Line #12 Music/TomPetty


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4	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_tompetty.png]]
5
6	->''Well I started out, down a dirty road,\
7	Started out, all alone.\
8	And the sun went down, as I crossed the hill,\
9	And the town lit up, the world got still.''
10	-->--"Learning to Fly"
11
12	Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Gainesville, UsefulNotes/{{Florida}}. He was the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and a member of Mudcrutch. He was also a member of the {{supergroup}} Music/TheTravelingWilburys, under the pseudonym of Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. He recorded a number of hit singles, many of which remain heavily played on adult contemporary and classic rock radio. Likewise, his music, most notably his hits, have become increasingly popular among younger fans as he hosted sold-out shows in his recent tour dates.
13
14	Petty was also a vocal critic of the modern recording industry and the disappearance of independent radio stations.
15
16	He was supported by his band, ''The Heartbreakers,'' for the majority of his career. He occasionally released solo work, as was the case with 2006's ''Highway Companion,'' on which he performed most of the backing instrumentation himself. However, members of The Heartbreakers played on each of his solo albums and the band always backed him when touring in support of those albums. He also toured with Mudcrutch in order to promote their debut album. Petty was managed by Tony Dimitriades from 1976 until Petty's death in 2017. On February 3, 2008, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed at the Super Bowl XLII Halftime show.
17
18	He had a minor but credited acting role as a mayor in Creator/KevinCostner's post-apocalyptic disaster film ''Film/ThePostman'' (where it's very subtly hinted that his character actually ''is'' Tom Petty) and was the voice of Elroy "Lucky" Kleinschmidt (Luanne Platter's redneck boyfriend turned husband) on the later seasons of the Creator/{{FOX}} sitcom ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' (though the first time Lucky appeared on a ''King of the Hill'' episode was "The Redneck of Rainey Street," which focused on Kahn and Minh becoming trailer trash after Kahn, Jr. gets rejected from a college prep summer school program).
19
20	Petty died on October 2, 2017 in Malibu, California, after suffering cardiac arrest earlier in the day. He had just played the final gig of the Heartbreakers' year-long 40th anniversary tour the week before.
21
22	!! Discography:
23
24	[[AC:With the Heartbreakers]]
25	* ''Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers'' (1976)
26	* ''You're Gonna Get It!'' (1978)
27	* ''Damn the Torpedoes'' (1979)
28	* ''Hard Promises'' (1981)
29	* ''Long After Dark'' (1982)
30	* ''Southern Accents'' (1985)
31	* ''Let Me Up (I've Had Enough)'' (1987)
32	* ''Into the Great Wide Open'' (1991)
33	* ''Songs and Music from "She's the One"'' (1996)
34	* ''Echo'' (1999)
35	* ''The Last D.J.'' (2002)
36	* ''Mojo'' (2010)
37	* ''Hypnotic Eye'' (2014)
38
39	[[AC:Solo albums]]
40	* ''Full Moon Fever'' (1989)
41	* ''Wildflowers'' (1994)
42	* ''Highway Companion'' (2006)
43
44	!! Notable Tom Petty songs:
45
46	* ''[[https://youtu.be/1lWJXDG2i0A Free Fallin']]''
47	* ''[[https://www.mtvmusic.com/petty_tom/videos/18159/don_t_come_around_here_no_more.jhtml Don't Come Around Here No More]]''
48	* ''[[https://www.mtvmusic.com/petty_tom/videos/150713/refugee.jhtml Refugee]]''
49	* ''[[https://www.mtvmusic.com/petty_tom/videos/150418/runnin_down_a_dream.jhtml Runnin' Down a Dream]]''
50	* ''[[https://youtu.be/s5BJXwNeKsQ Learning to Fly]]''
51	* ''[[https://youtu.be/nvlTJrNJ5lA I Won't Back Down]]''
52	* ''[[https://youtu.be/DdiFZw6jMjs The Waiting]]''
53	* ''Music/MaryJanesLastDance''
54
55	----
56	!! "I'm runnin' down the tropes:"
57	* AliceAllusion: The whole video for "Don't Come Around Here No More."
58	* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: GenderInverted in "Free Fallin'" Where he sings about breaking up with a girl because she's too nice and wholesome.
59	* UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents: Tom and guitarist Mike Campbell are almost poster boys for Northern Florida.
60	* AnimatedMusicVideo: "Runnin' Down a Dream."
61	** Also a ShoutOut to ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo.''
62	* ArtistAndTheBand: Bandmate Mike Campbell co-wrote some hit songs for Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers.
63	* AudienceParticipationSong: "Breakdown." He didn't even need to sing it live during his later years, he just gave the cue and let the audience do the work. On the ''Pack Up the Plantation - Live'' album, recorded in 1985, after the audience belts out an excellent rendition of the first verse and the chorus, he quips: "You people are gonna put me out of a job." On "Learning to Fly" he often got the audience to sing the chorus while he sang counterpoint lines between them as seen [[https://youtu.be/4p_f7Df2-oM here.]]
64	* BoDiddleyBeat: "American Girl."
65	* BodyHorror: At the end of "Don't Come Around Here No More", Alice turns into a cake and is eaten by the band.
66	* BookEnds: "American Girl" is the final song of both the band's debut album and of [[https://youtu.be/f4kmZpXGqlw the last concert before Tom's untimely death]].
67	* BreakUpSong: "Don't Come Around Here No More" has the singer just completely sick of their ex and trying to drive in that it's ''over.''
68	* ClassicalAntihero: Virginia in "Leave Virginia Alone", very probably. The lyrics of the third stanza seem to describe her as a loser, yet nonetheless a kind and idealistic individual.
69	[[note]]
70	"She's a loser\
71	She's a forgiver\
72	And she still finds good\
73	Where no one could
74	[[/note]]
75	* DeadpanSnarker: While Tom was pretty articulate most of the time, he is known to have been one.
76	** For one example, he and Bob Dylan were asked at a press conference in 1986 why they decided to tour together. Petty's answer: "[[MoneyDearBoy Money.]]"[[invoked]] He also added in a newspaper interview: "It also helped that Bob asked me."
77	** Once, when asked if using cocaine affected his songwriting during the recording of ''Southern Accents'', Petty replied: "No, I think it affected my breaking my hand."[[note]] For some context, Petty got frustrated with the recording process and punched the wall. He shattered his left hand. He got better. [[/note]]
78	* DownerEnding: "Into the Great Wide Open" is about a young man moving to LA to start a music career and ''almost'' succeeding at getting something going, but in the end all that happens is his ego gets inflated and he starts living beyond his means. When his music career stalls, the song does too: We have no idea what exactly happens next, but it probably isn't any good for him.
79	* DropDeadGorgeous: The famous music video for "Music/MaryJanesLastDance" features Creator/KimBasinger's corpse receiving quite a lot of MaleGaze before Petty's character takes it on an actual date.
80	* {{Determinator}}: "I Won't Back Down", a song he wrote after an arsonist set fire to his home, destroying most of his possessions. Creator/{{NPR}} ran an [[https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721228788/tom-petty-i-wont-back-down-american-anthem-resolve article]] about how this song served as source of determination for others.
81	* TheEndingChangesEverything: While the tone of "Into The Great Wide Open" is often rather sarcastic, the song ''does'' detail a young nobody's rise to musical fame and success... until he hits the brick wall of 'Your music isn't good enough' and his career grinds to a halt and the final lines of the song are the chorus seemingly mocking him for having no idea where to go from here.
82	* FakeOutFadeOut: "A Mind with a Heart of Its Own" falls silent for a few second, but then the music plays for about another 40 seconds.
83	* FrivolousLawsuit: Petty quoted the trope word-for-word when mentioning why he never took legal action in response to the [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong similarities]] between the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' song "Dani California" and his song "Mary Jane's Last Dance", adding that most songs sound similar. [[invoked]]
84	--> "I don't believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs."
85	* TheGoodKing: Claims this is what he would be in "It's Good to Be King":
86	** "Yeah the world would swing, oh if I were king..."
87	* IAmTheBand: Tom Petty was the lead singer, frontman, and primary songwriter for the band. Guitarist Mike Campbell was only other member of the band to write or co-write songs.
88	* IronicDeath: Tom Petty was part of a band called the Heartbreakers, and died of a heart attack.
89	* {{Irony}}: The video for "Don't Come Around Here No More" was nominated for, and won, the Best Visual Effects award at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards, despite technically only containing one shot (Tom's Mad Hatter swallowing Alice) which would be considered visual effects (the rest of the video was done with camera tricks and practical effects).
90	* TheLastDJ: His song of that title is the {{Trope Namer\|s}}.
91	* LetsMeetTheMeat: In the "Don't Come Around Here No More" video, Alice's body turns into a cake and the Mad Hatter and his guests cut up and eat the cake.
92	* LongRunnerLineUp: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, Scott Thurston, Ron Blair, Bennmont Tench, and Steve Ferrone from 2002 until 2017. Petty, Campbell, and Tench had played together since 1971, when they were all part of the band Mudcrutch. Blair was with the Heartbreakers from 1975-1982 and returned in 2002, replacing his own replacement, the late Howie Epstein. The original drummer, Stan Lynch, was with the band for eighteen years as well.
93	* MusicVideoOvershadowing: "Mary Jane's Last Dance" by Tom Petty. Song: A love song about leaving childhood behind, or perhaps marijuana. Video: A mortician takes home the corpse of Creator/KimBasinger for a romantic dinner.
94	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable: Former TropeNamer. The music video for Tom Petty's "Music/MaryJanesLastDance" tells the story of a mortician who takes home the corpse of a Young Woman (played by Creator/KimBasinger), and has a relatively lovely romantic evening with her. The song's chorus features the line, "Last dance with Mary Jane", which was the old trope name.
95	* NiceGuy: Since childhood, Tom had been described as a "mild mannered kid interested in arts". As an adult, and especially after his death, he has described by relatives, friends and other artists as well, as a gorgeous person, and a very kind and honest man.
96	* OdeToIntoxication: "You Don't Know How It Feels", with its famous line:
97	-->''Let me get to the point, let's roll another joint.''
98	* TheOner: "You Don't Know How It Feels."
99	* ProtestSong: "Peace In L.A." is about the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
100	* SpokenWordInMusic:
101	** On the CD version of ''Full Moon Fever'', Petty put a HiddenTrack in the spot between what was the last track of Side A, and the first track of Side B:
102	--->''[[MediumAwareness Hello, CD listeners.]] We've come to the point in this album where those listening on cassette, or record, will have to stand up, or sit down, and turn over the record, or tape. In fairness to those listeners, we'll now take a few seconds before we begin side two.''\
103	\
104	(''{{beat}}'')\
105	\
106	''Thank you. Here's side two.''
107	** At the start of the album version of "Even The Losers", a woman can be heard saying "It's just the normal noises in here!". This was Mike Campbell's wife Marcie, as accidentally captured on one of his home demo recordings - Mike complained about the sound of a washing machine interrupting his recording, and this was her response.
108	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Scott Thurston sang Music/RoyOrbison's lines when Petty performed Wilburys material live. While Roy's voice was pretty much unique, Thurston did a very fine job of capturing the feel and sound of his singing - audiences often spontaneously cheered at his renditions.
109	** Mike Campbell contributes an extremely rare lead vocal on "I Don't Want to Fight", off 2010's ''Echo''.
110	** Then drummer Stan Lynch sang lead on a {{Cover Version}} of The Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" in concert c. early 1990s.
111	* StudioChatter: Several times. One notable example is on an obscure B-side called "Heartbreakers Beach Party;" at the end Tom says: "All right, another modern classic."
112	* SurrealMusicVideo: "Don't Come Around Here No More" and "Runnin' Down a Dream."
113	* TakeThat: "Zombie Zoo" is one to Goth culture.
114	* ThrowTheDogABone: "Even the Losers" (...Get lucky sometime.)
115	* UrbanLegends: His song "American Girl." Because Petty came from Gainesville, home of the University of Florida, the story goes that he based it on a college girl jumping to her death from a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Girl_%28Tom_Petty_song%29#Lyrics_and_rumors balcony of Beaty Towers,]] the tallest dorms on campus that just happened to be right next to US 441 (the road is mentioned in the lyrics). Not true. Petty lived in Los Angeles at the time he wrote the song lyrics, he merely used 441 in the song as it fit the lyrics, and Beaty Towers doesn't have any balconies. There are no recorded suicide jumps from the towers during the years in question.
116	* WorldGoneMad: Mentioned by name in "Yer So Bad:"
117	-->"In a world gone mad, yer so bad"

Context Music / TomPetty