Tom Petty has been a rock star for almost 40 years. He has a dozen or so songs that will be played on classic rock radio for as long as there is classic rock radio. If you’re a music fan of a certain age, there was a time in your life when he seemed inescapable. Even now, Petty is still a guy that most people know, even if you don’t actively care about him one way or the other. Tom Petty’s music doesn’t necessarily demand a value judgment. It’s like having an opinion on tap water or concrete. Why bother? It’s just there, reliable to the point of invisibility. If it went missing, you would notice. But it’s never going missing, because Tom Petty has existed since the beginning of time, and will continue to exist until time is extinguished.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
TAKE BACK JOE PISCOPO: Steve Hyden assesses the long, illustrious career of Tom Petty:
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Proof: Last Dance With Mary Jane was playing while I bought a cup of coffee this morning. Inescapable!
ReplyDeleteAnd now an interesting thought experiment: is there a better song written for a greatest hits album?
ReplyDeleteAre we also including "never released until a greatest hits album"? Because then you'd get Murder Inc for Springsteen.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking ones written specifically for, but since Murder Inc is simply awesome that has to be considered. Second Wind for Joel, I know, has never been considered one of his best but I rather like that one as well.
ReplyDeleteSome competitors from perusing Wiki: "Justify My Love" (Madonna), "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" (Alan Jackson), "Raise Your Glass" and "F****n' Perfect" (P!nk).
ReplyDeleteUgh, I hate that I have to admit I kind of like that Alan Jackson song. Then there's this, a perfect example of "Hey, the song is good....but WTF on the video":
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQe3DKDQRRs
"Secret Garden" was specifically written for the Greatest Hits album, and is a solid (if not Spingsteen-ian foot stomping) piece of work.
ReplyDeleteI unabashedly adore "Window in the Skies" by U2. Unabashedly.
ReplyDeleteI'd go with "Tonight She Comes" on The Cars Greatest Hits -- although I'm scaling it in part on "this could be easily mistaken for a B side you had somehow missed from a previous effort."
ReplyDeleteAnd while I've blocked out the association from Silence of the Lambs, "American Girl" really is -- to me -- the single greatest rock n roll song ever written. The sort of thing you stick on a gold record and slap it on the side of a spacecraft along with Mozart
ReplyDeleteThat's not a bad way to address the question.
ReplyDeleteHis new album is free streaming on NPR:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/2014/07/20/331348483/first-listen-tom-petty-the-heartbreakers-hypnotic-eye
I have a playlist that is basically "Songs That When They Come On the Radio I Turn the Volume WAY Up." "American Girl" is the first track. Phenomenal song.
ReplyDeleteHow about sharing the rest of that list….. Pretty please.
ReplyDeleteOoh - I'll have to dig it up off the computer at home - it will, however, reveal my questionable musical taste. I am sure it includes: "Solisbury Hill" and "In Your Eyes," a song by Patty Larkin called "Johnny Was a Pyro," (not that it ever comes on the radio, but I love to listen to it loud), Phil Collins "Take Me Home," Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket"... can't remember what else. Will look for it.
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