Credit: Album Cover
November 1st, 2026 · 5:00pm GMT
It was easy to forget that Tom Petty was a good bit younger than some of the other artists he is most closely associated with.
Perhaps it was being welcomed into the fold of the Traveling Wilburys that had this effect on him. Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and particularly George Harrison, could have all acted like uncles or older brothers to their young friend, but no. They knew he was as prolific as all the rest, and therefore, he was never anything less than their equal.
Harrison was especially important in this context, given how much The Beatles and the British invasion as a whole had influenced Petty and his early musical psyche. Watching the biggest band in the world storm stages when he was a teenager, he could never have imagined that one day, he would also fulfil that prophecy.
All of this is to say that the heady era of the ‘60s, particularly on the British side of the pond, had a greater effect on Petty as an artist, possibly more than anything else that was out there. But The Beatles and Harrison were far from the only goal in his sights. There were The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Animals, and so many others that he could dine out on.
Even though all those bands and artists each played their role in shaping the sound of who would become a future icon, there was one that stuck out just a little more than all the rest, representing to Petty what the pinnacle of the British invasion truly was. After all, no one else could do it like The Hollies.
Among some of the band’s greatest back catalogue, ‘I’m Alive’ stands as one of the most rhythmic, enchanting and entrancing songs, perhaps not as bold or as brash as some of the British invasion’s most rock and roll efforts, but certainly one that trapped Petty well and truly under its spell. For him, from that moment forward, nothing would ever come close.
“Those voices were so incredible. They were the best singers, other than The Beatles, as far as singing harmony and knocking you dead,” he said later, speaking both of the song and of the group in general. It was a serum of truth, not just because he clearly loved it so much. But it was also due to the fact of what ‘I’m Alive’ symbolised.
Further reading: From The Vault
The Hollies had been going as a group for some three years, and although there had been relative successes, they were still searching for that absolute zinger to solidify them. Originally, they didn’t think that was going to be ‘I’m Alive’, and passed the song to the Toggery Five. Only once they fought for it back did they realise they were on for a number-one hit.
Maybe Petty resonated with that sense of searching for success. Maybe he just simply liked the song. Either way, the effect of the British invasion on him as an artist was plain for all to see, and whether it was The Beatles, The Hollies, or anyone in between, he would never forget hearing those transatlantic harmonies for the very first time.
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