The World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, unlike The Rolling Stones would probably be the last ones to claim the title of World's Greatest Rock and Roll band. Just look at the picture, Tom is saying "No Ryoushi don't go there." Too late.

It's been thirty years since I was riding shotgun in my friend Rick's Gran Prix and first heard "Breakdown" on the car radio. That snaky guitar line and shout along chorus just reeled me right in along with millions of others that year. I didn't actually buy their self titled debut album until I'd heard "American Girl" too. Any album that contains two songs THAT good can't be denied. The rest of the quirky album just got better the more I listened to it, especially the dark and brooding "Luna".

Who were these guys? If I had to guess just by sound alone, I'd say they were some Midwest band like The McCoy's but it turn's out they'd grown up in the shadow of the Allman's and Lynyrd Skynyrd down in Gainesville, FLA. We hadn't really found out about punk rock yet and even if we had, The Heartbreakers really weren't a punk band. They were just alot more raw than say Springsteen's E Streeters or Bob Seeger's Silver Bullet outfit. They sounded kind of like a tight frat party band circa 1966 with a really good songwriting.

I don't have the time to go album by album and list all the hits. If you're reading this you know. I'll just say I've been a Rock and Roll fanatic since people were buying their music on 45s, I've seen most of the legends live and for my money, these guys are the best.

The core of the band is Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell and Bemont Tench on keys. I don't mean to minimize the contributions of Stan Lynch and Steve Ferrone (drums)or bassists Ron Blair and Howie Epstein, it's just that at various times over the years, the band has worked well without them.

Petty provides most of the songs, fronts the band, sings and carries his own weight in the guitar department as well. His voice is so familiar now, people make jokes about it. I love that scene in The Silence Of The Lambs where the doomed Senator's daughter tries to sing along with him on American Girl. As a songwriter, apart from Dylan and Springsteen I can't think of anybody that has earned the same level of critical and commericial success for as long as Tom Petty has. The guy has written some of most definitive Arena-Rock songs along with dozens of impeccably crafted smaller songs that makes their albums so stisfying.

No doubt Campbell and Tench have provided some impetus and inspiration for those songs as they have for countless other artists over the years. In fact Campbell shares songwriting credits on more than a few of Petty's biggest hits. These guys are both top call session players. Campbell has an unerring sense of what a song needs and has crafted some of rocks great guitar solos. I always point to the solo in The Waiting off of 1981's Hard Promises as an example. That solo is there because the song begs for it. Jimmy Page or Joe Walsh might have come up with a longer solo, and surely Ed Van Halen would have sizzled off a flashier solo but Mike Cambell always seems to conjure up the right solo.

Benmont Tench is probably most sought after for his soaring work with the mighty Hammond organ but I love his rootsy piano playing as well. He's the worst thing that ever happened to Bill Payne, who used to be the go to B-3 guy in Los Angeles. Now you know the real reason Little Feat reunited in the 80s.

Like all great bands, TP & The Heartbreakers are bigger than the some of their parts. There is a definate Heartbreaker mojo working and they have always been more than eager to spread it around. For instance Stevie Nicks scored big when she turned what was pretty much a featured vocalist perfomance with the Heartbreakers into her debut album, Bella Donna.

At the height of their careers in the mid eighties they took some time off to be Bob Dylan's road band inspiring those hilariously incoherent Saturday Night Live Dylan/Petty sketches. They are all over one of my all time favorite Counry albums too. Carlene Carter's Little Love Letters. Here Benmont penned what I consider the perfect Country song, Unbreakable Heart. Their biggest and best collaboration came in 1996 on Johnny Cash's Unchained. More than arguabley the best album of Cash's amazing career. Campbell played just enough Dobro and Mandolin to make it Country.

The refreshing thing about this is you never hear of any lawsuits stemming from all this collaboration, just good music. Even when they are blatantly ripped off the responce is a hippified it's all good.

From a recent Rolling Stone Interview:

"Have you heard the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Dani California" yet, because obviously it sounds a lot like "Mary Jane's Last Dance."

Yes, I have. Everyone everywhere is stopping me. The truth is, I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock & roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took "American Girl" [for their song "Last Nite"], and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, "OK, good for you." It doesn't bother me.

There have been news reports that you were going to sue the Chili Peppers.

If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe. But I don't believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs

God bless him for that. TP & The Heartbreakers are out on what might be their last tour in support of Tom's latest solo album Highway Companian. Forget about being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, when you have bands like Pearl Jam and The Allman Brothers signing up to OPEN the show, modesty becomes ridiculous.