As strong as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ self-titled debut was, it would have been hard to foresee in 1976 that Petty would go on to have one of the most successful recording careers of any artist in history. He would go on to make 12 more albums with the Heartbreakers, three solo albums, a pair of albums with the Traveling Wilburys, and two more albums with his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch, more than 30 years after their initial breakup. All told, Petty’s records have sold more than 80 million copies.
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Petty’s famously brilliant songwriting and one-of-a-kind vocal style made him a true original. Here are five moments from his career that encapsulate what has made him one of the most beloved artists of the last half-century.
1. Petty’s money-saving move with Hard Promises
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had a major commercial breakthrough with their third album, Damn the Torpedoes (1979), which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 and went triple-platinum. On the heels of that success, MCA wanted to charge $9.98 for the follow-up, Hard Promises, upon its 1981 release, as opposed to the typical list price of $8.98. Petty held firm that the album should be priced the same as other MCA releases, and the label relented. Eight years later, Petty would declare on his solo debut that he “won’t back down,” but by standing up to his label, his fans knew that long before.
2. Petty’s partnership with Dave Stewart
On Southern Accents (1985), Petty included three songs written by Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, which marked the first time that a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album included songs written by someone other than Petty or lead guitarist Mike Campbell. This not only set a precedent for future collaborations with Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne, but it took the band in new musical directions. There was the psychedelic rock of the hit single “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” while “It Ain’t Nothin’ to Me” and “Make It Better (Forget About Me)” were funkier than the band’s typical fare.
3. Petty joins the Traveling Wilburys
Not long after the release of Southern Accents, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers became Dylan’s backing band on tour, and Petty and Dylan co-wrote “Jammin’ Me” for the Heartbreakers’ Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough). That gig with Dylan resulted in Petty getting to know Lynne and George Harrison and, ultimately, being included as a member of the Traveling Wilburys. Petty was the youngest and, comparatively, the least-accomplished of the group’s five core members, which further cemented him in the pantheon of rock royalty.
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4. Petty goes solo with Full Moon Fever
Seven albums and 13 years after the formation of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Petty released his first solo album. Though Full Moon Fever featured Campbell along with fellow Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Howie Epstein, it takes Petty in a subtly different direction from the band’s work. Due in no small part to Jeff Lynne’s involvement as a co-producer, the album has a brighter, more streamlined sound. “I Won’t Back Down,” “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” and “Free Fallin’” were all Top 40 hits, and “A Face in the Crowd” and “Yer So Bad” garnered significant airplay on album-oriented rock stations. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200, representing a substantial rebound for Petty after Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) had peaked at No. 20.
5. Hypnotic Eye reaches No. 1
Both with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, Petty had never reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200…that is, until the final Heartbreakers album, Hypnotic Eye, was released in 2014. The record actually debuted on the chart at the top spot, and it placed at No. 70 on Billboard’s year-end album chart for 2014. Petty would go on to record just one more album—Mudcrutch’s 2—before his passing on October 2, 2017.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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