Tom Petty Was Rock's Everyman
His songs could sound tortured, weary, angry, knowing, defiant. But Tom Petty's music also possessed a great capacity for hard-won warmth.
For such an unassuming rock star, Tom Petty sure got to live a lot of lives.
He was a chart-topping fire hose of hits whose late-'70s and early-'80s singles — "Refugee," "The Waiting," "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," et al — have etched themselves into the classic-rock firmament.
He was an influential Rock and and the singer-songwriters of the present day.
