It's too bad when the reason for writing a blog is to talk about a musician who has passed away, especially one with merits that Tom Petty had during his long career. Yes, it has happened more than enough times lately, and although it would be nice to blog about something else (which I finally got to do last time), it's tough when an artist you've admired for decades, but maybe had taken for granted (which I think many had done regarding Petty), suddenly leaves us.
But on Monday, October 2, reports of Petty's death---just 48 hours after a concert which tour that he and his band has completed, he had said would be his final "full-blown" one with The Heartbreakers--started surfacing. Initially it was reported by CBS News that afternoon, but was retracted as he was put on life support, but eventually taken off. He was finally pronounced dead later that evening. He was 66 years old.
Okay, so he didn't have the animated, flamboyant "front man" status of a Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury. David Lee Roth or a Steven Tyler. But at the same time, he didn't have a "faceless" image like, say, Steve Miller. You knew he was there, and was up there, front and center. And so, much of the last couple of weeks, many of my friends had posted many of his songs, and talked highly about him, unlike many others who had recently passed.
Petty, either solo or with the Heartbreakers, only made my year-end top 100 five times. But that really doesn't tell the whole story. I may have taken many of his songs for granted, but there are very few that I despise. In fact, much of his music has grown on me over the past thirty years to the point that much of his songs would be included had I revisited each year's songs (which I am, incidentally starting a project on, but more on that below).
Petty and the Heartbreakers' first album, self titled, came out in 1977. Perhaps it was buried in all the arena rock during that era: Boston's debut came out the year before and was still going strong; Foreigner's debut in '77 was a hit; Van Halen would debut early the following year, but the album held its own. Without knowing who they were, they quietly garnered a top 40 Billboard single, "Breakdown". Another track on that album became popular, "American Girl", and could be perhaps a signature song of sorts for them.
It wasn't until 1978 that I got to know who Tom Petty was. That summer a movie, "FM", about the selling and takeover of a rock-oriented radio station (perhaps rock's answer to the disco-laden Saturday Night Fever that came out several months earlier, and contained a rock-oriented soundtrack), was in theaters, and I went to see it. Petty had a cameo, appearing as himself in an interview segment with one of the DJ's.
That same year, Petty released the second album, You're Gonna Get It. It reached a wider audience, reaching the top 25, and had two charting singles: "I Need to Know" and "Listen to Her Heart", both of which I still hadn't heard or been impacted on.
But the third time was the charm, when in late 1979, they released Damn the Torpedoes. The album reached #2 on Billboard, and their singles finally reached the mainstream radio and I got to finally hear them. The first two, "Don't Do Me Like That", and "Refugee" reached #10 and #15 respectively on Billboard, and became the band's first two songs to reach my year end top 100: "Don't Do Me Like That" came in at #61, and "Refugee" at #63 on the year-end list for 1980 that I compiled at the end of that year. A third single, "Here Comes My Girl", also charted nationally.
Hard Promises came next in 1981. "The Waiting", the lead single, reached #19. The second release, a personal favorite, "A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)" summed up my rough summer of '81 that I had, thus putting it at #22 on my year-end top 100. Unfortunately the song, though a staple on rock radio, only reached #79 on the Hot 100. A reason for that is because Stevie Nicks, of the popular band Fleetwood Mac, had just released her first solo album, Bella Donna, that summer. The lead track, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", featuring Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, with Petty trading vocals with Nicks, was a bonafide hit, reaching #3, higher than any Heartbreakers single ever got.
Petty's fifth effort, Long After Dark, released at the prime of MTV (we in Union County NJ started getting the channel in late 1982), produced "You Got Lucky", a song which sort of echoed "A Woman In Love" and got to #20 on Billboard, and "Change of Heart" (#21), and kept their string of successes going.
After that came 1985's Southern Accents. The album reached #7, becoming the bands fourth straight top 10 on Billboard's album chart. "Don't Come Around Here Any More", reached #13. Unfortunately, Petty's death occurred exactly six years to the day that a dear friend of mine had passed, Jeanne Marie Ahrens. We shared so much music during our brief but strong friendship back in late 1983 and early 1984 before we had a falling out. It was May 1985 when I ran into her for the first time since then, at a Sam Goody's at the Livingston (NJ) Mall. We talked for a bit and she was all over this new Tom Petty single. Because of that, the song reach #72 on my top 100 that year, and was the final group song to do so. Two other singles "Make it Better" and "Rebels", also made Billboard's charts in '85.
A live album, Pack Up the Plantation, followed, with Petty and Nicks reuniting on a few tracks including a top 40 remake of the Searchers' "Needles and Pins". "Jamming Me", a catchy song, lead off 1987's Let Me Up (I"ve Had Enough), reached #18. Several other songs reached the Rock airplay chart as well. However, both Pack and Let Me Up broke his string of top 10 albums but still were top 20 items.
The next year, Petty, along with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne teams up as a supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys, and released Volume 1, which spawned several memorable tracks. "Handle With Care" (#45), "End of the Line" (#63), and "Last Night" were popular and brought back personal memories of a ski house I did with friends up in Windham in the winter of 1988-89. Petty and Lynne would strike up a friendship and would assist each other in production and songwriting frequently from this point on.
Petty in 1989 released a solo album (although members of the Heartbreakers backed him up), Co-produced by Jeff Lynne, Full Moon Fever. It became his most successful work. Five songs made the Hot 100, staring with "I Won't Back Down" (#12 in the summer of '89), "Running Down a Dream" (#23), and "Free Fallin'", his biggest hit, at #7. The latter song, again, brought back memories. Although first heard during the summer, where I had a beach house in Belmar with friends, it was the "song of the winter" in 1988-89 when we rented an inn for our ski house between Windham and Hunter. That fact put the song in at #99 on my top 100 of 1989. becoming the final Petty song to do so. But he wasn't finished, by no means.
Into the Great Wide Open came next in 1991, with "Learning to Fly" (#28) and the title track (#92) gaining radio airplay. I have to add that I am a little sick of the latter track, only because it's been played to death on the overhead sound speaker piped in at the hotel where I work night audit. Call it too much of a good thing. "Kings Highway" was another memorable track for the album.
1992's A Very Special Christmas 2, a compilation by various artists to benefit the Special Olympics, and a follow-up to the successful 1987 first volume, contained Petty's "Christmas All Over Again", which has become a staple of the holiday season, appearing regularly on my holiday top 100. In 2016, I ranked it #39. The song was also featured in a few Christmas movies, most notably, Four Christmases.
After another Traveling Wilburys collaboration, Volume 3, Petty released a Greatest Hits compilation, and came the band's next top 20, "Mary Jane's Last Dance" (1994), which would have made my year-end list had it not been for grunge and me being fully into alternative rock. I had a good friend named Mary Jane, and when I brought that song up to her (she hadn't heard it), she comes to me with a "Tom Petty...heh, heh, heh"....loved it, you had to have been there, I guess. The second new track was a cool cover of Thunderclap Newman's "Something In the Air". While definitely faithful to the original the Heartbreakers still managed to put their own stamp on it. The mid-90's were ripe with tribute albums (other artists doing covers of songs by the original artists), I had recently discussed this with tributes to Kiss, Jimi Hendrix, and others). Petty was honored as well in 1994 with You Got Lucky.
In spite of grunge and post grunge and other alt-rock, Petty still successfully swam against the tide with 1995's Wildflowers. He and the band's final top 20 song, "You Don't Know How It Feels" (#13), along with "It's Good to Be King" (#66), kept the band relevant going on twenty years now.
Mainstream success finally started to thin out, with only three more songs reaching the Hot 100: 1996's "Walls" (from She's the One), "Free Girl Now" (1999's Echo) and "She's the One" (2006's compilation Highway Companion) which landed at #100. But Petty's popularity never backed down, every album dating back to Damn the Torpedoes, reached the top 20, with this most recent efforts, 2010's Mojo and 2014's Hypnotic Eye, reaching #2 and #1 respectively, his best showings on the album chart.
Petty was also somewhat of an activist, and would fight for issues that didn't seem right. When his original record label, Shelter, distributed by ABC records, was bought out by MCA records, Petty filed a lawsuit. Then, after the success of Damn the Torpedoes, MCA wanted to issue the new album Hard Promises at a new, higher list price, $9.98, that they were reserving for "superstar releases", as opposed to the standard at the time $8.98 price. Petty resisted, even threatening to call his album "Eight Ninety-Eight" until MCA backed down and kept the new album at the lower price.
"The Last DJ", a 2002 album track from the album of the same name, was a stab at what Petty saw as the end of a bygone era, where disk jockeys were allowed to play what they wanted, back in the days of freeform radio station, as opposed to corporate suits telling what a radio station should play. While many radio stations resisted and objected to the song, it nonetheless made the rock airplay charts.
One issue that Petty apparently changed over is plagiarism of music. It was said that the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California" resembled "Mary Jane's Last Dance", while The Strokes' "Last Nite" was similar to "American Girl". Petty defended both artists, saying that rock and roll has all been about similar sounding songs, even when the latter admitted to borrowing.
But, in 2015, apparently Petty changed his tune. Sam Smith's 2014 hit "Stay With Me" was cited as very similar to "I Won't Back Down", which was co-written by Petty and Lynne. As a result, both songwriters got a portion of the writing credit and royalties, but apparently this was settled amicably.
Well, that was an eyeful, wasn't it? Yes, Petty had a long, distinguished career, and it seems that so many of his songs were memorable. Like many other artists, his music was pretty much the soundtrack of my adult life. And although maybe I didn't fully appreciate them when they were released, they all have struck a chord with me.
October 2 was just a bad day all around. Earlier that day, we had gotten news that almost sixty people attending a country music festival in Las Vegas were killed, and well over five hundred injured in a mass shooting from a Vegas hotel. Country starts had performed all evening, with Jason Aldean the final performer when the shots, apparently from the thirty-second floor, went off in rapid succession. Sadly, these mass shootings have been rampant all over the world, but it hits hard when music is involved. It becomes scary when innocent music lovers going to see their favorite performers now have their lives hanging in the balance. My heartfelt prayers go out to all of those injured and the families and friends of those who lost their lives.
BACK TO THE HEAR AND NOW: This is another double issue, but as usual, officially one week elapses in the SNS 100 world. Which means that Portugal. The Man's "Feel It Still" is at the top for a third week. Since we last checked in, it moved from 10 to 7 to 6 on the Hot 100. On the Alternative chart, it stays at #1 for weeks 15 and 16, which may be a record. As for my lists, if the year ended right now, it would land at #8 on my year end top 100. Of course we are still over two months away, and the way things are going, it could challenge for the top before the year is over. P.TM holds off two long running obscure favorites (which P.TM was once considered), Tennis and Electric Guest which remain at 2 and 3. Tennis is still just a few points behind P.TM so there's still a chance the husband-and-wife duo could get their second SNS number one. The rest of the top 10 is a bit static, with bullets but the only big movers are Beck's "Up All Night" (10-6) and The Cranberries' "Why" (15-10). Cold War Kids get their fifth SNS top 20 with "Invincible"(23-15) with a sixth one not too far behind ("So Tied Up", featuring Bishop Briggs). Cage the Elephant's "Whole Wide World" moves 22-18, becoming that band's ninth straight top 20, and 10th in eleven tries.
Portugal. The Man, isn't the only alternative-based band invading the pop world; Imagine Dragons have been in the top 10 a few times on the pop and hip-hop heavy Hot 100. "Thunder" which moves 79-68 here, enters the Billboard Top 10, replacing "Believer" which falls out of it. The song is holding at #3 alternative. The #2 song there, by the way is The Killers, "The Man" (37-25 here), but apparently too rock for top 40 radio, which still continues to boycott the genre. The Killers did have a pop hit in the more-accessible 2003, with "Mr. Brightside".
As far as debuts, I am very excited about Offguard, the Long Island-based quintet headed by Matt Weiss, the son of my friend Annette Weiss. While their first single "Maybe" hangs in there in the top 10 at #9, their new release, "Strawberry Moon" has gotten hold of me. Definitely in the rock area, it has a lot of guts and emotion in it, while not really letting it out too much. Sort of like a Interpol vibe to it. I would definitely recommend this. Actually there's a few good new ones out that debut. The Palms, who topped my charts with "Push Off" (and is still on the chart), follow it with the equally cool "Levitate". Pageants, fresh off their top 10 "Lingr" are right back with "Chai", another melodic based slice of jangly accessible rock. Miley Cyrus, whose "Malibu" surprised the hell out of me this past summer, follows it with "Younger Now". While not as emotional as "Malibu" and a little more pop-rock-ish, it's still a good song, even thought it's far from the country direction she was hinting at. Still, it's much better than what many of her peers are putting out these days.
It looks like Portugal.The Man's follow-up will be "Live For the Moment", but I am going with "Rich Friends' which is what radio station WEQX is playing right now. Flagship, a band from Charlotte, NC, has their second SNS entry with "Midnight". "Life Underwater" from their self-titled 2013 debut reached #31 on my list back in 2015.
Finally I add Blake Shelton's "She's Got a Way With Words". Yes, I know that this track is two years old and he's released many since, but I had heard this song while having lunch at a Lake Hopatcong restaurant a couple weeks back and loved it. His "Boys Round Here" peaked on my list at #11 a few years back, and I enjoy him on The Voice. Also, I just want to add that inching into the 100 spot from a Tremor last week is "Rosey" by Bermuda Triangle, a band that features Alabama Shakes' leader Brittany Howard.
RYAN'S HOPE: One year ago this month, singer-songwriter Phoebe Ryan became the first (and still the only) SNS up-and-comer, to make a major Billboard chart. She was the featured vocalist on The Chainsmokers' "All I Know" which debuted on the Hot 100 at #18 in October 2016.
At the time, I thought for sure, she would break through to pop success after that. She has gotten kudos by the likes of Taylor Swift, and had a nice write-up in Rolling Stone magazine. But so far success hasn't happened. She has been on the verge, but no cigar as of yet. "All I Know" peaked at that position and compared to the other singles by the duo, it fared poorly by comparison. She has released single after single, and has been all over my SNS 100 over the past year alone, with seven songs, four as lead and three as featured vocalist, including "All I Know". She was to release her first full-length album this year, but it seems to have been put off. It appears now instead she will release her second EP, entitled James. She had performed on the Billboard Hot 100 awards show over the summer. The lead single from James was to be "Dark Side", a top 5 SNS song from this past summer, and #15 on Billboard's "Emerging Artists" chart, however, it is not included on the EP, replaced by "Forgetting All About You", which features blackbear, which moves this week from 38-27. However, since that was released in August, two additional singles from the EP have been released: "Be Real" in September, and "James Has Changed" this month. I'm not sure if this was planned, or if she is releasing just anything to get attention. Either way, shame on radio for not jumping on this talent's music. I'm not sure why she isn't catching on: She has songwriters experience, her music is a thinking person's pop music, unlike some of the drivel that is out there now. For an example, compare her music to Swift's current song "Look What You Made Me Do" which holds at #90 SNS this week but was a three week #1. Swift has dumbed-down her music from her early days, and that it is sad when you listen to her debut, for example.
I just hope Phoebe doesn't have to do this, and she will have her true breakthrough very soon. She is well deserving.
THE FUTURE: As I mentioned earlier, this is the second "double issue" blog, covering the first two weeks in October. I had mentioned at the beginning of the year that I would stop with the weekly "full blogs" and for many weeks I have just listed my top 100 weekly playlist with some notes on the current songs out there. My last blog, however, which discussed a few issues, could only garner two Facebook "likes" and one comment.
Fear not, the blog will not be going away. It may just be my playlist on some weeks, or if there's something on my mind, I will post it. I will be committed to keeping this playlist going until the end of 2019, two years from now. After that?
You may know that at the end of each year I compose a list of my top 100 favorite songs of the year gone by. I did this religiously from 1976 until 2003 when I retired from listening to current music, at least for a bit. Plus I had many life changes the next few years. Because of Facebook , I had reactivated my year-end list and have published it from 2009 to the present.
Recently I have undergone a project to (1) Compose a list of my top 100's for each year that I hadn't done since 1964, and (2) Upload every song on it to an iTunes playlist. As I had been working on my blog since 2010, I have complete playlists for 2010 thru 2016. So far, I have created my top 100 lists for 1964 thru 1969, and made playlists for all those songs. I have created playlists for existing lists (with minor changes) for 1980, 1992, '93, and '94. I am getting a chance to listen to songs I may have not heard since the years they came out.
Which poses one problem: If I am listening to old songs, is there time for the new? One of the reasons why this blog doesn't get more likes is that, except for a few flashbacks to times growing up, or deaths by rock stars (such as this week), I am mostly talking about new music. I do have several friends posting new songs, and many friends actually putting them out. But having time to listen to 100 new songs each week can be time consuming, especially when there are so many great classic gems going back fifty-five years or more.
Many people usually give up following new music when they are out of college or perhaps when they turn thirty or maybe forty. I will turn sixty-one in a couple weeks, and am still listening to new music, although that is mostly alternative rock, with some pop and country thrown in. And perhaps at the end of 2019, it may be time to tie a ribbon around all those songs which have given me great memories, and listen to them exclusively. That isn't hard, what with the current pop music out there. If somehow there is a new trend (which is hard, giving the corporate-dominated playlists out there--see Tom Petty's remarks in "The Last DJ"), I may reconsider. Regardless there is so many music memories out there in all the decades of my life that I will be listening to in my later years.
So, in the meantime, keep listening, and keep rocking!
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100
October 1 / 8,
2017
| This Week | Last Week | ARTIST-Title | Weeks on List |
| 1 | 1 | NUMBER ONE:
"Feel
It Still"●
Album: Woodstock
(3 weeks at #1)
|
23 |
| 2 | 2 | Tennis - In the Morning I'll Be Better | 10 |
| 3 | 4 | Electric Guest - Oh Devil | 8 |
| 4 | 3 | Nick Waterhouse - It's Time● | 15 |
| 5 | 5 | The National - The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness | 10 |
| 6 | 10 | Beck - Up All Night | 4 |
| 7 | 7 | Beth Ditto - I Wrote the Book | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | Iration - Borderlines | 7 |
| 9 | 6 | Øffguard - Maybe | 13 |
| 10 | 15 | The Cranberries - Why | 6 |
| 11 | 11 | Christina Taylor - That Girl | 9 |
| 12 | 13 | Matthew Koma - Hard to Love | 13 |
| 13 | 12 | Foster the People - Doing It For the Money | 8 |
| 14 | 19 | Haley Reinhart - Baby It's You | 9 |
| 15 | 23 | TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:
"Invincible"
Album: L.A. Divine
|
6 |
| 16 | 20 | Chastity Belt - Different Now | 7 |
| 17 | 8 | Trapdoor Social - Winning As Truth● | 14 |
| 18 | 22 | Cage the Elephant - Whole Wide World | 9 |
| 19 | 14 | Saint Motel - Sweet Talk | 12 |
| 20 | 16 | Alvvays - In Undertow | 11 |
Tremors:
101. Chai Khat, "Ghosts in the Void"
102. Filthy Friends, "The Arrival"
103. Sleeping With Sirens, "Legends"
104. Blake Shelton, "She's Got a Way With Words"
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.
● Songs
with 25 or more plays on my iPod.
▲ Songs with 50 or more
plays on my iPod.
The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list
of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.
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