# Deep Tracks - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - (1976)



## Guest (Aug 29, 2018)

View attachment 107233


Please *choose up to seven selections* for this particular poll.

On all polls created if you click on the number of votes following the song title the username of all voters and their chosen selections will appear.

The tunes themselves will be found below the poll itself as links rather than as embedded videos due to bandwidth issues for those who wish to reacquaint themselves with a tune that may have receded a bit too far into the past to be remembered with the clarity that came when they were first released...

Next up is - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - (1976)

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (alternately Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) were an American rock band from Gainesville, Florida. Formed in 1976, the band originally comprised Tom Petty (lead singer, guitar), Mike Campbell (lead guitarist), Ron Blair (bass guitar), Stan Lynch (drums), and Benmont Tench (keyboards). The band largely maintained this lineup, with a few exceptions.

In 1981, Blair, weary of the touring lifestyle, departed the band. His replacement, Howie Epstein, stayed with the band for the next two decades. In 1991, Scott Thurston joined the band as a multi-instrumentalist-mostly on rhythm guitar and second keyboards. Blair returned to the Heartbreakers in 2002, the year before Epstein's death.

The band was part of Southern rock, but also at the forefront of the heartland rock movement, alongside artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and John Mellencamp who arose in the late 1970s and 1980s. The genre eschews the synthesizer-based music and fashion elements popular in synthpop and New Romanticism in favor of a straightforward classic rock sound, and lyrics based on relatable, blue collar issues. While the heartland rock movement waned in the 1990s, the band remained active and popular, touring regularly until Petty's death in 2017, after which the Heartbreakers disbanded. Their final studio album, Hypnotic Eye, was released in 2014.

Although most of their material was produced and performed under the name "The Heartbreakers", Petty released three solo albums, the most successful of which was Full Moon Fever (1989). In these releases, members of the band contributed as collaborators, producing and performing as studio musicians.

Band members

Final lineup

Tom Petty - lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar, harmonica, keyboards, ukulele (1976-2017; his death)

Mike Campbell - lead guitar, bass guitar (1976-2017)

Benmont Tench - keyboards, backing vocals (1976-2017)

Ron Blair - bass guitar, backing vocals (1976-1982, 2002-2017)

Scott Thurston - rhythm guitar, keyboards, harmonica, bass guitar, backing vocals (1991-2017)

Steve Ferrone - drums (1994-2017)

Former members

Stan Lynch - drums, backing vocals (1976-1994)

Howie Epstein - bass guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1982-2002; died 2003)

"Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers" is the debut album by the band of the same name, released on November 9, 1976 by Shelter Records.

Initially following its release, the album received little attention in the United States. Following a British tour, it climbed to No. 24 on the UK albums chart and the single "Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll" became a hit in the UK.

After nearly a year and many positive reviews, the album reached the U.S. charts, where it peaked at No. 55 in 1978 and eventually went Gold. The single "Breakdown" cracked the Top 40 in the U.S. and "American Girl" became one of the band's signature songs.

The album was recorded and mixed at the Shelter Studio in Hollywood, California.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Petty_and_the_Heartbreakers

Your commentary on any and every aspect of the album and especially any memories reawakened as a result of the poll is welcomed.


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## Guest (Aug 29, 2018)

"*Rockin' Around (With You)*" -






"*Breakdown*" -






"*Hometown Blues*" -






"*The Wild One, Forever*" -






"*Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll*" -






"*Strangered in the Night*" -






"*Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)*" -






"*Mystery Man*" -






"*Luna*" -






"*American Girl*" -


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

1976 So Nils Lofgren had released his eponymous 'debut' album – and it was damn fine. Next year he’s getting traction with the overproduced Cry Tough and he sells out The Hammersmith Odeon - at that time the premier gig in London. Tom Petty is announced as support and American Girl gets attention over the airways (John Peel I think).

By this point Springsteen is officially big and punk has yet to break. I went expecting to see a healthy future for R&R. Personally I date that night to when the rot set in for me. It seemed to me, I’d heard it all before, like an old, (over) familiar score. 

Round about then I dramatically widened my listening.

(Sorry to rain on this parade but you asked for personal memories.)


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

One person's rot is another's continuation of good old Rock 'n' Roll. Tom Petty, Springsteen, Mellencamp, Joel, Seger _et al_ not only kept the ball rolling but also increased its breadth, depth, and overall appeal. Rock/Pop is Popular Music, and somewhere, somehow, the feelings and "votes" of the Populi need to be factored into assessments of Popular Music. No accident that concerts by these old dogs continue to draw gazillions of fans. So many artists favored by the critics and the cognoscenti couldn't draw flies.....


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