Tom Petty: A Retrospective, 1976-2016

Tom Petty A Retrospective: 1976-2016

Overview: Rock singer and guitarist born 10/20/1950 in Gainsville, FL. Died 10/2/2017. With Mudcrutch and then Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (77-87, 91-93, 95-17). Also part of the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys (88,90) and recorded solo (89,94,06). The group backed Stevie Nicks on her Bella Donna album. Toured with Bob Dylan in 1986. Mudcrutch reunited in 2008 and again in 2016. The Players: Mike Campbell (guitar – Mudcrutch, Heartbreakers) Benmont Tench (keyboards – Mudcrutch, Heartbreakers) Ron Blair (bass) Stan Lynch (drums) Howard Epstein (bass) Links: TomPetty.com (official site) Facebook Wikipedia Tom Petty: Top 100 Songs DMDB podcast: The Best of Tom Petty (1976-2016)

Awards:

Compilations: G Greatest Hits (1976-93, released 1993) A Anthology – Through the Years (1976-93, released 2000) B The Best of Everything (1976-2016, released 2019) Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (1976): Breakdown (1/77, 40 US, 33 CB, 35 GR, 37 HR, 2 CL, 40 CN, 59 AU, 6 DF) G, A, B The Wild One, Forever (1/77, --) A American Girl (2/77, 25 GR, 1 CL, 40 UK, 5 DF) G, A, B Hometown Blues A

You’re Gonna Get It! (1978): I Need to Know (6/17/78, 41 US, 53 CB, 55 HR, 8 CL, 46 CN, 32 DF) G, A, B Listen to Her Heart (8/30/78, 59 US, 73 CB, 80 HR, 8 CL, 66 CN, 32 DF) G, A, B Too Much Ain’t Enough A

Damn the Torpedoes (1979): Don’t Do Me Like That (11/5/79, 10 US, 7 CB, 4 GR, 8 HR, 4 RR, 2 CL, 3 CN, 3 DF) G, A, B Refugee (1/11/80, 15 US, 11 CB, 8 GR, 17 HR, 11 RR, 1 CL, 2 CN, 24 AU, 2 DF) G, A, B Here Comes My Girl (4/7/80, 59 US, 64 CB, 35 GR, 75 HR, 5 CL, 82 CN, 25 DF) G, A, B Even the Losers (6 CL, 25 DF) G, A, B Click here for DMDB album page.

Hard Promises (1981): The Waiting (4/20/81, 19 US, 14 CB, 11 GR, 19 HR, 14 RR, 1 AR, 6 CN, 38 AU, 11 DF) G, B A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me) (5/16/81, 79 US, 62 CB, 74 HR, 5 AR, 29 DF) A

Long After Dark (1982): You Got Lucky (10/22/82, 20 US, 16 CB, 12 GR, 12 RR, 1 AR, 30 CN, 62 AU, 2 DF) G, A, B Change of Heart (11/27/82, 21 US, 31 CB, 17 GR, 18 RR, 10 AR, 36 CN, 6 DF) A Straight into Darkness A

Southern Accents (1985): Don’t Come Around Here No More [5:04] (2/28/85, 13 US, 13 CB, 22 GR, 18 RR, 2 AR, 50 UK, 20 CN, 61 AU, 10 DF) G, A, B Rebels (3/25/85, 74 US, 5 AR, 31 DF) A The Best of Everything (10/18, --) A, B Southern Accents B

Pack Up the Plantation (live, 1985): So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star (live) (12/21/85, 9 AR, 17 DF) A

Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) (1987): Jammin’ Me (4/18/87, 18 US, 29 CB, 14 GR, 23 RR, 1 AR, 41 CN, 94 AU, 17 DF) A, B It’ll All Work Out A

Full Moon Fever (1989): I Won’t Back Down (4/15/89, 12 US, 11 CB, 16 GR, 16 RR, 1 AR, 29 MR, 28 UK, 5 CN, 16 AU, 4 DF) G, A, B Free Fallin’ (5/6/89, 7 US, 6 CB, 6 GR, 9 RR, 17 AC, 1 AR, 64 UK, 5 CN, 59 AU, 2 DF) G, A, B Runnin’ Down a Dream [4:23] (5/6/89, 23 US, 22 CB, 22 GR, 31 RR, 1 AR, 55 UK, 23 CN, 68 AU, 17 DF) G, A, B Love Is a Long Road (9/23/89, 7 AR, 19 DF) A Yer So Bad (4/21/90, 5 AR, 44 CN, 32 DF) A Click here for DMDB album page.

Into the Great Wide Open (1991): Learning to Fly (6/17/91, 28 US, 35 CB, 19 GR, 29 RR, 36 AC, 1 AR, 46 UK, 5 CN, 44 AU, 11 DF) G, A, B Into the Great Wide Open (9/9/91, 92 US, 4 AR, 23 CN, 4 DF) G, A, B Two Gunslingers (35 DF) A

Greatest Hits Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Released: November 16, 1993 Recorded: 1976-1993 Peak: 2 US, 10 UK, 4 CN, 16 AU, 6 DF Sales (in millions): 12.0 US, 0.3 UK, 15.9 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Rating: 4.704 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) American Girl (2) Breakdown (3) Listen to Her Heart (4) I Need to Know (5) Refugee (6) Don’t Do Me Like That (7) Even the Losers (8) Here Comes My Girl (9) The Waiting (10) You Got Lucky (11) Don’t Come Around Here No More (12) I Won’t Back Down (13) Runnin’ Down a Dream (14) Free Fallin’ (15) Learning to Fly (16) Into the Great Wide Open (17) Mary Jane’s Last Dance (18) Something in the Air Total Running Time: 65:17 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Something in the Air (10/30/93, 19 AR, 53 UK, 26 CN, 31 DF) G Mary Jane’s Last Dance (11/6/93, 14 US, 14 CB, 6 GR, 10 RR, 1 AR, 52 UK, 5 CN, 17 DF) G, A, B

Anthology – Through the Years Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Released: October 31, 2000 Recorded: 1976 to 1993 Peak: 32 US, 14 UK, 60 CN, 51 AU Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.1 UK Genre: classic rock Rating: 4.271 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)

Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Breakdown (2) American Girl (3) Hometown Blues (4) The Wild One, Forever (5) I Need to Know (6) Listen to Her Heart (7) Too Much Ain’t Enough (8) Refugee (9) Here Comes My Girl (10) Don’t Do Me Like That (11) Even the Losers (12) The Waiting (13) A Woman in Love (It’s Not Me) (14) Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks) (15) You Got Lucky (16) Straight into Darkness (17) Change of Heart Tracks, Disc 2: (1) Rebels (2) Don’t Come Around Here No More (3) The Best of Everything (4) So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star (live) (5) Jammin’ Me (6) It’ll All Work Out (7) Love Is a Long Road (8) Free Fallin’ (9) Yer So Bad (10) I Won’t Back Down (11) Runnin’ Down a Dream (12) Learning to Fly (13) Into the Great Wide Open (14) Two Gunslingers (15) Mary Jane’s Last Night (16) Waiting for Tonight (17) Surrender Total Running Time: 124:07 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (with Stevie Nicks, from her Bella Donna album) (7/24/81, 3 US, 4 CB, 2 GR, 6 HR, 3 RR, 3 AR, 50 UK, 5 CN, 10 AU, 4 DF) A, B Waiting for Tonight (recorded in 1988, first released on Playback) (12/9/95, 33 RR, 1 AA, 6 AR, 28 DF) A Surrender (new version of song written in 1976) A

Wildflowers (1994): You Don’t Know How It Feels (10/94, 13 US, 15 CB, 3 GR, 4 RR, 22 AC, 1 AR, 3 CN, 98 AU, 16 DF) B You Wreck Me (12/10/94, 2 AR, 8 CN, 72 AU, 22 DF) B Wildflowers (32 DF) B

She’s the One (soundtrack, 1996): Walls (Circus) (7/2/96, 69 US, 65 CB, 19 GR, 27 RR, 25 A40, 1 AA, 6 AR, 2 CN, 23 DF) B Angel Dream No. 2 B

Echo (1999): Room at the Top (4/24/99, 1 AA, 19 AR, 21 DF) B

The Last DJ (2002): The Last DJ (9/2/02, 12 AA, 22 AR, 31 DF) B Dreamville B

Highway Companion (2006): Square One (first released on Elizabethtown soundtrack, 9/13/05) B Saving Grace (7/8/06, 100 US, 1 AA, 26 AR) B

Mudcrutch (2008): Scare Easy (3/25/08, 6 AR) B

Mojo (2010): I Should Have Known It (5/12/10, 4 AA, 40 AR, 27 DF) B

Hypnotic Eye (2014): American Dream Plan B (6/10/14, --) B

Mudcrutch 2 (2016): Trailer (4/23/16) B Hungry No More B I Forgive It All B

The Best of Everything Tom Petty

Released: March 1, 2019 Recorded: 1976-2016 Peak: 16 US, 38 UK, 45 CN, 73 AU, 1 DF Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classic rock Rating: 4.379 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Free Fallin’ (2) Mary Jane’s Last Dance (3) You Wreck Me (4) I Won’t Back Down (5) Saving Grace (6) You Don’t Know How It Feels (7) Don’t Do Me Like That (8) Listen to Her Heart (9) Breakdown (10) Walls (Circus) (11) The Waiting (12) Don’t Come Around Here No More (13) Southern Accents (14) Angel Dream (No. 2) (15) Dreamville (16) I Should Have Known It (17) Refugee (18) American Girl (19) The Best of Everything (alternate version) Tracks, Disc 2: (1) Wildflowers (2) Learning to Fly (3) Here Comes My Girl (4) The Last DJ (5) I Need to Know (6) Scare Easy (7) You Got Lucky (8) Runnin’ Down a Dream (9) American Dream Plan B (10) Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (11) Trailer (12) Into the Great Wide Open (13) Room at the Top (14) Square One (15) Jammin’ Me (16) Even the Losers (17) Hungry No More (18) I Forgive It All (19) For Real Total Running Time: 146:04 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: For Real (recorded 8/31/00, released 2/15/19, 28 AA, 39 DF) B

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Tom Petty Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists Wikipedia page for Greatest Hits Wikipedia page for Anthology First posted 10/15/2009; last updated 10/20/2023.