TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS "HERE COMES MY GIRL" . . . . SEEMED TO ME AT THE TIME THAT NINETY NINE PERCENT OF AMERICAN 'POPULAR' MUSIC YOU'D HEAR ON THE RADIO, ESPECIALLY OUT HERE, WAS BLAND FUCKING DRIVEL . . . . LIKE SOME OUTTA DATE FLOWER POWER, SATIN FLARED PANTS, SHAMPOO ADVERT HANGOVER FROM 1974, UNINSPIRING TO SAY THE MOST . . . . TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS WERE AN EXCEPTION TO THE GRUEL

IT WAS AS THOUGH A VAST MAJORITY OF SONGWRITERS WERE BLOCKING THEIR EARS AND BURYING THEIR HEADS IN THE QUAGMIRE AS TO THE CHANGES THAT WERE A'COMING AS THE GROUNDSWELL AND SHOCKWAVES OF THE PUNK AND POST-PUNK REVOLUTION ROLLED INEXORABLY TOWARD THEIR SAFE, SHELTERED TOWERS OF ORDINARINESS LIKE AN INCOMING TSUNAMI, AOR AND EASY LISTENING, WHAT A CROCK . . . . TOM PETTY WAS FRESH, EDGY, EARTHY AND OBVIOUSLY NOT LIVING THE CHAMPAGNE AND COKE LIFESTYLE OF THE TIMES, THEY STOOD OUT LIKE DOG'S BALLS, ARMED WITH GREAT TUNES AND A KILLER BAND, INCLUDING THE AWESOME TALENTS OF KEYBOARDIST/PIANIST, BENMONT TENCH, THEY LOOKED AND SOUNDED ENTIRELY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER MUSICAL SLUDGE OF THE DAY, NO PRETENSION, NO BULLSHIT, A RETURN TO SIMPLE, HONEST SONGCRAFT . . . . I'VE STILL GOT MY COPY OF 'DAMN THE TORPEDOES' I PICKED UP IN 1979, JUST PRIOR TO FINISHING MY FINAL YEAR AT SCHOOL, IT WASN'T PUNK, NOT EVEN THE DREADED 'NEW WAVE', IT WAS SIMPLY 'CLASS', A UNIVERSAL GOODNESS THAT EVERYONE COULD RELATE TO, I STILL DO.