

Woman”: bass-driven but instead with Petty’s major-key chorus. “Fault Lines” reminds me of a lost Doors song in the vein of “L.A. One of the best tracks is “American Dream Plan B” which is an ear-wormy, crunchy pastiche of life in the US, including the lyrics: “Well, my mama so sad, Daddy’s just mad, ‘Cause I ain’t gonna have the chance he had.” It’s the variety that kept me interested. That’s not to say there are not a surprising variety of other styles on the LP. Hypnotic Eye was envisioned as a throwback to earlier Heartbreaker albums that were more the guitar-driven, crunch, and pop, four-on-the-floor works. The album debuted as #1 on the Billboard 200, the Canadian Billboard, and US Top Rock Albums –and was nominated for the 2015 Grammy category Best Rock Album, losing to Morning Phase by Beck. That is, until the release of what would become their 13th and last album, Hypnotic Eye in 2014. But in all this time, they never had a Number One album. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, the first year they were eligible to enter.
#TOM PETTY DISCOGRAPHY FULL#
Petty also released a solo album Full Moon Fever (1989), which included the hits “Runnin’ Down a Dream”, “Yer So Bad”, “I Won’t Back Down”, and “Free Fallin’”, and followed that with another solo album Wildflowers which yielded the hit “You Don’t Know How It Feels.” No question that with or without the Heartbreakers, Petty had a penchant for writing great music. Just look at this list of classic songs that Tom and the Heartbreakers were able to string together across nearly three decades: “Breakdown”, “American Girl”, “Waiting”, “Refugee”, “Learning to Fly”, “Don’t Do Me Like That”, “You Got Lucky”, “Change of Heart”, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”, and “Don’t Come Around Here No More”.

Finally, original drummer Stan Lynch was replaced by Steve Ferrone in 1995. Blair stepped back in on bass and remained with the band until the end. Rob Blair (bassist) started with the group, stepped out in 1981, and was replaced by Howie Epstein, who left the band just before he died. Though the band cycled through a few lineup changes, Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell, and keyboardist Benmont Trench were there from the beginning. His style was stripped-down: “music we could replicate on stage”, as Petty often said. Their sound was well-grounded Southern Rock or maybe Folk Rock, but always with an eye towards staying relevant. Tom Petty formed the Heartbreakers in 1976 in Gainesville, Florida. Let us know what you think in the comments. The responses were pretty interesting, so we thought we’d dig deeper into another final project. Editor’s Note: We recently looked at the “last” album from a number of big names in rock.
