My Middle Name Is Earl - The Official ILM Track-By-Track TOM PETTY Listening Thread

In The Wild: "I Won't Back Down" (coming after "Eternal Flame") in my motel lobby.

Makes sense. The Bangles will sing harmonies on one of his best-ever singles.

You Can Still Change Your Mind

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5XHrJ1A0WI

Gator On The Lawn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZABzLa2WRf4

Stevie Nicks and her longtime backup singer Sharon Celani on it too.

xpost

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5i7j0VhEHw

i think that does it for 1981.

https://i.discogs.com/ZKIAgpvxhxRkui5qfPYCoxKykNHt33vbcoa_iFRBwdo/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:577/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4Nzg4/MTc5LTE2MjE0MDY1/NzYtNjk2Ny5qcGVn.jpeg

For those of you around at the time: did "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" hit as hard in 1981 as it seems? That was one of the most somnolent pop years of all time.

it was on the radio a ton and it was one of those birth of MTV moments too. they played that video long after 1981.

long after dark?

way longer.

and then it basically never went away for the rest of my life. and i always like hearing it.

i wonder if this poor woman ever got tired of tom's rationalizing why she didn't want him. i like how he's so consistent thematically yet he's transitioned topic to a different kind of music -- one that suits the radio (and maybe mike campbell) better. these songs sound nice.

the topic

Petty was alllll over MTV, that's what I remember. I don't think we even had MTV until the early '90s, maybe, but I know all those videos, even the ones before "Full Moon Fever."

Btw, my friend's sort of cover band is recreating an '80s themed prom, so I asked him what kind of stuff they would be playing, would they try to be authentic to a specific year or era, would it be kitschy or ironic or earnest, would hip stuff from the '80s mingle with square stuff? And he said all of the above, which he acknowledged might be strange. Because, for example, "Free Fallin'" is from the '80s, but it might sound odd juxtaposed with, say, "Hungry Like the Wolf." But if you look at the top 10 hits of 1981 specifically, it would probably fit right in!

He would have to play Kenny Rogers, Dan Fogelberg, Foreigner, the Stones, and Juice Newton.

Yeah, exactly. It would a weird-ass prom. Is that what was played at proms in 1981? That is the year of "Celebration," at least.

i definitely remember "celebration" at school dances back then. "centerfold" was huge too.

at my middle school Hi Infidelity was probably THE album of 1981. though it came out at the end of 1980. i actually borrowed a copy from someone because i wanted to know what all the fuss was about. i don't think i was very impressed.

"Celebration" and "Superfreak" and later in the year "Let's Groove" were among the few Black top tens that year.

I wish there were prom playlists available. Like, what was played at proms at majority white schools in 1981? At majority black schools? At majority Latino schools? How much musical crossover was there? Were they all played by live bands, cover or otherwise, or were there DJs? Whenever I watch movies or TV shows from the general era and there is a school dance, it always seems to be a live band playing.

I went to 1983 prom and iirc it was a DJ

did "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" hit as hard in 1981 as it seems?

Definitely stood out to me, and I was in peak top 40 mode right then, my sister and I listened to Casey Kasem every week so we heard it all.

haha, i think we all forgot about the last track on the album! its a good weeper too.

what the hell is that sound at the beginning of "You Can Still Change Your Mind"? some weird synthesizer?

"Gator On My Lawn" - can he get any more Florida?

i think i like "you can still change your mind" better than "stop draggin..." which is one of those little nothingballs that passes by on the radio almost demanding that you don't pay attention to it. there's that one insistant guitar synchopation on the chorus that's kind of nice.

I have no love for "Stop Draggin'" at all but it's a fun karaoke jam, where it belongs.

i love their vocals so much on draggin'. very no-big-deal cool attitude to both of them.

is "stop draggin" the only petty song to get a weird al parody?

A One Story Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s1lx39sTxA

https://i.discogs.com/43r1qrvmswoydXYYNaelr8BRcb1ddIPsK5ouVF3a74c/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:593/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTgyODI2/Ni0xMjkzNDAzNTA2/LmpwZWc.jpeg

Welcome to 1982!

this song works for me. reminds me of an updated garage rock song. the sound is so simple and tom petty by this point just OWNS this sound. new romanticism flourishing all around him and electro robots hovering over his head but there is tom working those ancient riffs like his life depends on it.

he does have an undeniable sound here but in this case, to me, it sounds like it's propping up a one-story song. maybe it's also why i don't care for most of the garage-revival bands from this era.

Here we go! I love Long After Dark so much. Partly I will make the case that it is a top-tier Petty album — easily in my top 5 — but partly also I know it's because this is where my personal investment in Petty really takes off. I got this album for Christmas! It was one of a handful I had asked for, and this is when my total record collection was probably still under 15 or 20. Seminal to 13-year-old me. I thought he looked cool on the cover, I loved the red tinting, I loved the evocative title. And I think that side A is basically as strong an album side as you get in the whole catalog.

To that end, I love "One-Story Town" as a kick-off. Sets mood for the album, which teeters between defiant and defeated all the way through but never gives up (or, for that matter, backs down). Plus when I was 13 I was deeply impressed by the casual way he sighs "The same shit goes down."

Stan Lynch never sounded so good than on LAD.

lol, i don't recall reading x'gau's T.P. reviews. what a dick!

is "stop draggin" the only petty song to get a weird al parody?

lol, i don't recall reading x'gau's T.P. reviews. what a dick!

― gneiss, gneiss, very gneiss (outdoor_miner), Monday, April 22, 2024 10:23 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

nobody deserves to be compared to billy joel

lol, i don't recall reading x'gau's T.P. reviews. what a dick!

You could build a hell of a solid record collection just by collecting everything Christgau hates and ignoring everything he likes (unless there's a second opinion available).

it happens twice a year like clockwork: i agree with unperson!

You Got Lucky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeeRjAOEg3o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtLpZWNyM0I

MTv!

take your pick. song or early iconic mtv video that would end up influencing a generation of dusty rock band videos.

it's really weird how the shittiest glib dickhead music critic got to be "the dean"

yeah, but, deans are usually reviled and/or feared and/or made fun of, right? it just reminds me of the guy in Animal House.

ignoring everything he likes

You'd have to forego Miles Davis!

good late night driving song -- sounds more like 1982 than his previous stuff.