Last thoughts on Tom Petty...

Some rock and roll deaths are predictable either due to age or lifestyle. Sorry...that's a pretty coarse thing to say. Tom Petty's death didn't seem connected to either one. Petty's ascension came at the time when I could appreciate it. I was too you for the Beatles, The Band or even the 60s Dylan, but I remember a high school trip to the Model U.N. in high school. Refugee came on every five minutes and I didn't mind. It was just a great song and Petty's voice was interesting to me. I had nothing to compare it with-Dylan was still unknown to me in the late 70s and I had only recently heard Sultans of Swing on the radio. Those are the two voices I consider closest to Petty's. Dylan and Knopfler. Early on I wasn't a big fan, but his songs were ubiquitous on the radio (remember?) and they always had great hooks. I dialed in around the time of Full Moon Fever. I really dug the chance to hear the old guys together in the Wilburys and generally enjoyed everything he released. I finally had the chance to dig in when the documentary Running Down a Dream came out. Now I had the opportunity to learn about the man as well as the music. Turns out Petty was a pretty good guy as well as a wonderful musician. No bullshit, no showbiz crap. Just a musician. I saw the way that he treated his bandmates. It was exemplary. Even when he had to fire Stan Lynch he was up front and understood Lynch's point of view. I have spent the past week revisiting the Petty catalogue. There's so much great work and I am heartbroken that there won't be more of it. The other thing that is upsetting is that little by little the artists of my youth are leaving us. I'm not prepared for more of that, though I know that it's inevitable.