“Even the losers get lucky sometimes. Even the losers keep a little bit of pride. They get lucky sometimes.”

-Tom Petty from ‘Even The Losers’.

For those of us of a certain age, there are a few bands that we simply cannot imagine not being a part of the soundtrack of our lives. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are a perfect example. A band that was initially labeled part of the new wave/punk movement that grew out of the anti-disco sentiment of the mid to late 70’s that matured into a solid rock and roll band that has managed to beat the odds and remain a top draw thirty years after their formation. In their early days, the songs were primarily about lost love, heart break and the sense of alienation of youth but as they matured, the themes progressed, as they did as musicians, into a number of songs exploring Southern heritage, socio-economic class issues, rough hewn American individualism and the sense of the little man standing toe to toe with corporate giants.

In essence, Petty and Heartbreakers turned the pen inward and wrote about the things they knew and understood and created a catalogue of lasting music that is a part of the American soundscape.

Tom Petty, the son of a Gainesville, Florida insurance salesman, was born on October 20th, 1952 and like so many of that era, was inspired to music by Elvis Presley. However it was a personal encounter rather than seeing him on the Ed Sullivan show. Petty’s uncle was working on the set of Presley’s 1961 film Follow That Dream in neighboring Ocala, Florida and had invited the young Petty down to watch the movie being shot. In an instant, Petty became a fan of Presley’s guitar playing, and upon returning home traded his sling shot for a box of Elvis Presley and Little Richard 45’s with a friend. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Petty said of the incident, “He didn’t have that much to say to us but to a kid at an impressionable age, he was an incredible sight.” He went on to add that once he got a hold of the Presley and Little Richard records, “That was the end of doing anything other than music with my life. I didn’t want anything to fall back on because I was not going to fall back”.

Petty was a natural when he tried to learn guitar, taking guitar lessons with Eagles mainstay, Don Felder (also a Gainesville native).

His first guitar was a generic acoustic purchased out of the back of a Sears and Roebuck catalogue. By the time he was 14 years old, Petty had begun to learn guitar and was in local Gainesville bands (even playing in a bar band called The Epics despite the fact that Petty was to young to legally be inside a bar) and eventually he and fellow Epic member, Tom Leadon (brother of Eagle Bernie Leadon) formed Mudcrutch. Although Petty and Leadon had already started to learn guitar, Petty switched to bass for his days with Mudcrutch and the decision was made to add a second lead guitarist. Drummer Randall Marsh suggested Mike Campbell who was Marsh’s roommate in college at the time. Petty and Leadon brought him into the band after hearing him play ‘Johhny B. Goode’ and were impressed by the fast finger speed he picked up while playing rock guitar.

The band began to play local gigs and garner some serious local attention, even recording two singles while in Florida. According to the stories, Leadon was kicked out of the band following an incident at a local club which ended up getting the band banned from playing there again. Petty brought in guitarist Danny Roberts and keyboardist Benmont Tench to fill out the roster.

Petty dropped out of high school at 17 to tour with Mudcrutch. In 1974, Petty, Roberts and a roadie took the records they had recorded in Florida to L.A. in search of a recording contract. And within a few months, Petty and the rest of Mudcrutch secured a recording contract with Denny Cordell’s Shelter Records (which was also co-owned by Leon Russell). The band relocated to L.A. and began work on their first record.

Mudcrutch broke up while in the studio recording their first album and only two singles were ever released from that doomed session.

Cordell still had faith in Petty as a guitar player and artist, and offered to record a solo project with him but nothing materialized from the offer. In 1975, Petty heard a demo tape that Campbell and Tench had been working on with Ron Blair and Stan Lynch and had been taking around L.A. and was intrigued with what he heard. Shortly after the guitar players and other musicians met up again, they formed The Heartbreakers with Petty as the frontman.

The band released their self-titled album in 1976 on the Shelter label (which by this time was owned by ABC). The record initially sold poorly in the United States. But when the band toured the U.K. opening for Nils Lofgren, things began to change. Within weeks the band was headlining and the album had hit the charts in the U.K. Back in the United States, the label released the single ‘Breakdown’ and the single cracked the Top 40 almost a year after the albums initial release. The second single off of the album, ‘American Girl’ was covered almost immediately by Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. (Interesting to note when you consider that Petty is often compared vocally to both McGuinn and Bob Dylan). He had also given players a guitar lesson in rock, as many had started to learn guitar from his records.

By the time the band released their second album You’re Gonna Get It in 1978, they were the hottest club act in L.A., selling out practically every venue they played, including the famous Whiskey-A-Go-Go. As the band was beginning to pick up steam nationally, music journalists seemed a bit perplexed as to how to classify Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, tossing them into the generic punk/new wave movement that was growing out of the disco era. It seems odd now when you listen to the early work as to where the confusion could have come from. The Heartbreakers music seems more mainstream rock than what was being hailed as New Wave at the time. But no matter the label that they were wearing at the time, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were beginning to make some noise on the national scene.

After the second album had been released, Tom Petty became embroiled in one of several legal battles that would plague him throughout his career. ABC Records had sold Shelter Records back to MCA at which time Petty decided that he was a ‘free agent’. MCA and Shelter filed suit against Petty to prevent him from signing with another label. The protracted legal battle left Petty $500,000 in debt which forced him to declare bankruptcy. Immediately following the bankruptcy, Petty signed a $3 million dollar deal with the small MCA affiliate, Backstreet Records. An out of court settlement was reached and The Heartbreakers headed back into the studio to record the album that made them international superstars.

Damn The Torpedoes hit number 2 on the Billboard charts shortly after its release. The album was packed with radio hits including the popular guitar song Refugee, which became a must learn guitar song for players around the country. The Heartbreakers had hit the big time.

They followed up their incredible success with 1981’s Hard Promises, also a solid album which produced the singles “The Waiting”, “A Woman In Love” and the duet with Fleetwood Mac diva Stevie Nicks “Stop Dragging My Heart Around”. But the album met with some initial controversy. MCA had wanted to price the record at $9.98 (a full dollar above the standard $8.98 selling price for albums at the time) and Petty refused. He challenged MCA saying that he would not allow them to release the album at that price or if they did, he was going to title the disc $8.98 as a wayof thumbing his nose at record company executives. After a month of negotiating and wrangling, Petty prevailed and Hard Promises was released at the $8.98 price.

To be continued…

Author Bio: For more Tom Petty Guitar Lessons and a Refugee Guitar Lesson, visit GuitarTricks.com

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