Tom Petty: your memories
October 03, 2017
With the loss of Tom Petty this week, we asked you to share your favorite Tom Petty memories and songs. Here are a number of stories that were submitted. It's clear that Tom Petty touched a lot of people's lives with his music. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and remembrances!
Paul, Pewaukee, Wis.
Tom was from Gainesville, Fla., and I grew up there — first to seventh grade. Even though I was young, I'll never forget waiting in line with my dad for tickets (at Sears) to see the hometown hero return. It sold out instantly, and we were out of luck. Years later, as if to make it up to us, my dad got backstage passes in Toronto at Maple Leaf Gardens. I got to meet Mike, Howie, and Benmont (twice) that day — but no Tom. As I later read, he was dealing with issues in his life at the time. No matter, I was able to see Tom three more times, most recently on his 40th anniversary tour. I was in the fourth row; it was as close as I was able to get to him all these years later, and the first time I'd seen him since my dad passed away. In a way, my dad was there, if you know what I mean. So close, but so far. RIP Tom — you provided a soundtrack to my life growing up.
Ivy, Minneapolis
Tom Petty's music videos were a huge part of my childhood, my favorites being "Into the Great Wide Open" featuring Johnny Depp, and the epically weird "Don't Come Around Here No More" where Tom Petty plays the Mad Hatter and eats a cake version of Alice. RIP Mr. Petty, and thank you for your music!
Gini, Maplewood, Minn.
He's always been my favorite songwriter. I once paid $300 for second-row, center tickets in 1999. My mom died a day before the concert. The concert was an emotional rollercoaster for me, smiling and crying through the whole thing. I'm going to miss Tom Petty so much!
Christina, Minneapolis
The first guitar riff I ever learned was "Breakdown." I got to catch Tom Petty on his Full Moon Fever tour, and The Last DJ tour. RIP Tom Petty!
Miriam, Minneapolis
At age 12, I was in the hospital after an appendectomy and I saw the "Free Fallin'" video. As a good girl who loved her mama but was about to be a rebellious teenager, I knew this was my song.
Zoe, Minneapolis
I love Tom Petty and always have, so it's impossible for me to pick a favorite song. But "Face in the Crowd" remained a fixture on mixtapes, back when I used to make those for crushes and new loves.
Gail, Maplewood, Minn.
I fell in love with Tom Petty the first time I heard "Breakdown" driving on Highway 101 through Santa Barbara, California.
Chantel, Mendota Heights, Minn.
His music was with me when I was born in '72, my early childhood, childhood, teen years, and cranking him up on the radio has an adult. "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" with Stevie Nicks was was one of my earliest memories of him.
Cam, Rochester, Minn.
I worked at a pizza place in college with a jukebox whose only redeeming songs were Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" and "It's Good to Be King" from Wildflowers. I played those two songs, sometimes multiple times a night, after closing while we cleaned up. Never got tired of them and no one ever complained.
Dan, Minneapolis
He was my favorite. Wildflowers. Southern Accents. Full Moon Fever. Saw him at the Metrodome in '85 with Dylan and the Dead; he was the best on the bill! Saw him in Chicago, other times here, covered his songs, loved him so much, so sad today.
Rich, Eveleth, Minn.
In 1982, my family moved from Eveleth, Minn., to Longmont, Colorado. In December that year, we came back for Christmas and I had a cassette of Long After Dark and a big old set of Koss headphones. I listened to that tape the whole way home from Colorado.
Bridget, Guyton, Ga.
I grew up listening to Tom Petty. There was never a time in my life that he was not there. I always loved "Refugee" and "Free Fallin'" the most. He will be greatly missed.
Shaun, Minneapolis
Tom Petty's music has had a way of following me throughout my life, arising at just the right time with just the right message. Wildflowers, for example, came out when I was a sophomore in high school, just as my parents separated. My dad and I bonded over this album. We learned to play some of the songs together on our guitars, and performed them together during open-mic night at a local coffee shop, with our family members in the audience. At the time, I thought my Dad and I just liked the music. Later, I learned that this was the album that Tom recorded during his own divorce. This brought music to a new level for me, to see how music could bond human souls over a common source of suffering. Music can make you feel heard and understood and comforted, in a way that words alone can't convey.
Rich, Rosemount, Minn.
I bought the You're Gonna Get it! album by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in 1978. I was 17. The record spoke to me like no other album in my life (before or since.) I'm 57 now, and Tom Petty has largely provided a soundtrack of sorts for my life. I'm having a real hard time thinking about how I'm going to get on without him now…
John, Minnetonka, Minn.
Story goes Jon Bon Jovi was working out with headphones on at the downtown Minneapolis Athletic Club. Bystander wonders, "What does Bon Jovi listen to?!" and summons the courage to tap his shoulder and ask. The answer? Tom Petty.
David, New York
Saw Tom in 1977 as the opening act for Roger McGuinn, and just followed him ever since.
Steven, Minneapolis
Listening to a Damn the Torpedoes cassette in my Walkman playing over and over again on a family car trip through upper Michigan: "Even the Losers", "Refugee", "Don't Do Me Like That" … then I just kind of grew up listening to everything else Tom Petty put out.
Resources
Tom Petty - official site
