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latebloomerQuote
keefriff99
It's very eye opening and scary that this could happen to a man like Tom with so many resources at his disposal. He wasn't overweight and was obviously cleared by physicians for extensive touring, and yet he's gone suddenly at a relatively young age.
Life is so tenuous...don't take tomorrows for granted.
Happens more than most realize...cardiologist once told me that a major symptom of heart problems is often times sudden death. The heart is a mysterious and fragile thing.
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Green Lady
....
I remember hearing an interview with him where he talked about a time when he had injured his hand, and was considering what else he could do with his life if he couldn't be a musician: "And the list was real short!" In the best possible way, he was right - his life was in music......
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LeonioidQuote
Green Lady
....
I remember hearing an interview with him where he talked about a time when he had injured his hand, and was considering what else he could do with his life if he couldn't be a musician: "And the list was real short!" In the best possible way, he was right - his life was in music......
That hand injury tale is a great story with a a couple of good morals...
It went something like (if it is the one I heard too) they were rich and recording in a fancy studio and partying and had tons of (too many) people around the process and it went on and on and on... they would lay down track and then mess with the tracks and mess with them for a very very long time...
Anyone who has ever recorded tracks and created songs knows it can be an odd process of trying to make it better, but sometimes it was fine to start with, but then was made too complicated and lots of extra people and partying cna really get things off track.
So after a month or two of spending tons of money and time trying to get the songs all sounding perfect.... Tom went back and listened to the original idea tracks and they sounded 100 times better than they did after messing with them tweeking them for months and doing tons of partying in a big mess... and it made him so mad that he stormed out of the studio and punched a wall destroying his hand.
I guess over time it healed and he was fine... but I always remembered that story for 2 reasons/morals I could use 1) Stay on track, stay focused and get the job done without a lot of nonsense, no matter what the job is. 2) If/when you do get side tracked and the job goes sideways and filled with lots of nonsense, and turns into a mess... do not punch a wall making everything worse.
That advice, even if it was not really meant as advice, from him has served me well... many times.
Another reasons Tom Petty is special.
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keefriffhard4life
that's close to the story. it was just 1 song that caused the issue. it was the song "rebels"
The track was recorded in 1984. It was during the recording of this track that Petty broke his hand. Petty remembers being so high on drugs that he couldn't get an arrangement he liked. Petty went into the control room, and put the original demo tape on, which featured just him and a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. He believed that they had yet to record an arrangement better than this demo, which made him so furious that he stormed up the stairs into his house, and punched the wall, causing severe damage to his left hand
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LeonioidQuote
keefriffhard4life
that's close to the story. it was just 1 song that caused the issue. it was the song "rebels"
The track was recorded in 1984. It was during the recording of this track that Petty broke his hand. Petty remembers being so high on drugs that he couldn't get an arrangement he liked. Petty went into the control room, and put the original demo tape on, which featured just him and a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. He believed that they had yet to record an arrangement better than this demo, which made him so furious that he stormed up the stairs into his house, and punched the wall, causing severe damage to his left hand
Cool, thanks.
I told my thing straight from memory and I am happy I have it mostly correct. Helluva good song too...
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keefriffhard4lifeQuote
LeonioidQuote
keefriffhard4life
that's close to the story. it was just 1 song that caused the issue. it was the song "rebels"
The track was recorded in 1984. It was during the recording of this track that Petty broke his hand. Petty remembers being so high on drugs that he couldn't get an arrangement he liked. Petty went into the control room, and put the original demo tape on, which featured just him and a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar. He believed that they had yet to record an arrangement better than this demo, which made him so furious that he stormed up the stairs into his house, and punched the wall, causing severe damage to his left hand
Cool, thanks.
I told my thing straight from memory and I am happy I have it mostly correct. Helluva good song too...
pretty good for doing it from memory. I only remember it was the song "rebels" because that's one of my top 5 petty tunes
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Long John Stoner
Some might not want to hear or read it, but drug use. A person might not O.D. from it, but extended use of coke, heroin, pills, etc. over time, even if you eventually quit it all, wracks your body and eventually gets you anyway at a relatively young age.
Johnny Cash and his lifelong adult use of pills comes to mind. Cash seemed old and ancient but he was only 72 went he left. More recently, Glenn Frey. He used coke and Lord knows what else for years and years, leaving him with all manner of internal issues that eventually overtook him at 67 and now Petty. His coke use is legendary through the decades and the man STARTED to use heroin in his 50's. If people don't think all that abuse doesn't weaken your heart, liver, kidneys, stomach, etc., they're sadly mistaken. Someone in this thread earlier made a post that said Peter Wolf mentioned Petty needed hip surgery. If you watch a video of Petty walking offstage after his last song a week ago Monday night at the Hollywood Bowl, he's most definitely got a limp.
Using usually will make you a shell of your former self. See Richards, Keith. Old age is bad enough. Using, however, even if one quit years ago, still comes back to visit you in the form of a bad heart, malfunctioning kidneys, ulcers, (Frey), bone degeneration, poor memory, arthritis, you name it. All those things can happen anyway, but it makes no sense to hurry them along. Malcolm Young might have developed dementia anyway, but don't kid yourself that using didn't clear the way for an early arrival.
Using isn't glamorous, it isn't pretty, it isn't cool and being elegantly wasted is NOT a great long term strategy. It IS usually, sadly, fatal.