Full Moon Fever

So, first, 1990.

We've got Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty.

Nick of Time by Bonnie Raitt.

The End of the Innocents by Don Henley.

And this is our real exposure to Tom Petty as members of the MTV generation.

But as we grew up, understand what Tom Petty was all about a little bit better, saw him go through the huge Full Moon Fever success and success with the Wilburys, to come back to the Heartbreakers and still make cool rock songs.

Well, Tom started to go up many notches in my book.

And so that's why today we're reviewing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' debut as it turns 50, here on The Wolf.

I mean, it's cool now, but I don't know if I thought that back then.

Right.

I think probably the first time I really remember hearing them and digging them was Full, it was Full Moon Fever, which is not tr- is not technically a Tom Petty and Heartbreakers-

A Heartbreakers, yeah, exactly

And this is our real exposure to Tom Petty as members of the MTV generation.

But as we grew up, understand what Tom Petty was all about a little bit better, saw him go through the huge Full Moon Fever success and success with the Wilburys to come back to the Heartbreakers and still make cool rock songs.

Well, time started to go up many notches in my book.

And so that's why today we're reviewing Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers debut as it turns 50 here on The Wolf.

I mean, it's cool now, but I don't know if I thought that back then.

Right.

I think probably the first time I really remember hearing them and digging them was Full Moon Fever, which is not technically a Tom Petty.

A Heartbreakers, yeah,

And I love Tom Petty.

I love Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, but Full Moon Fever was really the album that introduced me.

I knew Petty from, you know, "American Girl" and "Refugee" and stuff as a, as a kid, but I was 14 when Full Moon Fever came out.

Yeah, [clears throat] '89.

I had not yet turned, uh, April of '89, not yet turned 15.

I was 14 when Full Moon Fever came out, and it, we'll get to it.

It was a monster.

Tom Petty leaves the Heartbreakers and goes solo is the subject of this week's Deep Dive.

I mean, Tom Petty is one of those artists that I've kind of known my entire life.

My dad had the 92 Greatest Hits CD and Full Moon Fever when I was growing up.

So I knew all the hits, all the classic stuff.

But I really didn't know anything about anything after, let's say, probably that Greatest Hits album.

I didn't necessarily like the music because, as I find out later, that is totally off the wall compared to most of Tom Petty.

So, no, that was the introduction.

I would say Full Moon Fever is what really got me into Tom Petty because by that time, I'm in middle school.

I'm hearing everything on the radio and whatnot.

by

Tom Petty off of Full Moon Fever and how he takes those three chords and then They're in one way, in one progression, then he turns them exactly around the other way.

Right.

Just plays them backwards.

That's funny.

I think my very first CD was Full Moon Fever, which was the Tom Petty solo-

Mm-hmm

... uh, record, the first solo record from The Heartbreakers.

And he played percussion on a few different Heartbreakers projects.

But for Full Moon Fever, Tom basically went off and did a solo album to the chagrin of some of the band.

And it was written and recorded in Mike Campbell's garage with Jeff Lynn on production and sort of songwriting.

Okay.

And again, as a drummer, that's awkward, right? If you think about your hands and your feet when you're playing a drum part, they move almost subconsciously.

So to try and unpack that and play, okay, well...

How do I, if I'm playing, if my left hand's going here and then I'm traveling, how do I do that bit so it feels natural? No, I think that this one is one of the few on the album on Full Moon Fever where that wasn't the case because this was an old song that they'd had from an album called Southern Accents.

It was a concept album about the South, but it didn't make it onto the album.

Tom Petty did it all the time.

Those songs of a Full Moon Fever, he always did them with the Heartbreakers.

Of course, Mike Campbell produced and engineered and wrote and played guitar on Full Moon Fever.

So it wasn't a stretch for him to play The songs he wrote and produced and engineered live, but still it is unusual.

Now think about, think of what examples of a band that solo member, I mean, why go solo if you're doing the same songs, right?