God Bless the Oldies

      Finding new music for me has been quite a struggle lately. Last semester I was lucky to stumble upon awesome new bands such as Chvrches, Haim, and Parquet Courts. This semester has been a tad different. I've found bands who I don't mind listening to but I haven't really struck gold yet. So what do you do when you can't seem to find good, new music? Well the answer is very simple. You listen to the old music. Luckily, there is an artist that never seems to let me down and that is a man by the name of Tom Petty.

     I found out about Tom Petty when I was in the seventh grade. I watched him briefly perform during the Super Bowl XLII halftime show and I was immediately hooked. About a week later I sat down with my father and watched his epic, 4 hour documentary "Runnin' Down A Dream". I was mesmerized by all the great music this man made yet I was just finding out about him until now.For the next few months my iPod was constantly playing music from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. I started off with his greatest hits album. Soon afterwards I was listening to nearly all his songs including his work with the Traveling Wilburys.
     Tom Petty has also introduced me to new music. Thanks to collaborations and covers of his, I've been able to discover bands/artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash. I also have to thank Tom Petty for inspiring me to play guitar. Unfortunately, I am no where near his playing ability and I can't write a song to save my life but it is still an exciting hobby for me.

      Luckily, my father is a huge Tom Petty fanatic as well. I've been to three Tom Petty shows with him and every single one has been unique and it's own way. I have to say my favorite one was last summer. I got to skip school and go to New York city for a few days to see him perform at the Beacon. The Beacon is a small theater that only seats around 3,000. The other two shows I had seen were in arenas so this was a bit different for me. Not only was the venue different but Tom and the guys had a different setlist each night. They weren't playing a setlist full of hits. They had some hits here and there but they were also playing some songs they don't usually perform live. This was awesome for me and my Dad. We loved every moment of it.

     I am one of the few kids my age, that I know of, that listens to Tom Petty. I mean there are the kids who are like "Oh, I know him! He sings Free Fallin'". I do believe "Free Fallin'" is a good song but it kind of disappoints me because Tom has so much better music than just that song. Below this article I have attached a Tom Petty playlist I have made on Spotify. This was a struggle for me since I admire almost all his music but I tried to narrow it down to 30 songs. I hope you will cherish them just as much as I do.

Tom Petty and His Rockin' Tunes