Tom Petty Estate Partners with Everytown on New Campaign
The Tom Petty Estate recently announced that they have partnered with Everytown for Gun Safety on their new Gun Sense Voter campaign. The campaign encourages people to vote for candidates…
The Tom Petty Estate recently announced that they have partnered with Everytown for Gun Safety on their new Gun Sense Voter campaign. The campaign encourages people to vote for candidates that support common sense gun laws in the upcoming midterm elections.
The Petty Estate shared the following statement on social media:
"We believe strongly in common sense gun laws.
Tom was a gun owner who believed we all have a responsibility to ensure guns are used safely and sensibly. He said it publicly and wrote it in songs. None of us want to live in a country where our children aren’t safe. Tom died on the eve of one of the biggest acts of gun violence ever in America in 2017, [the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in Las Vegas], and watching the tragedy in Uvalde brought it home for us that we would like to help in any small way we could as a family.
We are proud to partner with Everytown on this campaign. We hope everyone will vote in this next election and usher in a brighter future. And we hope people will come together no matter what their beliefs are about guns to make sure the children in our schools are safer in America."
Everytown for Gun Safety recently launched a new ad for their Gun Sense Voter campaign that features the song "Something Good Coming" from the 2010 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers album Mojo. The ad can be viewed below.
Tom Petty was a bit like Tom Hanks: he was so great that after a while you almost took his greatness for granted. When compiling this list, we kept in mind that the man was putting out great music up until the very end, and we wanted to recognize some of his gems that didn't get as much love as they should have, including some of his final recordings.
We decided that anything he wrote was fair game: obviously his songs with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, as well as his three solo albums. We also included songs from Mudcrutch, his pre-Heartbreakers band (which included Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench) who broke up in 1975 after recording a few songs; they reunited in 2007 and released a pair of albums. Of course, we included the Traveling Wilburys, focusing on the songs where Tom was the main singer, as well as the songs he wrote for Stevie Nicks, Roy Orbison and Roger McGuinn. We mostly went with studio recordings, but nevertheless, we still heartily recommend the 2008 box set The Live Anthology. We also decided against including covers (although we love his Byrds covers "So You Wanna Be A Rock And Roll Star" and "Feel A Whole Lot Better," his cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" and his duet with Stevie Nicks on Jackie DeShannon's "Needles and Pins," to name a few). It's worth noting that we frequently referenced Paul Zollo's excellent book, Conversations With Tom Petty often, and we'd definitely recommend that book, as well as Warren Zanes' Tom Petty: The Biography.
Did we miss a few songs? Sure - Petty had waaaaay more than 50 great ones (and we're sure you'll let us know on social media what we missed). But for now, enjoy these, there might be some that you forgot about or some that you haven't even heard.
50. “Don’t Come Around Here No More” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ‘Southern Accents’ (1985)
Universal49. “Jammin’ Me” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough)’ (1987)
Universal48. “You Took My Breath Away” from the Traveling Wilburys’ ‘Vol. 3’ (1990)
Concord Records47. “King Of The Hill” from Roger McGuinn’s ‘Back From Rio’ (1991)
Sony Legacy46. “Walls - Circus” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Songs And Music From The Motion Picture “She’s The One”’ (1996)
Warner Brothers45. “Red River” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hypnotic Eye’ (2014)
Warner Brothers44. “I Should Have Known It” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Mojo’ (2010)
Warner Brothers43. “Last Night” from the Traveling Wiburys’ ‘Vol. 1’ (1988)
Concord42. “The Wrong Thing To Do (live)” from Mudcrutch’s ‘Extended Play Live’ EP (2008)
Warner Brothers41. “Saving Grace” from Tom Petty’s ‘Highway Companion’ (2006)
Warner Brothers40. “Runnin’ Down A Dream” form Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘The Live Anthology’ (2009)
Warner Brothers39. “The Last DJ” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘The Last DJ’ (2002)
Warner Brothers38. “Wake Up Time” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)
Warner Brothers37. “You And I Will Meet Again” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “Into The Great Wide Open” (1991)
Universal36. “You Got It” from Roy Orbison’s ‘Mystery Girl’ (1989)
Sony Legacy35. “It’s Good To Be King” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)
Warner Brothers34. “Learning To Fly” from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (1991)
Universal33. “Hungry No More” from Mudcrutch ‘2’ (2016)
Warner Brothers32. “A Wasted Life” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Long After Dark’ (1982)
Universal31. “I Will Run To You” from Stevie Nicks’ ‘The Wild Heart’ (1983)
Rhino30. “Insider” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)
Universal29. “Deliver Me” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Long After Dark’ (1982)
Universal28. “Letting You Go” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)
Universal27. “Into The Great Wide Open” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (1991)
Universal26. “The Wild One, Forever” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ (1976)
Rhino/Warner Brothers25. “Echo” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Echo’ (1999)
Warner Brothers24. “Angel Dream (No. 4)” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘She’s The One (Songs and Music From The Motion Picture)”
Warner Brothers23. “I Forgive It All” from Mudcrutch ‘2’ (2016)
Warner Brothers22. “I Need To Know” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ “You’re Gonna Get It” (1978)
Rhino/Warner Brothers21. “Don’t Do Me Like That” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)
Universal20. “Scare Easy” from Mudcrutch’s ‘Mudcrutch’ (2008)
Warner BrothersThe highlight of Mudcrutch’s debut/reunion album (they only recorded a few singles before breaking up in the early ‘70s). Unfortunately, many wrote Mudcrutch off as a side-project. Had Petty kept “Scare Easy” for the Heartbreakers, it could have been a huge hit. He never played Heartbreakers songs with Mudcrutch, and vice-versa, which is a shame. And it’s kind of funny, in retrospect: if the Heartbreakers played Traveling Wilburys songs (including “Handle With Care”) -- reproducing parts by Dylan, Orbison and Harrison -- you’d think they could have pulled off Mudcrutch songs live (given the fact that ⅗ of Mudcrutch were also Heartbreakers).
19. “You Got Lucky” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Long After Dark’ (1982)
Universal18. “Here Comes My Girl” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)
Universal17. “A Woman In Love (It’s Not Me)” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)
Universal16. “Waiting For Tonight”: outtake from Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever,’ released on 1995’s ‘Playback’ box set
Universal15. “Built To Last” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers; ‘Into The Great Wide Open’ (1991)
Universal14. “The Best Of Everything” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Southern Accents’ (1985)
Universal13. “You Don’t Know How It Feels” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)
Warner Brothers12. “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Greatest Hits’ (1993)
Universal11. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” from Stevie Nicks’ ‘Bella Donna’ (1981)
Rhino10. “I Won’t Back Down” from Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever’ (1989)
Universal9. “Breakdown (live)” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Pack Up The Plantation: Live’ (1985)
Universal8. “Refugee” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)
Universal7. “Listen To Her Heart” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘You’re Gonna Get It’ (1978)
Rhino/Warner Brothers6. “For Real” - recorded by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in 2000, and released on ‘The Best Of Everything’ in 2021
Universal5. “Wildflowers” from Tom Petty’s ‘Wildflowers’ (1994)
Warner Brothers4. “Free Fallin’” from Tom Petty’s ‘Full Moon Fever’ (1989)
Universal3. “The Waiting” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Hard Promises’ (1981)
Universal2. “Even The Losers” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ (1979)
Universal1.”American Girl” from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ ‘Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ (1976)
Rhino/Warner Brothers
