(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Wed 21 January 2026 19:01, UK
There has been no greater soul in rock and roll than Tom Petty.
Even though he might not have been the most talented musician in the world by a long shot, he was more than willing to give everything he had to make sure that every single person who paid for a ticket had the best time possible whenever they walked into whatever venue they were playing. He was the kind of artist who was willing to bleed for his art at every single opportunity, so it was always eye-opening when he saw the rest of the world not following suit whenever they tried to give their all to their audience.
Granted, Petty was always going to be a tough crowd to please when it came to rock and roll. The biggest names that he looked up to were all legends in their own right, and even when he was working with The Traveling Wilburys, he was willing to throw every single thing he could at the wall to impress his famous mates. So when something didn’t come up to his standards, he was going to make sure to call it out.
That didn’t mean he didn’t get himself into some hot water every now and again, either. He and Stevie Nicks had massive disagreements about whether or not she was a real rock and roller when she first burst onto the scene with Fleetwood Mac, but even if they weren’t the type of gritty rock and roll act that the Heartbreakers were at the best of times, it was a lot easier to justify ‘The Gold Dust Woman’ being one of the greatest female performers that the world had ever seen.
But when working on his records in the late 1990s, Petty saw that not everyone had those same values anymore. This was the age of Pro Tools, and while there were many moments during the recording process where things could get corrected, it also left the door open for people to make perfect-sounding pop records. The age of Max Martin was just around the corner, and the biggest names in music were now catering to people like Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys every time they went to see a show.
And while they all have their place in music history today, Petty was far from impressed with the kind of shows that they had, telling Conan O’Brien, “I like it more when the groups actually play something. It’s not as entertaining seeing five singers in sweaters singing. [The beard] isn’t going to help the Backstreet Boys.” Then again, it’s hard to condemn them solely for their look onstage.
After all, Petty had been through an age where Michael Jackson was one of the biggest artists in the world, and since he had adopted the habit of wearing a microphone and dancing throughout most of his shows, it’s not like he was doing every single thing he could to stand out from the rest of the pop darlings when he started making the rounds in the 1990s. But if ‘The King of Pop’ was coming at it from a position of strength, Petty thought that things were taking a huge downgrade in the age of boy bands.
This was way before the likes of American Idol came out, but listening to what turned up on The Last DJ, Petty was more than a little bit pissed off with what the rest of the world was doing. Songs like ‘Money Becomes King’ were already taking a look at the dangerous side of the industry, and ‘Joe’ might be one of the most savage attacks on big business, featuring lines from an executive played by Petty trying to get no-name people into power.
It’s not like those great artists couldn’t be great in their own time, but Petty felt that the world would smile more on those who actually gave them something to remember when they left the stage. The songs might be incredibly performed, but what’s the use in putting in all that effort when you can’t tell if a human made it or not?
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