The first time I listened to Petty I was in the car with my mom and the song “You Don’t Know How It Feels To Be Me” came on. That’s when I knew I was going to fall in love with 80s-90s rock music.
I would encourage everyone of this generation to sit down and listen to one of his albums or greatest hits. Songs of the past decades are so underrated and underappreciated. “It's time to move on it's time to get going.”
“You belong among the wildflowers.” A line from one of Petty’s songs “Wildflowers” makes you feel like “You belong somewhere you feel free.” This album was released on November 1st, 1994. Petty sold around 3 million copies in the U.S. and peaked at number eight on the top 200.
Tom Petty’s backyard recording studio was his fortress of peacefulness and songwriting. Adria Petty said in an article, “he’d just go into that room every single day and work and close the door.” Basically he had a new idea that he wanted to get recorded. He didn’t have any lyrics written down or anything. He strung on his guitar and sang “You belong among the wildflowers/ You belong on a boat out at sea.” After three minutes of singing about love and freedom, Tom said “I sat back and said, ‘Wow what did I just do?” He himself considered “Wildflowers,” to be one of his best albums.
For new listeners, here are a few songs and albums I recommend. “Free Fallin’, Mary Jane’s Last Dance,”American Girl,” album “Wildflowers,” and album Full Moon Fever. From there you can discover more legendary music.
