![]() Few mainstream rock albums of the late '70s and early '80s were quite as strong as this, and it still stands as one of the great records of the album rock era. Yet there are purpose and passion behind the performances that makes Damn the Torpedoes an invigorating listen all the same. Most of the songs have a deep melancholy undercurrent - the tough "Here Comes My Girl" and "Even the Losers" have tender hearts the infectious "Don't Do Me Like That" masks a painful relationship "Refugee" is a scornful, blistering rocker "Louisiana Rain" is a tear-jerking ballad. He had written a few classics before - "American Girl," "Listen to Her Heart" - but here his songwriting truly blossoms. Their musical suppleness helps bring out the soul in Petty's impressive set of songs. It helped that the Heartbreakers had turned into a tighter, muscular outfit, reminiscent of, well, the Stones in their prime - all of the parts combine into a powerful, distinctive sound capable of all sorts of subtle variations. Musically, it follows through on the promise of their first two albums, offering a tough, streamlined fusion of the Stones and Byrds that, thanks to Jimmy Iovine's clean production, sounded utterly modern yet timeless. Amazingly, through all the frustration and anguish, Petty & the Heartbreakers delivered their breakthrough and arguably their masterpiece with Damn the Torpedoes. His music was always popular, a staple on classic rock stations and used in the films Cars 3, The Silence of the Lambs, Mad Love and Sing, among many others. He settled with MCA and set to work on his third album, digging out some old Mudcrutch numbers and quickly writing new songs. Damn the Torpedoes was Petty’s first top 10 album and included his first top 20 singles, Refugee and Don’t Do Me Like That. Petty struggled to free himself from the major label, eventually sending himself into bankruptcy. We didn't get pigeonholed into a genre or a fad the songs hold up to me and still sound true.Not long after You're Gonna Get It, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' label, Shelter, was sold to MCA Records. And I think the songs are not in any kind of genre-it's not New Wave or grunge or whatever, it's just rock 'n' roll done really well. Hopefully, that's the beauty of good music. “Which I don't agree with, but when I hear them on the radio now, I'm really proud of the recording and the songcraft and the timelessness. “In fact, he said, ‘I don't need to hear any more songs, we've got the two we need, the rest doesn't matter,'” recalls Campbell. It was the embryonic demos of “Refugee” and “Here Comes My Girl” that made Iovine so excited about producing the album to begin with, and so confident of the band’s impending megastardom. I wrote the music pretty much as the record stands and gave those tapes to Tom, and he wrote these incredible words and made the songs what they are.” ![]() We'd written a lot of songs before, but that one just had some magic. Just watch that one go.’ ‘Refugee’ is one of the first songs that Tom and I wrote that really, really was huge. They were going, ‘You guys have done it now. “I remember even everybody in the room, like the whole crew, staff, and the girl at the front desk all came in. The nitpicker-in-chief was producer Jimmy Iovine, who made the band work and rework songs over and over-Campbell claims they may have spent two weeks on the snare sound for “Refugee” alone, but the result was a breakthrough hit from the moment the final version was played back in the studio. And that's why it sounds so pristine, but it wasn't fun.” Album Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers 1979. We went through a lot of tuning the drums endlessly, trying different guitars and amps-getting so nitpicky about every little nuance of the sound. “We didn't have our studio chops, and that was very frustrating because we kept thinking we had it. It was released to critical acclaim on October 20th, 1979, and was a breakthrough for the band, reaching 2 on the Billboard album chart where it stayed for seven weeks. “It was not an easy record to make, but it paid off 'cause it came out and it really has an amazing sound and it jumps out of the radio when you hear it,” Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell tells Apple Music. Damn The Torpedoes is the triple-platinum-certified third album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. In between, he and his band were put through the wringer by a producer who would go on to become a mogul, determined to spin Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ bar-band charm and penchant for classic hooks into platinum. Six months after, he was one of the biggest rock stars in America thanks to a handful of radio staples that would prove as enduring as any ever written. Classic Albums Live brings 'Damn The Torpedoes' by Tom Petty live to the Bilheimer Capitol Theatre note for note, cut for cut on Sunday, May 21 at 8 p.m. Six months before he released his third album, Tom Petty filed for bankruptcy.
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