Interaction and Introduction to Music

 

At a young age Petty knew that he enjoyed music. As a child, he really loved western movies. He admired that in some of them they played guitar and sang tunes with their friends. As a child, he hoped to achieve something along the same lines as that one day. Petty’s introduction to the actual musical world is one most rock and roll fans have dreamt about at one time or another. He was ten years old and had the opportunity to be present at an Elvis Presley movie shoot. Thereafter, his love for Elvis and rock and roll music was instantaneous. Within days of the shoot, he had gotten his hands on collections and records of Elvis’. It wasn’t even that he wanted to be like Elvis, it was just the pure fact that he enjoyed listening to his music.

 

As years went by and his love for music grew, Petty was introduced to another music legend that inspired him from then on. The Beatles. After learning of the Beatles, he instantly knew that he wanted to be in a band one day. After learning of famous music artists, Petty’s passion for music really began to show. It was the only thing he spoke of, the only thing he made time for, and the only thing that he wanted to do. Although his relationship with his father wasn’t the brightest, Petty does credit his father for buying him his first electric guitar. The artists he so closely followed and his first guitar not only inspired him musically but also inspired him to make his dreams come true.

 

As far back as history dates, it has always been (and probably always will be) any parent’s ideal vision to have their children go to college or take on the family business. However, Petty had other ideas and he was determined to make his dreams come true. Without finishing high school, at seventeen he dropped out in hopes of taking his career further with his band, The Epics. Aside from Petty’s father being abusive, he was ashamed to have a son that didn’t have a desire to thrive in academics. Even after the abuse, his father still found ways to make him feel unloved. His father would bash him for dreaming of performing music rather than having success in something more masculine or educational. During this time Petty grew his hair out extremely long in order to fit in with the band more. Petty’s father was infuriated that his son would have hair that didn’t necessarily represent that of a traditional man. This however, only seemed to make Petty more determined, he didn’t back down. He turned his anger into ambition and decided to try and make something of himself.

 

As years went by and Petty’s success grew, his father began to support him more and more because of the fame. His father was able to earn an identity being the father of Tom Petty, the lead of the Heartbreakers. Petty’s father enjoyed the fame which was in so many words an insult to him because for so long he had not only not supported him but treated him poorly because of his decisions to become a musical artist. On the flipside, Petty’s mother and his grandmother always supported his love for music and the goals that he had. He was very close with his brother as well who fought hard to stand up for his brother when him and their father were fighting.

 

Looking back on his life, Petty believed that a big part of why he succeeded was because of his strong willed mind to prove his father wrong. His father had spent so many years putting him down for the things that he loved that it turned into fury, which he expressed through his music. Most famed musicians had something that happened that made them want to try harder and prove to someone that they were capable of succeeding.