Yesterday we lost yet another musician and artist with the sudden death of Tom Petty.
I will be honest and say that I was never a fan of most of Tom Petty’s music. He had an excellent backing band, but his songwriting to me lacked enough structural interest. he rarely used bridges on his tunes, and had limited harmonic movement in the tunes. Like R.E.M., another highly popular ensemble, most of Petty’s songs went through my head and out of the other side without engaging my brain.
However, it was clear that Petty was an all-round good guy. He gave generously of his time to numerous causes, and did not go way off the rails like some of his contemporaries.
He was also humble enough to pen this mea culpa in Rolling Stone a few years ago about how he ended up using the Confederate flag in his “Southern Accents” tour, and how he subsequently came to realize that it had been a mistake. It is rare for many famous people to admit to error, but Tom was a welcome exception.
Rest in Peace Tom.
