Tom Petty

Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Pettyis an American musician, singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but is also known as a member and co-founder of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, and his early band Mudcrutch...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth20 October 1950
CityGainesville, FL
CountryUnited States of America
We were pretty efficient in the first half. Our passing was pretty good against their zone.
We enjoy playing with each other, which I think is a pretty important part of this. If we didn't, we'd have given it up a long time ago. The idea when we started was to take five people and keep 'em together no matter what and see what we could get out of it, and we've pretty much stuck to that plan.
It didn't affect his ability for a long time. Heroin can be like that with musicians; I think that's why you see so many musicians drift that way, because you can remain musical for a long time. But I think, without exception, they all hit the wall eventually and the creativity goes.
We've given him access we've never given anybody.
like a deer in the headlights, frozen in real time and I'm losing my mind, it's time to move on
We said 'You're going to have to quit this. It's gonna get you. You just don't win with heroin. You die or you go to jail. There's no middle ground. There's no other options,'
You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don't have. Drink 'til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does.
The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn't that bad! The writing came natural to me.
When I go to see people, I always kind of hope they are going to play some kind of songs I know. So you've got to know your audience. It's kind of something that is a blessing and a curse in a way. You're obligated to play some of that stuff that people know, but I don't think that's all you have to do.
Making a record? You've got to have the song, then you create a record. I think it's the same with a live performance. If the material is strong, you're already 90% there. I always tell young people it's all about the music, the songs. Work on the songs, work on the songs, work on the songs.
Rock n' roll was one thing, and then they chopped off the 'roll' and called it 'rock,' which became a sort of umbrella term for anything with a guitar in it. Like hair bands. How could we possibly believe that? It's just gotten downright silly, to the point where now it's sort of become like professional wrestling.
I think that if people realize that with an mp3, you're only getting five percent of the sound that's there. But when you hear the entire thing... I think it would save the music business. It's such a drastic change.
I tend to write on an acoustic guitar or the piano. I have kind of a rule: if I can't sit down and play this and get the song over, I don't take it to the band, because most any good song, you can sit down and deliver it with a piano or a guitar.
We have a set list, but we work up a lot more (songs) than we're gonna do. That way we can throw things in and change it around, especially if we're in a place for two days. It's good to keep yourself interested. The last show we did five songs we never rehearsed and that certainly sparked us up.