Tom Petty died (UPDATE: maybe. . .)

October 2, 2017 • 3:34 pm

UPDATE: The early reports of Petty’s death have now been altered; the police “cannot confirm” his death after mistakenly announcing it, but we do know he was found not breathing after a cardiac arrest. That probably means he’s brain dead. Other reports say he was on life support, but that has been removed. In effect he is likely dead, for the personality of the man known as “Tom Petty” is no more. But we can always hope. . .

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He was only 66, but, as CBS News reports, rocker Tom Petty died last night of cardiac arrest in his Malibu home. He played up to the end—his last concert was just a week ago with his ubiquitous band The Heartbreakers—and he’d been playing for 47 years.

I wasn’t a huge fan, not because I disliked his music but because I simply didn’t pay attention. Now I wish I would have. I saw him once, with the Traveling Wilburys, and there was so much talent onstage it was easy to miss him. At any rate, his music remains, and here’s one of his best songs, performed live with the only person who could do the vocals justice: Stevie Nicks. It was the only song on Nicks’s first solo album (Bella Donna) that she didn’t write.

I’m going to add this great son, which I’d simply forgotten he wrote. Stevie Nicks is onstage, too.

33 thoughts on “Tom Petty died (UPDATE: maybe. . .)”

    1. As of 3:57 Cal. time this afternoon, he’s still on life support and “clinging to life.”

  5. Sad news. Saw him in 2003 at the PNC Bank Arts Center in NJ. “American Girl” and “Don’t Come Around Here No More” are probably my favorites. I also like “End of the Line” with the Traveling Wilburys. He was a good songwriter.

  7. I consider myself lucky that I took my 21 year old daughter with me to see him just this past June. We both loved the show. Petty was a true rock legend and a really sweet guy to boot. RIP

  8. Ever since last year, I got this experience that lots of people that seemed to be around forever were suddenly dead. It cannot say I like it. I hope one gets used to it, because it would be quite dreadful if it always feels like this as one gets older. 🙁

      1. At my current place of employment, I remarked to a friend that so many people suffered tragedies there (deaths of children, some suddenly, some due to illness, bad illnesses themselves, deaths of young spouses) and I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t the work place but our age. I never noticed it before because the work population was young, meaning in their 20s & 30s. Now getting into our 40s and 50s we start experiencing death more often.

      2. I think it will be time to start worrying when Keith Richards dies. When that happens what hope will there be for any of us?

        1. Keith Richards died and was replaced with an indestructible android 50 years ago…

          😉

          cr

  11. One of the good ones from the Heartbreakers to the Traveling Wilburys. I guess, there goes the last DJ.

  12. Shit. By my count the Traveling Wilburys are now down to two — Jeff Lynne & Bob.

    I knocked around in a creative writing program in Gainesville for a bit in the late ’70s, got to see Petty & the Heartbreakers before they were a thing. Was always a fan.

  15. There are a lot of mixed reports, but either way, if he’s not dead at this moment, his prognosis was grim. This week is starting out really shitty. Nowadays, I can never say “it can’t get any worse”. We still have 5+ days left in the week.

    I’ll always be a fan, and I’m thankful for the music he was able to create, even if he won’t be coming around here no more.

    1. “Nowadays, I can never say “it can’t get any worse”. We still have 5+ days left in the week.”

      And at least 1205 more days of the Drumpfenreich left to suffer through.

  16. Bummer; here’s hoping that reports of his death have been exaggerated. He first came to my notice in the 70s with ‘Refugee’, but he crafted many great songs.

  17. I got to see him some time after his wonderful Wildflowers album came out. It was one of my first CDs. He put on one helluva show and you could tell he didn’t just phone it in; he has having a ball as well. Time to thrown something on the turntable, grab a guitar, and raise a beer to one damn fine musician.

  18. A rock celebrity death from out of left field. Some hardly seemed surprising to me when I heard about them, Kurt Cobain’s being a prime example, but Tom Petty was not someone whose death I expected to hear about any time soon. Back in the early ’80s, when I lived in Navy Housing in Mountain View, CA (near San Jose), just down the street from Moffitt Field Navy base someone had spray-painted in very big letters on a wall, “I (heart-symbol) Tom Petty!” That graffiti was there for years. Sad that another great performer exits too soon.

  19. It drives me crazy when they say “died of cardiac arrest.” Everyone dies of cardiac arrest. What made his heart stop beating?

  20. The report on CBS News from about 2 hours ago (8:40pm PST) is that Petty has indeed passed away.

    As several have commented, “this sucks.” A very dependable and probably underrated songwriter. It seems to me like each of his songs has some memorable line that rings true, not unlike Jackson Browne’s songs. Take something as apparently simple as this verse from “Last Dance With Mary Jane”:

    “There’s pigeons down on market square,
    She’s standing in her underwear,
    Looking down from a hotel room,
    Nightfall will be coming soon.”

    Nothing too fancy, but it both paints a terrific picture as well as raises more questions than it answers…

  22. A few years back we took our oldest son out for a nice dinner in Malibu. A few minutes later, a mom, dad and son came in and were seated at a corner table. I remarked, “That’s gotta be some old rocker dude” and our son replied “That’s Tom Petty.” Some hard living, but a great talent.

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