Tom Petty - A Legend Is Lost

Early this week, the music world... no, the world as a whole... lost one of rock'n'roll's greatest artists, Tom Petty. I still recall hearing his music for the first time back in October of 1979: it was the song Refugee off the newly-released Damn The Torpedoes album. I was eating breakfast and getting ready for school, with the radio tuned to Toronto's Q107. I remember hearing Roxanne by The Police shortly before that. When Refugee kicked in, I was impressed... those guitar hooks, Tom's impassioned vocals, that vibrant signature keyboard sound. Hard to forget. 



Fast forward to September of this year of 2017: a friend gave me his old stereo turntable. I immediately began compiling a list of records I wanted to get right off the bat. Damn The Torpedoes was in my top five. So just to be clear, I was not jumping on any bandwagon to get a Petty album after his untimely death. No, I began searching for the Torpedoes LP more than a month before the event. And I happily found a nice copy the other day... well, it's on its way in the mail right now. 

I confess I haven't owned many Tom Petty albums in my life, but since his music has been prevalent for so many decades, I never really felt the need. Flip on the radio, there's Tom. Go to a party, there's Tom on the stereo. Go to a bar, there's Tom on the playlist. I did buy Full Moon Fever when it hit store shelves back in spring of '89. Massive, massive album... nearly every song was a radio hit. All terrific music. A few years later, I felt I should at least own a CD of Petty's hits... and lo' and behold, a great compilation was released. And back to Full Moon Fever... when my CD copy failed to play for me about a year ago, I immediately bought a new one. No hesitation. 

By all rights, I should have owned Damn The Torpedoes as far back as the 80's. Even through my metal and prog-rock years back then, I still enjoyed straight-up rock'n'roll, and Petty's tunes were no exception. An oversight, to say the least. Well, better late than never. I've heard pretty much the whole album over the years, one way or another. Now I'll be able to hear it in its entirety on glorious vinyl, as I feel it should be.

So long, Tom... keep on singing and strumming in the next world.