5 Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Tom Petty

aimeeandbeatles

watermelon
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
20,112
Not too long ago I got a Google Alert for some slideshow with ten facts that "even his biggest fans might not know." It was actually quite insulting as it was just all casual-fan stuff (e.g. the Hard Promises pricing fiasco, his house getting burned down, his tenure in the Traveling Wilburys)... not to mention at least one had been debunked.

Anyways I decided to do this in counterpoint. Enjoy ;)

Spoiler :
5. In the early 1980s, everyone wanted Tom in the movies.
In the early 1980s, for some reason, movie studios were throwing deals left and right for Tom to appear in some movie or another. Perhaps it was something to do with his looks (at the time, he was considered good-looking in a rock 'n' roll way). He was offered the script to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" but passed it on, suggesting the Ramones (who did do it). He was also apparently offered the part of a "callow youth" in some movie about a whorehouse in Texas.

4. It's fun to play six degrees of separation with the Heartbreakers.
A friend and I once had a lot of fun with this. Take some random musician and see how many steps it takes before you bump into a Heartbreaker. It helps that they show up pretty much all over the place in the music world.

3. Tom once got addicted to Pac-Man.
He stopped after he rubbed all the skin off his hand, though.

2. On the 1995 tour, Tom modeled bras.
Seriously. At at least two of the shows, he picked up a bra which had been thrown on stage, said "This looks like a big one," and then put it on. At the last show in New Orleans, all the collected bras were hung up on the stage lights so they would fly up and down as the lights moved.
Before you start joking around, T.P. is most definitely male. If he isn't, how do you explain this?
Spoiler :
aaj8hKBt.jpg


1. What could have been...
I was looking for something else on my site and I found this:
http://www.thepettyarchives.com/newspapers/newspapers-1995/1995-06-08-newyorkdailynews/
What do you get when you put Tom Petty and Tim Burton in the same room? Aside from an unintelligible conversation set to haunting and predictable guitar riffs, we don't know much else. But we do know Tom and Tim are kinda hoping a really cool movie idea might come out of it.

Sources tell us the guys have been taking meetings at a serious pace in hopes of making this idea a reality by next summer. What the film will deal with is uncertain. Aside from Tom and his big old cowboy hat and teeth, we're not sure what else the film will feature. But we do know it will show Tom and his band playing from gig to gig, but will somehow wrap a plot and storyline around that. A source close to the project told us we should expect "a cross between 'A Hard Day's Night' and 'Spinal Tap' with the kind of plot line that only Tim Burton could work with." We also hear we can expect cameos from the likes of Petty and Burton fans like Johnny Depp and Kim Basinger. Cool.
Unlike that movie about the whorehouse in Texas (which just gets a flat "What" from me), I would have liked to see this ... assuming, of course, the sources isnt making it up.


So enjoy that. And please do not derail this into a discussion about whether Tom Petty is a hermaphrodite.

P.S. If you visit my site at all Id appreciate if you did this survey. It's 2 questions long, 3 if you do the optional one ;)
http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/819159/The-Petty-Archives-Survey-1
 
Who wasn't addicted to pacman?

If only I had more quarters...
 
And the movie he ends up starring in was The Postman.

Well only a bit role. He also appeared in FM (1978) and Made In Heaven (1987). In the first, he appears for maybe 30 seconds and says about 5 words and plays himself. The latter his onscreen time was about 3 minutes and he plays a nightclub owner called Stanky. :lol:

Here's the Pac-Man thing, published September 1982:

What do you think about America's fascination with video games?
PETTY:
We're bored. I've got a home system, and I've gotten real addicted. It frightens me. I feel weird after 30 minutes of smashing electronic rocks. I used to have a Pac-Man game at my house. I played it until my hand got [screwed] up and the skin rubbed off. I finally went, "What have I been doing eating dots for hours?"
 
I was looking up things just now. Yesterday when I wrote that I was mostly going off memory. Anyways here's the whorehouse movie I was talking about:
http://www.thepettyarchives.com/newspapers/newspapers-1980/1980-09-12-victoriaadvocate/
Tom Petty — the handsome, blond, Southern lead of The Heartbreakers musical group — is being paged by Universal to play a callow youth in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." And as far as Tom is concerned, it's Damn the Torpedoes (as in the title of the hit LP that catapulted him to fame), full steam ahead.
I was talking a friend about it and she said it was a musical comedy and she could not see Tom doing that.

I remember about a couple years ago talking to another friend about the Rock 'n' Roll High School and she had seen it. She went "THEY TURNED DOWN THE ROLE? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
 
So when Tom modeled the bra was he working with Kramer and Frank?
 
I'm not sure what that is meant to refer to. On the 1995 tour, women would throw them on stage.

It was a bit of trivia included in one of the 1995 fan club newsletters. I also remember that at one show Mike Campbell walked off stage examining a bright pink bra.

Actually I'll post the full list here. Some of them are rather funny.
* "Welcome to the show. I'm Tom Petty and of course these are the Heartbreakers…"
* In Reno, NV, Tom Petty picked up a bra which had been tossed on stage, saying, "This looks like a big one," then put it on and modeled it; he did it again with a black strapless number in Pittsburgh, PA;
* "Learning To Fly" was dedicated to Jerry Garcia in Salt Lake City, UT;
* Acting as his "guitar roadie" on stage in Columbia, MD, and Pittsburgh, PA, Mike Campbell's daughter, Brie, handed him his treasured guitars;
* Tom kicked his guitar and let it swing loosely from his neck during "Mary Jane's Last Dance," then knocked the microphone down and smashed his guitar around at the end of "Honeybee";
* Scott Thurston sang beautiful harmony with Tom on "A Higher Place";
* Tom sat cross-legged on the stage, setting the tone with an untamed version of "Refugee." Just like the old days;
* In Tupelo, MS, birthplace of Elvis Presley, the crowd screamed wildly when Tom sang, "She's a good girl, crazy 'bout Elvis….;"
* Steve Ferrone and Tom waltzed around the stage at the end of several shows;
* While the band played "'Round and 'Round" Tom demonstrated his version of Chuck Berry's "duck walk";
* Checking out the equipment before the show in Hartford, CT, were Howie Epstein and his dog, Dingo;
* With his long blond hair flying, Tom showed off his "head-banging" technique during the hard-driving endings of "It's Good To Be King," "Drivin' Down to Georgia" and "Refugee";
* Although his guitar strap came undone during "Honey Bee" in Pittsburgh, PA, Tom was unfazed while Bugs brought him a new guitar. The strap of Mike's red Gretsch guitar came undone in Huntsville, AL … Mike sailed smoothly through the song, leaning the guitar on the floor of the stage;
* Electrifying the crowd with his pink Fender Jaguar, Mike ripped into "Diamond Head" adding, among others, parts of "Secret Agent Man," "James Bond," "Exodus," "Breakdown," "You Got Lucky," a touch of Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and a lot of Mike Campbell;
* Hauntingly beautiful lighting effects silhouetted Tom from above at the end of "Breakdown;"
* In Jackson, MS, an amused Tom Petty announced, "Steve Ferrone on drums broke a bass drum three songs into the show … let's hear it for Steve!"
* "You Don't Know How It Feels," "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and "It's Good To Be King" were highlighted by Mike and Tom's passionate guitar leads;
* During "Drivin' Down to Georgia" Tom pulled petals off a rose ("Won't last long, wintertime'll get 'em");
* Mike strolled off the stage examining a bright pink bra tossed to the band in Cleveland, OH;
* In Pittsburgh, PA, Tom referred to Ben's many collaborations with other artists. "If you look through your record collection, I'll bet you can plan on at least two of 'em — my favorite piano player, Benmont Tench!" He also referred to Ben as "the man who actually started the Heartbreakers a long time ago;"
* Tom rocked into "Lonely Weekends," "Runnin' Down a Dream," "Drivin' Down To Georgia," and "American Girl," bouncing his left leg Elvis-style (Cathy B. really liked that…);
* A wild, raucous rendition of "Gloria" was added to the encore;
* Tom excitedly announced, "We've got a new album coming out in November … it's got 6 CDs," then launched into a killer version of "Come On Down To My House;"
* Steve Winstead (Mike's guitar technician), joking around, vacuumed in front of the stage during Pete Droge's act … so … Pete introduced him to the crowd in New Orleans, LA;
* Dressed as a rather large bee, lighting technician Bruce Heard floated down from the rigging and danced to "Honeybee" while hovering above the band during the last show in New Orleans, LA (Gotta watch those lighting guys … maybe you've been high up in the rigging a little too long, Bruce …);
* All the bras that had been tossed on stage during the tour were hung up on the stage lights so they would fly up and down as the lights moved in New Orleans;
* Joining in with the weird and whimsical spirit of the "last night," Mike Campbell came out on stage wearing a wrestling mask during "Honeybee" in New Orleans;
* "… Till we see you again, God bless you all …"

Also for some reason this reminds me that, for some reason, Tom really likes to compare songwriting to having sex.
 
Should I post 5 more things I bet you didn't know? I have a lot. I like to share information!
 
I got error trying to see the video.
 
Is this a joke I'm not aware of.
 
Whenever I tried to watch the video I got an error. :(

Anyways this most definitely was a female bra that Tom modeled. He apparently likes to fool around on stage. Theres a radio recording of the 1993 Gainesville Homecoming show and he tells the radio listeners that nobody has any pants on. :) Then on a radio recording of one of the 1997 Fillmore shows he tells the radio listeners that everyone is naked.
 
The embedding is disabled on the video, you have to click the link to take you directly to youtube (by opening another tab). Knowing Seinfeld is an important part of getting cultural references. :)
 
Several more things. Enjoy.

Spoiler :
5. Tom doesnt like the album cover of "Hard Promises."
He claims he was so hung up on the pricing issue that he failed to notice that the album cover was sort of boring.

4. The video for "You Got Lucky" was inspired by Clint Eastwood movies.
He told this to the Gainesville Sun: "I've always admired those Clint Eastwood movies, with the music by Ennio Morricone. That's what the song reminded me of, so we made the movie ourselves."

3. The Heartbreakers curse a lot.
This is exemplified by one interview from the early days (1977) where Tom starts spitting out swear words left and right. There are also other examples too but going into more detail would set the autocensor off. Just watch Runnin' Down a Dream sometime and you'll figure out what Im talking about.

2. His trademark top hat was destroyed in the arson.
Which is unfortunate. He got a replacement, although it was different.

1. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were nearly Tom Petty and Nightro.
This was briefly mentioned in the documentary (though they didn't give any detail about it). They actually did at least one early show (March 19, 1976) under that name. I think it was in Van Nuys though I need to double-check my notes. Jeff Jourard was in the band then. He was quickly booted out though.
Tom also wanted to call them the King Bees. A friend of mine pointed out to me that, if that name had gone through, technically it would have been "Tom Petty and the Drones."
 
Sorry for the double post. I didnt want to make a new thread.

The other day i was sorting through some files and I found this in there. I knew it existed but I didn't know I had it. It was omitted from the official DVD (December 31, 1978, Santa Monica. It comes with one of the editions of the Live Anthology). I dont know why. My best guess is rights issues. I emailed someone about it who might know but I havent got a response back.

Either ways its unfortunate as its really really really really good and the quality is really really really really poor (let's just say I had trouble picking out Tom). The sound is also pretty muddy but the official DVD does not sound that way so I assume its just the video quality. It looks like it had been copied to VHS several times.

So here we are. Enjoy the video. Please. Thank you.

I hope the video works.


Link to video.
 
You don't have to limit yourself to five facts.
 
Well I was afraid of the post getting too long.

I have some more, although I'm not sure they would be too interesting to anyone who isn't like me.

Did you like the video?
 
Back
Top Bottom