber ones, experimental tracks, even a Beck cover, all in all a decent “soundtrack” for a movie I only watched once and didn’t like. Enough chit-chat. He knows what he is and he isn’t going to try to throw on the leather pants and jam with the kids. (Oh, and Dave Grohl played drums for TP&H on SNL that year, so, holy shit, there’s that. Thank goodness he had the Traveling Wilburys to help get himself back in order. While “Saving Grace” is designed to be a rollicking ZZ Top-ish rock single, there’s no real hit track here, just a string of good songs that have one foot in the folk-rock tradition and one foot in the “road album” vibe (hence the title of the album) and it works in a way that shows Tom aging with grace and tact. It is no great coincidence that the 1993 collection of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ greatest hits remains one of the top-selling ‘best of’ compilation albums of all time.

“Tom Petty had already established himself as a rock star since the late 70s but his 1989 album Full Moon Fever was his commercial peak thanks to a series of hit singles including what is argubly his most popular song, “Free Fallin'”. From his early days as leather-jacketed pseudo-punk thumbing his nose at a greedy and gormless Establishment to the baked, flannel-clad cornball of his later years, Petty has managed to maintain a loyal following while constantly attracting new fans. It’s all there for you…from Spike to American Girl. It’s the first album that didn’t just feel like a collection of good songs but a collection of lessons. This album doesn’t explore new territory, but it shows the band having fun, playing loud, and enjoying the hell out of making a name for themselves, even if they’re far from peak Petty. Are you kidding me with this track? He doesn’t have to. Woof. “”Damn The Torpedoes” is, arguably, the finest early album by Petty and his band. Odd for a southern boy who moved to California just to get his foot in the door. Later on, high profile conflicts with major record labels would continue to paint the grandstanding Petty as a sort of nobly heroic enfant terrible, even when his music owed a bigger debt to the Byrds or the Beatles than to any act that might have packed out CBGBs. It would have been the best song on the album, no idea why they cut it! It’s sweet, but never saccharine.

There's no real bad tracks on the album, but after the first couple of killer tracks, the album slides into middle-of the-road material with some okay stuff like “Something Big” and “A Thing About You,” with a real nice duet with Stevie Nicks toward the end. From so-so to legendary, because there are no “bad” Tom Petty albums!! Like the cover suggests, it’s a a more peaceful collection of songs, like you’re getting home at the end of a long day, tired and happy. Christ, how is this album not #1? Tom Petty is the rare classic rocker on whom almost everyone — boomers, punks, alt-rock brats, classic rock radio junkies, and normals alike — can agree. Favorite tracks: Red River, U Get Me High, Fault Lines, Shadow People. He was the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. Favorite tracks: Big Weekend, Down South, Flirting With Time, Saving Grace, Home. ... On pretty much on any other Tom Petty album, it would have been the first single. To celebrate Hypnotic Eye, Petty’s 12th album with the Heartbreakers (and 15th overall, excluding live albums and soundtrack work), we decided it was long overdue we rank Petty’s albums from worst to best. It might actually be my favorite from Tom Petty.

Full Moon Fever (1989) I’m a fan of Jeff Lynne and ELO, but admit being worried about the pairing, … It’s folksy, but it rocks. He’s got his guitar and the road and plenty of stories to tell—his way. Full Moon Fever and Into the Great Wide Open were monster albums, he just released the hugely popular single “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” and he had a greatest hits album selling millions. At first I felt it was a downer of an album, but over time it has become maybe his most genuine and personal, and surprisingly consistent, with outstanding songwriting. It was NOT what people were expecting. I had a "change of heart" about this one after originally posting it far far lower and bumped it up a couple spots. TP has a knack for crafting a great 3 minute rock song that is both radio friendly (well, back when radio mattered) and also tells a story.

eval(ez_write_tag([[250,250],'returnofrock_com-box-4','ezslot_8',112,'0','0'])); 15 Guitar Effects Pedals Every Guitar Player MUST Have, Vinyl Lover Discovers New Simple Trick for Clear Music Fast. Much of this success is attributable to the fact that time has always been on Petty’s side. And for that reason, it rarely gets played as a whole when I’m the shotgun DJ. Favorite tracks: I Need to Know, Listen to Her Heart, Too Much Ain’t Enough, When the Time Comes. I remember listening to this album over and over and over, and it is drenched with the feeling of a band desperate to break out of the mold, rise above the pack, and kick some ass. ), Favorite tracks: Oh, just shut up already and turn it up…, Ranked: Every Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Album. It feels weird placing this one so low because there are dynamite tracks here and this was a big album for him, but there are some really bad tracks too, and the whole album feels like Tom doesn’t really know what he’s shooting for. It deserves a #1 spot, but this next one is a knockout. eval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'returnofrock_com-box-3','ezslot_6',109,'0','0'])); Don’t miss out on the CLASSIC Tom Petty music below!

An excellent lead-up to Torpedoes. The title track and “Have Love Will Travel” touch on the topic in a strong way too, but other tracks feel either heavy handed or like random asides that don’t do much for the album’s spirit. It fell out of my rotation a little faster than Highway Companion did, but it's a very fun and solid outing for the boys. I’d be willing to fistfight God if he said this wasn’t the best rock song to come out of the 1970s. Not in an overall sense. ("Make It Better" might be his worst album track ever.) Petty — no dummy — played the role to the hilt: In a 1977 television interview, he explained that he and the Heartbreakers “had to be in the ‘new wave'” because they “weren’t in the ‘old wave. My favorite track is the first one I played on the air of Tom Petty’s when I worked in radio. Steven Hyden Twitter Cultural Critic. The Best Tom Petty Songs, Ranked. Every one of their albums has a lot to say without trying too hard. A great rock n’ roll album from a band that knew how to groove.”. Every other list I’ve found throws this one at the bottom of the heap (or close) and I don’t get it. Also, check out the bonus track on the deluxe version, "Home."

Yet another X factor in the Tom Petty success story, of course, is MTV. Tom Petty has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. Petty recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. In his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Other hits include “I Won’t Back Down” and “Runnin’ Down A Dream”. “Walls (Circus)” is still one of my favorite songs, just a happy, bouncing, rock tune with all kinds of zen wisdom hidden within. Although it was slow to catch fire in the US, it broke out in the UK and Tom made waves from overseas before coming home to an eager audience. The track is Woman In Love. In a revealing quote about his music to biographer / documentarian Peter Bogdanovich, Petty claims he merely “turned anger into ambition.”, Another reason for Petty’s longevity is the Heartbreakers, the group Warren Zanes called “America’s truest rock and roll band.” Every member that ever performed in the Heartbreakers was crucial, but none more so than the team of guitarist Mike Campbell — perhaps the most unsung rock and roll guitar player this side of Richard Lloyd — and pianist / multi-instrumentalist Benmont Tench.

Wildflowers’ It was an extremely close contest, but Petty's 1994 solo disc Wildflowers won this poll … And remember the mini-movie they made for the music video for the title track, the one that had Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway? “I Should Have Known It” is his best and loudest single since 1993’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” The problem is most of the rest of Mojo is very forgettable, despite plenty of bluesy jams that sound like they’re having fun. I don’t remember the last time I listened to it all the way through without skipping songs part way through. Few people seem to “outgrow” Tom Petty.