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(Credits: Far Out \/ The Traveling Wilburys)<\/p>\n
Sat 22 November 2025 18:30, UK <\/p>\n
By the time Tom Petty<\/a> reached the 1980s, he didn\u2019t really need to answer to anyone anymore. <\/p>\n He knew what made a great rock and roll tune, and even if it took the rest of the world a bit more time to get on board, hearing him stand up for the little guy whenever he put out a record only endeared him to his audience even more when the label started to stick their hands into the picture. But of all the headaches he had to deal with, having a mini reunion with rock and roll juggernauts wasn\u2019t even enough to sway the bigwigs.<\/p>\n Then again, anyone who played with a band like the Traveling Wilburys would have been virtually untouchable in the mainstream. This was like the varsity team of songwriters, and while Petty was considered one of the new recruits when he first joined the band, it made sense for him to contribute the odd line here and there and get a front-row seat to some of his greatest heroes writing songs together.<\/p>\n Anyone else would have taken all those lessons to heart, and when Petty started working with Jeff Lynne to create Full Moon Fever, he finally seemed ready to create some of the best material that he could think of. It clearly wasn\u2019t Heartbreakers music, but when listening to tunes like \u2018I Won\u2019t Back Down\u2019 and \u2018Runnin\u2019 Down A Dream\u2019, it seemed like the perfect middle ground between the middle that he had been doing for years and the kind of freewheeling spirit of his famous friends.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not like his friends were always that far behind him, either. When working on the record, George Harrison turned up every now and again to add some backing vocals or the odd guitar part, and getting to hear Roy Orbison\u2019s voice one more time after the Wilburys in the background of \u2018Zombie Zoo\u2019 is a nice way of wrapping up the album. But even with everyone contributing on the song \u2018Free Fallin\u2019, Petty was shellshocked when something that starstudded fell flat.<\/p>\n He was so proud of it, but he said that it wasn\u2019t until he played it to Mo Ostin with the rest of the Wilburys that he got someone to listen, saying<\/a>, \u201cWe had a kind of Wilbury arrangement of it with harmony. And we did it. And Lenny Waronker is sitting there, he said, \u2018That\u2019s a hit.\u2019 With two acoustic guitars, you know? I said, \u2018Well, my record company won\u2019t put it out.\u2019 And Mo says, \u201cI\u2019ll f*****\u2019 put it out.\u201d<\/p>\n