In the wake of Monday’s death of rock icon Tom Petty, Local Spins asked West Michigan musician Jack Leaver — who fronts a Petty tribute band — to list his top Petty tunes, with Local Spins publisher offering up his own under-the-radar picks.
Gone But Never Forgotten: Some of Tom Petty’s enduring rock songs are revisited in these Local Spins playlists.
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Tom Petty was more than just a rock ‘n’ roll icon.
Jack Leaver
His stature as one of the America’s most important songwriters and performers was even acknowledged by Bob Dylan after Petty’s death Monday at 66 following a cardiac arrest: “I thought the world of Tom,” Dylan said in a statement released to Rolling Stone. “He was a great performer, full of the light, a friend, and I’ll never forget him.”
West Michigan musicians are mourning this prolific artist, too, and Local Spins asked one of them — veteran guitarist and singer Jack Leaver, who fronts the Tom Petty tribute band, American Heartbreakers — to supply a Top 10 playlist of his favorite Petty songs in tribute to the late legend.
“It is with a heavy heart that I make this list,” Leaver said. “I feel like I lost a very good friend that I never knew personally.”
As a bonus, check out Local Spins publisher John Sinkevics’ playlist of under-the-radar Petty songs that might not be familiar to you — but should be. Got your own faves? Post them in the comments.
TOM PETTY: The Local Spins Playlist by Jack Leaver
1. “The Waiting,” 1981 (from “Hard Promises”) – My favorite Tom Petty song, bar none. That opening riff is killer and the best first lyric to open a song and album, ‘Oh baby, don’t it feel like heaven right now…’
2. “Even The Losers,” 1979 (from “Damn the Torpedoes”) – Another great lyric, speaking so true to adolescence, ‘We smoked cigarettes, and we stared at the moon.’ A great rocker.
3. “Room At The Top,” 1999 (from “Echo”) – I was going through a very hard time, my mother was dying. I would listen to this song over and over, every night on my way home from a gig. I took great comfort in knowing someone else was feeling my pain. The lyric, ‘I got a room where everyone, can have a drink and forget those things, that went wrong in their life.’ This is one of my favorite Tom Petty songs, though it’s achingly sad.
4. “American Girl,” 1977 (from “Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers”) – The quintessential rocker. American girls. Gold!
5. “Something Big,” 1981 (from “Hard Promises”) – Swampy groove, descriptive story song about a bad thing going down, but Petty ingeniously only hints at what is really happening.
6. “It’s Good To Be King,” 1994 (from “Wildflowers”) – One of his best songs, middle-age Tom Petty, putting forth his wisdom and owning his place in life.
7. “Wildflowers,” 1994 (from “Wildflowers”) – A poetic and thoughtful song. One of his finest moments.
8. “Refugee,” 1980 (from “Damn the Torpedoes”) – Loud and dynamic drum sound that revolutionized what we would hear on the radio throughout the ’80s and ’90s. A true anthem.
9. “You Got Lucky,” 1982 (from “Long After Dark”) – A song of angst that stands today. The video set standards for cinematic quality on MTV.
10. “Listen To Her Heart,” 1978 (from “You’re Gonna Get It!”) – A perfect little pop song gem that still holds up to repeated listenings.
THE BEST PETTY SONGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW: The Local Spins Playlist
Local Spins publisher John Sinkevics’ under-the-radar picks from Petty’s catalog
1. “Square One,” 2005/2006 (from “Highway Companion”) — First released as part of the soundtrack for the movie, “Elizabethtown,” this understated gem oozes melancholy and pure beauty, with lyrics that stand among the finest that Petty ever wrote — and that’s saying a lot.
2. “Runaway Trains,” 1987 (from “Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough)” — This is one of my favorite Petty tracks of all time, thanks to an anthemic quality that the Heartbreakers mesh with an almost psychedelic vibe.
3. “I Should Have Known It,” “Something Good Coming,” “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove,” “Lover’s Touch,” “Good Enough,” 2010 (from “Mojo”) — Regarded as Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “blues” album, this 15-track masterpiece is vastly underrated. Don’t believe me? Check out these tracks when you get a chance.
4. “Breakdown,” 1976 (from “Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers”) — This may not qualify as under-the-radar because it was Petty’s first Top 40 hit, but it remains a unique, reggae-hued ballad in the pantheon of rock and shows off Petty’s voice.
5. “A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me),” 1981 (from “Hard Promises”) — This pairs well with “Breakdown” (above) as another infectious, mysterious slice of infectious rock.
6. “Between Two Worlds,” 1982 (from “Long After Dark”) — This track just plain rocks in edgy, classic Petty, “heartland” fashion.
7. “Into the Great Wide Open,” 1991 (from “Into the Great Wide Open”) — Driven by Mike Campbell’s stellar guitar work, this is another Jeff Lynne-influenced treasure.
8. “Love is a Long Road,” 1989 (from “Full Moon Fever”) — Say what you will about all of the other big Lynne-produced hits on “Full Moon Fever” (“Free Fallin,” “I Won’t Back Down”), this is as good as any of them.
9. “Won’t Last Long,” 1999 (from “Echo”) — Yes, my band The Honeytones reveled in covering this song. And for good reason.
10. “U Get Me High,” 2014 (from “Hypnotic Eye”) — This rocker from Petty and the Heartbreakers’ final studio album combines everything that made Petty’s music enthralling: a catchy hook, driving guitars, beautiful keyboard accents and Petty’s uber-cool vocals.
Honorable Mention: “The Wrong Thing to Do,” 2008 (from Mudcrutch’s “Mudcrutch) — So this was actually Petty’s first band back in the early 1970s that finally got back together to officially release its first album in 2008. This track shows off Petty’s more country-hued, Southern rock side — all well-suited to his Florida drawl.
JACK LEAVER’S TOM PETTY PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
JOHN SINKEVICS’ TOM PETTY PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY
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