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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
The current frenzy to duplicate the success of The Strokes and The Hives is in many ways reminiscent of the late 1970's music scene. Back then record companies made every effort to dress up their new acts in the trappings of punk and/or new wave. At it's most superficial this meant lots of leather and zippers, ripped t-shirts and lawnmower hair cuts. It also meant stripped down audio production. Tom Petty certainly got marketed as a punk when his debut was released, and in fact part of the reason he got his name up front was to avoid confusion with the Johnny Thunders-led band, The Heartbreakers. Over time Petty proved pretty conclusively he was no punk, and it hasn't harmed his reputation, at least with me. But the debut album remains my favorite largely due to those spare punk-inspired production values. |
