[Tom Petty Dies at 66 | 14 Essential Tom Petty Songs]His songs were concise and thoughtfully distilled, modest in bearing but often a gutpunch in content and sly in delivery. Petty grew up a student of the Beatles and the Byrds, and was also conversant in Southern rock, new wave and punk. When MCA Records wanted to raise the price of his 1981 album “Hard Promises” from $8.98 to $9.98, he pushed back. During a mixing session for the 1985 album “Southern Accents,” he punched a wall and broke his left hand. Petty an hour later, serenading him with “I Won’t Back Down,” an easy song about impossibly hard things.

Source: New York Times October 03, 2017 21:15 UTC