R.I.P.: Why I’ll Miss Badass Tom Petty (1950–2017)

He’s right up there with Dylan, Springsteen, Mellencamp, and Seger in the pantheon of great American rock gods.

Tom Petty came up with tons of memorable lines over the course of his four-decade recording career. For some reason, the ones that stand out most to me today, the ones that have been replaying in my head since his passing on October 2 at age 66, are four lines — 19 words — from his 1987 hit “Jammin’ Me.”

Cover your ears if you’re easily offended. Neither the lines — nor the comeback they inspired — are particularly warm and fuzzy.

“Take back Vanessa Redgrave/ Take back Joe Piscopo/ Take back Eddie Murphy/ Give ’em all some place to go”

Four of those words earned the rocker a tongue-lashing from the world’s top comic actor at the time. “Fuck Tom Petty,” Eddie Murphy said in response to getting slammed in song. Yep. Concise. And to the point. But I still give that round to Petty because the song was so damn great.

Yes, it probably wasn’t so great to Vanessa or to Joe either, but Petty was always one of our most uncompromising artists, right up there with Dylan (his former bandmate in the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys), Springsteen, Mellencamp, and Seger in the pantheon of great American rock gods.

Despite the vitriol of “Jammin’ Me” and Petty’s uncompromising spirit (perhaps best exemplified in his 1989 debut solo hit, “I Won’t Back Down”), he seemed like such a nice guy. Murphy aside, has anyone ever had an unkind word to say about Petty in public? Unlike certain modern pop stars, he could slam a fellow celebrity and never come across as, well, petty. His badassery was effortless.

That’s one of the things I’ll miss most about him.

I never actually met the guy. I never interviewed him. I never even reviewed any of his…