Into the POLL Wide Open: The Tom Petty "Into the Great Wide Open" Poll

Petty's first album burdened with CD-era bloat, but the album is Hard Promises-esque in its ability to hide really good album tracks that assert themselves when least expected. I'm thinking of "You and I Will Meet Again" and "Two Gunslingers."

would need to take another listen, but this is one where the lead track is pretty hard to top

and "Kings Highway"!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

kinda love all or nothin, but might be hard to vote against learning to fly. haven't listened to this one in forever -- not sure if the lynne-tastic production would bug or please me these days.

this is one of those polls that makes me go "wow i have a copy of this somewhere that i haven't listened to in at least 10 years, if the poll was open for more than a week i'd probably get around to listening to it and figuring out how to vote, oh well"

Like I wrote upthread, plenty of fun, relaxed, relatively weird stuff on this one -- more so than Petty ever tried or would again.

yeah i have vaguely positive memories of this album, just not about any specific songs

Wow, I thought "Out In The Cold" was a much older track (late 70s-early 80s). Then again, most of my Petty experiece (albums owned) comes after this one.

"Out of the Cold" got a LOT of album radio play -- I heard it more than the title track.

*in the

i have super positive memories of this album, mostly involving one particular friend, taco bell hardshell tacos, pepsi, my friend dropping out of high school and getting her own apartment, and taco bell hardshell tacos and pepsi.

we used to sing "two gunslingers" a lot

i'm takin control of my life now
right now
oh yeah

then we would eat another taco and drink some pepsi

haha, that sounds about right. this might've been the first album i really *anticipated*. like i knew the day it was coming out -- probably somewhere in the summer between 6th and 7th grade? i'd been heavily into full moon fever, had bought all the cassingles etc. definitely would not have been into taco bell hardshell tacos or pepsi. more like burger king chicken tenders and root beer. but i saw petty & heartbreakers at the la sports arena (or maybe the forum?) and it was the best night of my life up til that point, probably. we had like 5th row seats or something. i bought a shirt with a golden retriever on it, and on the back it said "i ran wild as a dog with tom petty and the heartbreakers," which some jerks made fun of during middle school. whatever, they're probably dead now.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

oops forgot to vote. chalk one more up for learning to fly.

lol not much discussion on this one. these days the title track would be my number 3 or 4, behind learning to fly, kings highway, you and i will meet again and maaaybe all the wrong reasons. i still dig it but the pot shots are too easy.

I see what you did there

lol in the Bogdanovich doc Petty says (I paraphrase) re introducing Jeff Lynne to the Heartbreakers: "A successful experiment. But a tense one."

Learning to fly is so boring.

not a fan

i disliked it at the time and still find it a bit glossy but imho there's a very good song in there

I like "Learning to Fly" fine but the title track is way better. I chuckle every time he gets to the line about the roadie named Bart - a goofy rhyme with "played from the heart" made sillier by Petty's nasal baritone delivery.

Also love the way Petty deflates his own rock and roll myth-mongering with the last line of the chorus, with true believer/Petty surrogate Eddie revealed as "A rebel without a clue."

ha those are the two sorest thumbs to my ear

This is such a wonderfully jangly album. I remember 'Learning to Fly' and the title track being on top 40 radio all the time when I was a kid, but the whole album is really quality. In my musical experiences, I think I've taken Tom Petty for granted because he has so many huge hits. He was just everywhere when I was coming of age in my musical interests, but going back to the full albums now, I can clearly see he was a very prolific and consistent writer. Good stuff.

"Kings Highway" better than "Learning To Fly" and robbed in this poll

also one of the top ten most ubiquitous cds found in used cd bins across america

"Kings Highway" better than "Learning To Fly" and robbed in this poll