Oct 2nd in Pop History

On this day, October 2nd, in:

• 2017 - Tom Petty, American Rock Star, song writer, and record producer, was found to be in cardiac arrest at his home. He was taken to the UCLA Medical Center in Santa Monica, California, where he died at 8:40 pm. 

He died of an accidental drug overdose, just one week after the end of the Heartbreakers' 40th Anniversary Tour.

In a statement on his official website, Petty's wife and daughter said he had a number of medical problems, including emphysema, knee difficulties "and most significantly a fractured hip.” He was prescribed pain medication for these problems and informed on the day of his death that his hip injury had worsened. The statement read, "It is our feeling that the pain was simply unbearable and was the cause for his overuse of medication…We feel confident that this was, as the coroner found, an unfortunate accident."

Tom Petty was the lead vocalist and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, and was also a member of the late 1980s supergroup The Traveling Wilburys. 

The Traveling Wilburys was a sort of supergroup, which featured the likes of Bob Dylan, George Harrison(formerly in a small English band called The Beatles — perhaps you’ve heard of them), Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne (co-founder of ELO, Electric Light Orchestra). The Wilburys released their first album at the end of 1988 and its sound became the blueprint for Petty's first solo effort, 1989's Full Moon Fever. Produced by Lynne and featuring the support of most of the Heartbreakers, Full Moon Fever became Petty's commercial pinnacle, reaching number three on the U.S. charts, going triple platinum. 

Petty recorded a number of hit singles with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. His hit singles include 

Don’t Do Me Like That (1979), 

Refugee (1980), 

The Waiting (1981),

Don’t Come Around Here No More (1985), 

Learning to Fly (1991), 

I Won’t Back Down (1989), 

Free Fallin’ (1989), 

You Don’t Know How it Feels (1994),

as well as a huge hit duet with Stevie Nicks, called Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.

In his career, he sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Petty and the Heartbreakers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. 🎸

He is ranked 91st on Rolling Stone’s list of the Greatest Artists of All Time. 

“It’s strange to say out loud, but I always felt destined to do this,” Tom Petty told Rolling Stone‘s David Fricke in 2009. “From a very young age I felt this was going to happen to me.” From his early days as a hard-jangling realist amidst the fluff-addled Seventies, Tom Petty was always one of rock’s most enduring Everyman heroes, as well as one of the preeminent songwriters of his generation. A Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show could reach the two-hour mark and not make it through all of his hits and memorable album cuts, or explore every nook of his career. And he was writing classic songs right up to the end.

My most enjoyable memory associated with a Tom Petty song, is being on a Spring Break canoe trip on the Colorado River back in the early 80s with a bunch of friends. At one point we encountered a sandbar in the middle of the river where there was an old broken down wooden bench. Several of us guys stood outside the canoes, and sat on the bench. Someone turned on the song Refugee by Tom Petty really loud from their boat, so we began lip-syncing and performing the song using canoe paddles as guitars! Silly memory I guess, but a fun song! 

Tom Petty. One of the few originals. He knew how to create amazing records, and is one of my favorite artists. 

He will be missed. 

Check out my Tom Petty Playlist on Spotify: 

(link below)

And continuing on October 2nd…

Happy Birthday…

• 1951 - Sting (Gordon Sumner), singer, songwriter, frontman for The Police, was born in Wallsend, UK. He has received 16 Grammy Awards and sold over 100 million records

• 1965 - The McCoys were at # 1 on the US singles chart with Hang On Sloopy

• 1971 - Rod Stewart started a 5 week run at # 1 on the US charts with Maggie May

1982:  Toto released the single Africa, which topped the U.S. singles chart for five straight weeks. It also went to # 1 in Canada. Recently, Africa has reached a whole new, younger audience thanks to a 2018 cover version by alternative rock band Weezer. (Teal Album)