Book Review: Tom Petty: The Life & Music by Gillian G. Gaar

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion.

Tom Petty has made so many classic rock radio staples, whether it’s his work with The Heartbreakers in the 70s, his solo work like Full Moon Fever, or The Traveling Wilburys. He was also one of the most famous musicians from Florida. If you like King of the Hill, then you’ll also remember him as the voice of Lucky Kleinschmidt. Mike Judge loves his classic rock! While I don’t know much about Tom Petty, I do love a good coffee table book and accomplished writer Gillian G. Gaar has written a new book about him called Tom Petty: The Life & Music. If you want to read my interview with Gillian, check out this blog post!

Born on 20 October 1950, Tom Petty was born at the right time to get into rock and roll as it was coming out. His parents, Earl and Katherine were born in Georgia and moved to Florida. Earl worked as a salesman and the family lived in a two-bedroom ranch style house near a park. Tom Petty’s upbringing was traumatic, with his father falling into alcoholism and beating him. He also had a secret, he was part Native American. Tom Petty was a rebel, eschewing sports and instead favouring music and growing out his hair. He never brought any girls back to his parents’ house because he didn’t want anyone to see the chaos in the household, so because of the long hair and that, his father thought he was gay. Escapism from a dysfunctional family and boring school came in the form of movies and music.

At 10 years old he got to meet Elvis Presley, who was making movies to promote his music, you could say he was a music video pioneer. Tom Petty’s uncle Earl Jernigan was working on Follow That Dream, starring Elvis. Funnily enough, he didn’t think too much about rock music at that time, but as soon as he saw Elvis getting out of his Cadillac, he was in awe! He looked radiant, like an angel. He quickly became a fan and knew that rock and roll was what he wanted to do. Because the film industry is mainly based in California, he became fascinated with California and the west coast as a whole.

Like others from his generation, he was captivated by The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Meanwhile in Florida, he saw a band heavily inspired by The Beatles called The Escorts, featuring a young Duane and Gregg Allman, who of course would go on to form The Allman Brothers Band. Another famous person he crossed paths with was Don Felder, future Eagles guitarist, who gave him some piano lessons. As a teenager he joined The Epics, who would become Mudcrutch, and that became his ticket out of Florida. The band moved west and got a record deal with Shelter Records, but they didn’t last long. They released one single in Florida, “Up in Mississippi Tonight” b/w “Cause Is Understood” and one on Shelter Records “Depot Street” b/w “Wild Eyes”. While Tom Petty didn’t feel like the sessions had gone well, the single made Billboard’s “First Time Around” column, dedicated to up and coming artists. 

Mudcrutch were dropped from the label and subsequently split, but the label saw potential in Tom Petty and wanted him to stick around, and so The Heartbreakers were born. Fellow Mudcrutch bandmates Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench joined forces with drummer Stan Lynch and bassist Ron Blair to form The Heartbreakers. Sound wise, they took a lot of inspiration from The Byrds and The Rolling Stones. In 1976, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ debut album came out. It was a sleeper hit, only selling 12,000 copies within its first year and lead single “Breakdown” didn’t reach the top 40 until 1978. “American Girl” was another early success, reaching the top 40 in the UK. Because of this success abroad, he capitalised on it by touring the UK in 1977, opening for Nils Lofgren. The band got positive reviews, with critics calling them “one of the best new bands around” and saying he’s going to be one of rock’s next big stars. At a show in Cardiff, the crowd went crazier for them than the headliner. Soon enough they were headliners in the UK.

Because they were on the road so much throughout 1977, they didn’t release their sophomore album You’re Gonna Get It! until 1978. And yes, the fans got it, with it being more successful than its predecessor and it being his first gold album. That same year, they made their first big TV appearance in the US, on the iconic The Midnight Special. One might think that all these great experiences means wealth, but behind the scenes there was a legal battle with his record label, who weren’t paying him and have been bought out. He wanted to sign with another label because of that uncertain situation so he declared bankruptcy, settled out of court, and signed to MCA Records. His critically acclaimed third album Damn the Torpedoes was his breakthrough success, his first platinum album, peaking at #2 on the albums charts, only behind Pink Floyd’s The Wall. His response to that was, “I love Pink Floyd but I hated them that year.” He got two top 10 singles with “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Refugee”, paving the way for his first SNL appearance and being on the cover of Rolling Stone.

In 1981 his single “The Waiting” from Hard Promises topped the Billboard Rock charts. The following year “You Got Lucky” from Long After Dark repeated that success. Another early 80s success was a collaboration with Stevie Nicks, who is a big fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. She wanted Petty to produce her album Bella Donna, but he wasn’t interested in taking on that responsibility so he recommended his producer Jimmy Iovine and the two sang “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”, a song he had written with Mike Campbell. Other members of The Heartbreakers played on the album and Tom Petty called her an honourary member of the band. 

Former Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe had success with the screenplay for Fast Times at Ridgemont High and as a fan of the Heartbreakers he wanted to work with them somehow. He’d written an article about them in the past for Rolling Stone and Tom Petty encouraged him to pick up a camera and film him playing a song, even though he wasn’t sure since he didn’t have any experience directing a film. He made a film called Heartbreakers Beach Party, which was aired on MTV once and later officially released in theatres in 2024.

Another key moment was him and his band backing Bob Dylan at Farm Aid in 1985, which was the beginning of a decades long friendship. Bob Dylan was so impressed with his work that he made The Heartbreakers his backing band for the True Confessions tour. While touring the UK, he met Jeff Lynne. The three along with George Harrison and Roy Orbison became the legendary supergroup Traveling Wilburys. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. A supergroup with a sense of humour, they named their second album Travelling Wilburys Vol. 3.

Finally in 1989, he released his first solo album Full Moon Fever and surprisingly, the record label weren’t too keen on it, saying there were no potential singles, even though Petty felt like it was some of his best work. One of those examples of the businesspeople being wrong because the songs “Free Fallin’”,  “I Won’t Back Down”, and “Runnin’ Down a Dream” were big successes and would become classic rock radio staples with the former being his best known song. The album would go on to sell five million copies in the US and reach #3 upon release. In 1991, he released Into the Great Wide Open with The Heartbreakers. Throughout the 90s and in the 21st century, he got accolades and recognition for his contributions to rock and roll, retrospectives of his work, opportunities to collaborate with other legends, and reunions with old friends and these moments get equal coverage in this book. 

Once again this is another great retrospective tribute to another legendary classic rocker that doesn’t miss a beat. You’re getting the well-researched whole story. As you can expect from other Quarto coffee table books, it’s beautifully presented and laid out with so many pictures. This will make a great gift for any Tom Petty fan.

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