Discord & Rhyme: An Album Podcast

Discord and Rhyme is a podcast where we discuss the albums we love, song by song.

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.”

Benmont Tench

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 

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call 

  • Amanda Rodgers (host)

  • Rich Bunnell (moderator)

  • Dan Watkins 

Wildflowers tracklist 

  1. Wildflowers

  2. You Don’t Know How It Feels

  3. Time to Move On

  4. You Wreck Me

  5. It’s Good to Be King

  6. Only a Broken Heart

  7. Honey Bee

  8. Don’t Fade on Me

  9. Hard on Me

  10. Cabin Down Below

  11. To Find a Friend

  12. A Higher Place

  13. House in the Woods

  14. Crawling Back to You

  15. Wake Up Time

  16. 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.

This website and all episodes' discussion/commentary © 2018—2024 Discord & Rhyme. Excerpts from recordings appearing in episodes are included for purposes of review only, and all rights to such material remain property of their copyright holders. Please note that we make a good-faith effort to ensure all information included in these episodes is accurate, but if we get something wrong, let us know at discordpod@gmail.com and we will print a correction in the show notes. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Website design by Amanda Rodgers. Thank you for visiting, and keep as cool as you can.

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