Long After Dark and the Darkness that Came With It

By ’82 the band was back amongst themselves. They began focusing on the release of their next album. In November of that year their fifth album was released and titled, Long After Dark. Within a six year time period the band had produced five albums. Another booming success, this album made it to the top ten charts as well. Long After Dark made it the Heartbreakers third album in a row to reach the top ten. The skyrocketing fame that Petty and his fellow band members reckoned with was a turning point in all of their lives but, specifically Petty’s.

 

As one can imagine, a rock star leads a glamorous often fast moving life. The stardom lifestyle was catching up with Petty’s personal life at home and even with his fellow band mates. Constantly being on the road and doing tours of their new albums was tough on his marriage because Jane, his wife was always home with their daughters as he was off living a lifestyle that she hadn’t had a taste of. Thus was just the beginning to the downfall of his marriage.

 

Aside from his family, his band mates were also experiencing their own problems. After releasing their fifth album, Ron Blair, the bass player left the band. Blair’s reasons for leaving weren’t that surprising. The band had worked hard and released five albums within a six year time frame which had them constantly touring and living a lifestyle that consisted of hardcore partying which became exhausting for him. The fame was great but never the less took a toll on his well being causing him to leave during that time. Because Petty was a good friend of and worked so closely with Del Shannon, he became familiar with Howie Epstein whom he recruited to take Ron Blair’s spot.

 

 

A big part of Petty’s fame came from the era of when music videos were first introduced. MTV was beginning and Petty played a very big part of MTV for around twenty years. The Heartbreakers first music video was played on MTV and created an immense amount of success for them. At the time, music videos were not common for artist’s music so having a video for one of their songs was a big deal for fans. It was new and different which people tend to like. The band also began to take a new and different turn as well.

 

Drugs and partying are apart of almost any musician’s lifestyle. They always have been and probably always will be. Petty and fellow band mates were at a point where booze and heavy drugs were the answer to their frustrations. They were without a producer for a time period, which caused turmoil because they weren’t familiar with producing yet. They had no direction at the time, which was a recipe for disaster. During this time the band attempted to play around with new records but failed because they had no sense of direction. A key moment during this was when Petty punched a whole in the wall so furiously that he did serious damage to his hand. He spent months getting different surgeries, therapies, and rehabilitations for his hand. The injury was so severe that doctors told him he might never play the guitar again. The realization that not only his career but, his love for music could be at risk was the moment when he decided it was time for a change. He sobered up and buckled down with the band to make changes happen for the better.