Today is Stan Lynch’s 52nd birthday.
Lynch was, of course, the long-time drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – and he has to be the most underrated American drummer in rock and roll history.
Tom Petty:
“Stan was a little younger than us. But he was a very good drummer and he was really conscientious, and he worked really hard. And he sang as well. He sang harmony. He was like our main harmony singer in the days before Howie [Epstein, the Heartbreakers’ long-time bassist, who died of an overdose a few years ago]. He was a powerhouse onstage. He reminded me sort of [like] Keith Moon in a way. He was so powerful I used to say he had this fifth gear that he could go into and just really make everything explode.”
A great, amazing drummer who ably split the difference between a Max Weinberg-like human metronome and a Keith Moon-ish powerhouse. Sort of an American John Bonham, without the drinking, drugs, and trashed hotels.
Just saying.
Didn’t Tom s-can him about a decade ago and replace him with someone else?
To the archives!
Lynch actually left the group on his own and “retired” from the band, pretty much. He got tired of touring, I guess. It was all on good terms (or as good as the constantly-feuding Petty and Lynch ever had), from what I heard.
Here ’tis:
Eventually the tension Stan and Tom had always experienced with each other split turned irreconcilable, leading to Stan’s departure. His last gig with the Heartbreakers was on October 2, 1994 at the Bridge School Benefit Concert in Mountain View, California. Upon leaving the band, he moved back to Florida, where he partnered with longtime friend Don Henley to help put together The Eagles’ reunion album Hell Freezes Over. He also has toured with The Eagles. Having given away all of his drum sets, Stan now works as a producer and songwriter in St. Augustine. However, he does teach children the instrument a few times a week at a high school friend’s music store in Gainesville.
Hellubba drummer though, no doot.
OMG, he was part of writing that awful Tim McGraw song “Back When”, easily one of the worst songs ever written!
“back when a hoe was a hoe and the wind was all that blows”
I take it all back–he suckz!