Apropos nothing all that much, but I really enjoyed this clip by Warren Zanes, the author of the definitive bio of Tom Petty.
If you’re a petty fan, you likely will as well.
If you’re a yuge fan, it might just close the deal on a copy of the biography.
I am 2/3 through Peter Jackson’s Get Back Beatles doc.
It’s encouraging to would be artists because it details the process of creating a hit song. They start out really bad — nonsense lyrics, riffs that go nowhere and fizzle out. It is an iterative, collaborative process.
Two takeaways:
McCartney and Lennon had a difficult time harmonizing by the late 60s.
John, Paul, George, and Ringo were not yet 30 years old in 1969, OMG do they look young. I was ten years old when the original film was shot. Makes me feel old, old, old.
Tom Petty’s legacy was cemented when I was in high school in the early 1980s. What form did this legacy take?
Blond hair and dimples.
Every schoolboy from around 7th grade to 12th grade who had some combination of long(ish) blond hair and prominent dimples was tagged as “The Kid Who Looks Like Tom Petty”. It wasn’t even an iconic look in the sense that anyone was trying to copy him. Kids just fell into it naturally.
McCartney and Lennon had a difficult time harmonizing by the late 60s.
Literally? (I haven’t seen it yet).
I mean, in the figurative sense, it’s obviious. They broke up.
I’m dying to see it.
A few weeks back I posted a link to a loooong article about the recording of All Things Must Pass, that was fascinating for the same reasons (as a wanna-be musician) – going over all the work that went into recording a great album.
“Literally? (I haven’t seen it yet).”
Yep. Lennon complained that he couldn’t make harmony with McCartney’s higher register. Lennon had become a chain smoker, and there is a LOT of smoking in the film.
I have Disney Plus, but haven’t had time to watch any of Get Back yet (I prefer having minimal distractions). That said, there are a number of snippets on YouTube that demonstrate just how well Jackson was able to capture and enhance the original film and audio. It is pretty surreal at times.
I like a lot of his songs, but he kind of lost me with that stupid top hat.
Endless analysis is interesting to be sure but we all should marvel that 4 people with incredible talent were all in the same place at the same time.
Think about going from “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” to “Strawberry Fields” in about 3 years. The pace of change and the evolution of music that they helped spur during the 60’s is unprecedented and for me their most lasting accomplishment.
To think we once had the Beatles, and today we have Kanye West.
Warren Zanes was in a band called the Del Feugos, had a couple of their albums. Opened for Petty on one tour, although I think I saw the Georgia Satellites open for him when I saw the Damn the Torpedoes tour.
Ever see Petty live Mitch?