by Tom and other Heartbreakers
"I think that I'm a little more - dare I say -
eccentric than those guys. I know those people quite well and I think that they're terrific...I was
into that straight rock thing for a long time. However, I don't think that's the whole ball of wax.
I think there's more to it than that." Tom Petty commenting on the tendency to catagorize him
with artists like Seger, Springsteen, and Mellencamp
"I remember seeing 'A Hard Day's Night' and thinking,
'That's obviously the way to go.' You've got farming over here and on this side - The Beatles."
Petty on how he decided he wanted a band
"Because it just sounded sort of dirty and decrepit."
former Mudcrutch member Tom Leadon on how the band arrived at their pre-Heartbreakers name
"I think I remembered Blondie talking over a track
and it hit me suddenly that I could talk my way into it and take it from there." Petty on
'Here Comes My Girl', the chord procession of which was "hard to sing over"
"I got it from a pilot on television. He said there's
not much to learning to fly, the difficult thing is coming down...and I thought, 'Yeah that's true'.
The song came pretty quickly after that." Petty on 'Learning to Fly'
"... I love people. I'm fascinated
by people, I take endless inspiration from people. I can just stare
at people all day long and be entertained by them better than TV. What
keeps me going is the fact that I'm able to write songs mainly about people.
If they don't have people in them, there's nothing interesting about them."
"They [CD prices] are pretty
high. It saddened me when I was talking to a 16 or 17 year old kid the
other day and he told me that most people in his group don't buy a lot
of albums 'cause they're expensive. It's a drag. It used to be great. I
mean, I'm old enough that I remember getting an album for 3 bucks - a mono
one. And I could always raise 3 bucks somehow. If I wanted it, I could
go out and collect a crate of bottles, then mow a lawn to get a dollar
and 75 cents, and by the end of the afternoon I'd have 3 bucks. I'd buy
the album and I'd go home and play it. That was one priviledge I had
as a kid - access to music. It was affordable." (TP 1991)
I had to rock
the boat, I had to shake the tree to see what'd fall down on me - TP 1991
They say be
careful who you believe, be careful who you trust - TP 1999
<(TP 1991)
Something is incorrect, looks bad, or you actually like the site!
E-mail me Here