090: Tom Petty - Wildflowers (1994)
“Tom himself always said, when he’d be with the band on the plane or wherever, ‘That’s the best record we ever made!’ He always said ‘we.’ So, yeah, I look at it as a Heartbreakers record, because that’s what it felt like to me.”
In 1994, the charts were dominated by the likes of Mariah Carey, Beck, Gin Blossoms, Ace of Base, and Pearl Jam - and then out of left field came elder statesman Tom Petty with a new album that was heartfelt, thoughtful, and beautiful, but could still rock your face off if it wanted to. Petty may have already released his greatest hits album, but Wildflowers showed that he was nowhere near done writing excellent songs. In fact, there were so many that several had to be cut in order to fit it all onto one album. As a result, Wildflowers is kind of a mess - but it’s an emotional, charming, and very interesting mess that we had a great time talking about. Tonight we ride.
Miscellany
The clip at the very beginning of the episode comes from the YouTube documentary on the making of Wildflowers, just over an hour in.
Amanda still loves “Animal” a whole lot, it’s just very easy to make fun of.
Ringo Starr’s “No No Song” came out in 1974, so yes, it was well before “Girl On LSD.”
Benmont Tench has worked as a session player with loads of other musicians, including Sam Phillips, which we talked about in episode 077.
Amanda hadn’t heard “The Joker” for a long time before we recorded and didn’t notice until afterward how similar the chorus is to “You Don’t Know How it Feels.” Take a [b]ad song and make it better.
The Kinks’ “Lola” was indeed edited to take out the brand name, because the BBC had a strict rule against product placement.
To be fair to Paul Simon and Paul McCartney, later in the ‘90s they released You’re the One and Flaming Pie, respectively, both of which are very good.
Other links
Tom Petty's official website (tompetty.com)
Wildflowers and Wonder: Exploring the Songwriting Legacy of Tom Petty (American Songwriter)
Somewhere You Feel Free: The Making of Wildflowers (YouTube)
“Honey Bee” on SNL (YouTube)
Chris and Ann Leave Pawnee (YouTube)
Benmont Tench’s sweet '70s 'stache (recordmecca.com)
John McFerrin’s Tom Petty reviews (johnmcferrin.org)
Discord & Rhyme’s Wildflowers playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Amanda Rodgers (host)
Rich Bunnell (moderator)
Dan Watkins
Wildflowers tracklist
Wildflowers
You Don’t Know How It Feels
Time to Move On
You Wreck Me
It’s Good to Be King
Only a Broken Heart
Honey Bee
Don’t Fade on Me
Hard on Me
Cabin Down Below
To Find a Friend
A Higher Place
House in the Woods
Crawling Back to You
Wake Up Time
Somewhere Under Heaven (deluxe edition bonus track)
Other clips used
Tom Petty:
Them Juju Beads
Yer So Bad
I Won’t Back Down
Free Fallin’
Girl on LSD
Hung Up and Overdue
Big Weekend
Saving Grace
Love Is a Long Road
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers:
Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Don’t Come Around Here No More
Refugee
You Wreck Me (live)
Out in the Cold
Jammin’ Me
Crawling Back to You (live)
Walls (No. 3)
Century City
The Last DJ
Straight into Darkness
Even the Losers
Others:
Def Leppard - Animal
Steve Miller Band - The Joker
Oasis - Champagne Supernova
Bob Rivers - How It Feels (To Be Old)
Jason Weaver, Rowan Atkinson & Laura Williams - I Just Can't Wait to Be King
Koji Kondo - Lost Ancient Ruins
John Lennon - Jealous Guy
Bob Dylan - It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Talking Heads - And She Was
George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
Linkin Park - Crawling
Jackson Browne - Fountain of Sorrow
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Marc Cohn - Walking in Memphis
The Moody Blues - Highway
Band/album personnel
Tom Petty – vocals (all tracks), acoustic guitar (1, 2, 8, 9, 11, 12), electric guitar (2-5, 7, 10, 13, 14), harmonica (2, 12), bass guitar (2, 12), harmony vocals (2, 5, 14), organ (14), piano (15), production
Mike Campbell – electric guitar (2, 4, 5, 7, 9–14), bass guitar (1, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13–15), harpsichord (1), slide guitar (3), acoustic guitar (8), coral sitar (11), production
Benmont Tench – piano (1, 3–7, 9, 10, 12–14), harmonium (1, 6, 12), grand piano (2), electric piano (2), Hammond organ (4, 6, 9, 12, 14), Mellotron (6, 14), tack piano (11), zenon (11), orchestron (12)
Howie Epstein – harmony vocals (2, 4, 5, 13, 14), bass guitar (4, 7, 10), backing vocals (7)
Steve Ferrone – drums (1-7, 9, 10, 12–15)
Lenny Castro – percussion (1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14)
Brandon Fields – saxophone (13)
Greg Herbig – saxophone (13)
Jim Horn – saxophone (13)
Kim Hutchcroft – saxophone (13)
Phil Jones – percussion (4, 10)
Michael Kamen – orchestration, conductor (1, 3, 5, 15)
John Pierce – bass guitar (9)
Marty Rifkin – pedal steel guitar (13)
Ringo Starr – drums (1, 11)
Carl Wilson – backing vocals (7)
Joe Barresi – assistant engineer
David Bianco – engineer
Richard Dodd – engineer, mixer
Steve Holyrod – assistant engineer
Kenji Nasai – assistant mixer
Rick Rubin – producer
Jim Scott – engineer
Jeff Sheehan – assistant engineer
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Tom Petty - Honey Bee (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Wildflowers and other albums by Tom Petty, with and without the Heartbreakers, at tompetty.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.