Several factors can make you truly hate an artist you once loved. “Selling out” is certainly one, and failing to maintain a high level of quality is another. While other common determinants spring to mind, a rare one, that only a select few can put forward is being beaten to number one by their favourites. This surreal change in perception was something that the late Tom Petty experienced when one of his favourite bands, Pink Floyd, did just that, as the 1970s morphed into the 1980s.
Although Petty was a longtime fan of the British group, his opinion on them changed greatly at the end of 1979. Famously, he released his now-iconic third album Damn the Torpedoes on October 19th of that year, which was a haymaker of a musical and personal riposte to the machinations of his former label ABC Records, and their new bosses MCA.
Boasting Petty staples such as ‘Refugee’ and ‘Don’t Do Me Like That’, the album is a defiant, punk-oriented batch of anthems that champion the little guy in his fight against big business and the powers that be. It is further contextualised by the protracted legal battle Petty had with MCA, which led to him filing for bankruptcy to void his original contract with ABC that had MCA picked up. Ultimately, he won the tussle, and signed to MCA’s new subsidiary Backstreet, which represented a successful fight for creative freedom, against all odds.
Given the rebellious context and resonant songwriting, Damn the Torpedoes was a major success, and was eventually certified platinum. However, despite it representing Petty’s most significant career success and confirming him as a household name, the record, much to his chagrin, was beaten to the top spot on the Billboard Album chart, by Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
Released on November 30th 1979, The Wall is the final masterpiece the classic lineup of the British band released before creative director Roger Waters left under a cloud in 1985. Telling the story of the mental breakdown of fictional rockstar Pink, its themes of mental health, isolation and authoritarianism also left an indelible mark on the public psyche. Unfortunately for Petty, though, hit singles such as ‘Comfortably Numb’ and ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2’, were instant successes, and saw the album hit number one for the first time on January 19th, 1980, proving a substantial barrier between Petty and the pinnacle of the chart.
Although Damn the Torpedoes would take The Wall all the way across 1980, it would never pip it to number one. This led Petty to tell Westwood One: “I love Pink Floyd. But I hated them that year.”
Editors’ Picks
- 1970s Music
- Billboard Charts
- Classic Rock
- Damn the Torpedoes
- Pink Floyd
- Rock History
- Roger Waters
- The Wall
- Tom Petty
