Petty Talks About Stevie
 

there's a really interesting interview with Tom Petty in the current Men's Journal. He talks about both Lindsey and Stevie.

He says that after working with Lindsey on some stuff for a movie soundtrack he asked Lindsey to join the Heartbreakers because he was sick of being the only front man in the band. But it was Stevie who reallllllly wanted to be in The Heartbreakers.

He says she showed up at his house 'every night for a like a year' and then she just followed us around on tour. He's like "every f***in night". They would get the word that "Stevie's in room such and such" and he said they just gave her a totally hard time about coming to sessions or whatever, make fun of the clothes she was wearing and stuff. He said the fact that she stuck around was amazing.

Isn't really all that flattering a picture of her actually.

There's a kind of highlights of the interview bit on their website, but not alas the Stevie stuff. For that you'll have to check out the mag on the newsstand.:(

http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/...-down-20140717

uh, ok, not very flattering.

Doesn't strike me as all that unflattering, and is pretty consistent with stories she's told us in the past.

She was a friend/fangirl combo of the Heartbreakers, and this behaviour would be a predictable result of that. They probably found it equal parts annoying and endearing, as I imagine most people who knew Stevie personally in the 80s probably felt about her. If she'd actually bugged them much they would've been unpleasant to her and she wouldn't have come back every night and remained friends with them for decades thereafter.

Not a whole lot of that text was in quotes so it's hard to say exactly how Tom meant what he said. Plus tone of voice ect. I don't think it was too unflattering anyway. She always said she was a groupie. If they were too mean to her she wouldn't have stayed around and remained good friends. I'm sure they did tease her a lot. Girls love that!! They enjoy that attention. They obviously had great times together and lots of times too.

Stevie talks about this in some of those 80's interviews about how she would drop by and not leave for 9 hours...She knew Tom & the band didn't take her seriously (just another girl singer/hanger on ) so she wasn't going away till they knew she was serious about her relationship (working/personal) with the band...

Can you imagine if FM had broken up during the Rumours days and Stevie/Lindsey had joined the Heartbreakers now that would have been something...I've always thought that Stevie & TP should have made a whole record together but it doesn't look like that will ever happen...
Not to compare apples to oranges but has anyone heard the new TP record yet?
"Hypnotic Eye" is a very diverse record and with any luck the new FM record will be just as diverse and not just "California Pop"...

I'm mostly weirded out by the idea that Lindsey was asked to join The Heartbreakers. I can't imagine such a weird musical combination. My head is just like "no".

But then, I'm not really a fan of The Heartbreakers most of the time anyway. So maybe I'm just biased.

The soundtrack that TOm is talking about is "Shes The one" from 1996ish. THis was about the time LB and SN did "Twister" Soundtrack together. If FM had not gotten back to gether in late late 1996 and had the tour and album ready to go by early Spring 1997 I wonder if LB would have seriously joined TPATHB?

Agreed. Benmont toured and recorded with her, hell the whole band recorded with her on some of the Bella Donna sessions, Mike co wrote with her and when she most recently toured with them Tom referred to her as "our little sister."
Being a female rock star in that era wasn't for the faint of heart. It was a very masculine driven business and both Stevie's resilience and vulnerability is what made her so special. It's why she has endured and is now both an icon and legend.
I would also imagine that they could be easily reminded that one of their hugest hits and the song that really helped catapult them in to the stratosphere was on a Stevie Nicks record with Stevie singing lead. Muahahahaha... :laugh: :o :p

We all knew Stevie can be a whole lot of trouble, because when she wants something, she gets it.

Sorry the outline looks so crazy (my first time using the Microsoft snipping tool) but I had the magazine so thought I would scan and post. Ricoh

Thanks for posting the attachment ricohv. I finally got my own copy of the magazine (I read it originally off of someone else's copy) so I could clarify for some of the folks who commented here just what Tom's own words were. Even with your attachment I will go ahead and add the section where he talks about Stevie here (the formatting is directly from the article):

But at least the session produced one good anecdote, “I do remember trying to talk Lindsey into joining the band that night,” he says. “Stevie wasn’t playing with them at the time, so I said, ‘Why don’t you just join our band and get the heat off of me?’ I never wanted to be the front guy—I got that job and I’ve been stuck with it ever since.”

Buckingham’s bandmate had a different vision: Stevie Nicks, Petty says, was dying to join the band. “Oh, she wouldn’t quit,” Petty says. “Stevie showed up at my house every night for a year—maybe more.” But Petty was firm: “There’s no girls in the Heartbreakers.” Nicks followed them on tour anyway—“every f***ing night,” Petty says. “ ‘Stevie’s in room so-and-so’ ‘Stevie wants a song.’ We gave her a hard f***ing time: ‘No way you’re coming to a session. Look at the f***ing clothes you’ve got on.’ The fact that she stuck around was amazing.” (They eventually did team up for what would be one of the all-time great rock duets: “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.”)

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9692e37a.jpg

Yep I'd say she's a "Heartbreaker" fan :nod:

Nice article. Thanks BombaySaffires and RicohV.

Michele

That really doesn't paint Stevie in that bad of a light. Makes Tom come across as a bit sexist, though. :laugh:

This is pretty much in-line with what Stevie has said in the past regarding forming a relationship with them. When she wants something, she goes after it, apparently.

hmmm…. It does a little. I mean, if she weren't "Stevie Nicks" someone showing up at your house every night--if one of your colleagues did that you'd call them a stalker. Or just following them around every night on tour and staying in the same hotel and pushing into their circle…. yes they do things differently in show biz, but…it's at best a little needy…. Let's not forget she was a Grammy-winning, #1 album #1 song hottest chick in music star in her own right. It's a little unusual to sort of lower herself that way.

And they kinda sound like they kinda enjoyed harassing her a bit, making fun of her clothes and not taking her seriously as a songwriter-- I mean, would they tell Bob Dylan he couldn't come to a session because of what he was wearing???

She certainly has a lot of tolerance for being blown off and eventually charming/worming her way in. I admire it, but I find it sort of interesting that because it's Stevie we think it's kinda cool but if it were a "real" person, you'd be getting a restraining order. :D

And I wonder if she knew that Tom asked Lindsey to join whereas she had to cajole and wheedle her way in.

I have listened to Tom Petty's solo version of Stop Dragging My Heart Around and it is not a hit. Somehow her vocals just make that song. Also, her version of Free Falling is better than his. She is great at singing male songs.

Her version of Free Falling is way better!! Her deep raspy voice gives me chills on that. It's Late too. I don't like covers but Stevie knows how to pick them. Except I still miss someone.

Her version wasn't just bad - it was horrible! Everything about it was wrong. It made me feel bad when listened to it.

Yes!
 

I totally agree about Free Falling. I love Tom, but Stevie blew his version out of the water!

I like her vocal on "I Still Miss Someone," but the Barnum & Bailey Circus instrumentation is dreadful. If there were ever a song in Stevie's catalog that desperately needs a re-recording, it's this one.

I LOVE Stevie's version "Free Fallin"! It's so fun to listen to as I'm driving down the highway. Stevie hits "I want to write your name in the sky" perfectly!

I love Tom Petty but I really think she sings his songs better than he does. And I don't think I feel that way out bias. His songs fit her like a glove.

To me, it sounds like they enjoyed her.. they teased her and she was good-natured about it. If they didn't really want her around, she wouldn't be.. come on. It doesn't paint her in a bad light at all. And from everything that's been said about their relationship, from both sides, Stevie and Tom Petty always were and still are really good friends.

And remember when Stevie said that she was asked to stop being around Tom because there were rumors that they were dating and it was bothering his wife. I think Stevie's relationship with Tom was very one-sided for a very long time and not one he would have pursued if she'd dropped it. It seems like only in the last 15 years or so that he has begun to think of her as a respected peer. Also, the cocaine gave Stevie a giddier personality and I think that made it harder for people to tolerate her for long periods of time and when she stopped taking cocaine I think communications with a lot of people improved.

I have to laugh thinking of the rapturous way Stevie described being with the Heartbreakers.

Stevie on Tom:

I actually wonder if Petty or any of the band ever fell in love with her as so many of the men she worked with back in the day seemed to.. Tbh, I'd bet my hands on it.

didn't someone on here put up a quote of Stan Lynch saying that Benmont Tench was all in love with her (whether that was that he was just charmed by her or whether he was truly in LOVE was unclear) But Stan reported he himself wasn't so impressed. :shrug:

Clearly she's got a good relationship with Mike Campbell as well as Benmont and Tom.

This is one of the comments I was thinking of.

I remember this..but was this particular instance because it upset Tom's wife or because her being there (and probably jumping onstage) would take attention away from his band? I don't remember.

I believe Stevie thought it was because Tom was having marital problems at the time and that it had to do with him not wanting the media to plant the wrong idea about them. It seems that was the reason she was given.

Michele

Since his recent attack on Christians Petty has lost a fan in me. The old saying 'Shut up and sing' is well suited to him. As far as Stevie goes. he should be flattered. And shut it!

For the record, the song "Playing Dumb" is a criticism of the Catholic Church's leaders and the way they willfully ignored -- for decades -- the sexual abuse that several priests were inflicting on children.

It's hardly an attack on Christians in general.

Indeed. I honestly have no idea how it's even possible to have a different opinion on that matter than what Tom rather diplomatically says in the song. I thought that was a pretty universal stance.

christian's shouldn't be the only one's to free pass on attacking

Stevie Nicks - Stevie Nicks Had To Work Hard To Land Petty Duet contact Muslc

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6e9fe598.jpg


Stevie Nicks had to work hard to land a duet with Tom Petty on the classic rock ballad Stop Dragging My Heart Around because he insisted his band the Heartbreakers was a no-girl zone.

Petty reveals the Fleetwood Mac star refused to give up, even though the rocker and his bandmates mocked her dress sense and refused to let her join them in the studio for sessions.

He tells Men's Journal, "She wouldn't quit. She showed up at my house every night for a year. (I told her), 'There's no girls in the Heartbreakers."

But Nicks refused to give up and followed the band on tour: "(It was) 'Stevie's in room so-and-so, Stevie wants a song'.

"We gave her a hard f**king time: 'No way you're coming to a session. Look at the f**king clothes you've got on'. The fact that she stuck around was amazing."

Her persistence paid off and Stop Dragging My Heart Around became a top five hit in 1981.

No, if you read on he says that Christians don't understand Jesus. He took it from specific church to the entire church. Plus his comments about 'getting out of the club' were ridiculous and just plain displayed ignorance. But, I guess he forgot that one, it's not a club, and two, casting aspersions on the entire church is ridiculous as well. I'm sure Mother Theresa would never have 'quit' the club, but been greatly saddened by the abuse.

American Songwriter

http://americansongwriter.com/2016/0...heartbreakers/

Writing a great song is tricky enough, but writing a standout duet is an even more difficult bit of business than that. After all, you have to make room for two contrasting perspectives without pulling the song apart at the seams in the process. And, since the majority of duets are inter-gender, you have to be able to write believably for the opposite sex.

Most people would agree that Tom Petty pulled off one of the great duets in rock history when he penned “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and joined Stevie Nicks on the justly celebrated recording. The only problem with that story is that the song wasn’t meant to be a duet at all.

As Petty recalled to author Paul Zollo in the book Conversations With Tom Petty, the Fleetwood Mac chanteuse was enamored with his music and wanted him to write a song for her. “Stevie came to me around ’78,” he said. “And she was this absolutely stoned-gone, huge fan. And it was her mission in life that I should write her a song. And we were a little wary of Stevie. We didn’t quite know whether to like Stevie or not, because we kind of saw this big corporate rock band, Fleetwood Mac, which was wrong, they were actually artistic people. But in those days, nobody trusted that sort of thing and we just kept thinking, ‘What does she want from us?’”

Nicks was persistent and Petty eventually attempted a song for Nicks to be included on her first solo album. He wrote a ballad called “Insider,” but when the two sang it together, Petty liked it so much he decided to keep it for himself. He included it on The Heartbreakers’ 1981 album Hard Promises, even using a line from the song to give the album its name.

At the time that this was occurring, Jimmy Iovine, who was Petty’s producer and also was lined up to produce Nicks’ album Bella Donna, asked Tom about another song from the Hard Promises sessions with lyrics by Petty and music by Heartbreaker guitarist Mike Campbell. The Heartbreakers (with Donald “Duck” Dunn filling in for the band’s usual bassist Ron Blair) had finished “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” right down to Petty’s lead vocal, but Iovine persuaded him to give this track to Nicks after he had taken “Insider” back.

As a result, what you hear in the recording that became a #3 Billboard hit in 1981 is Nicks singing on top of the Heartbreakers recording. In the verses, Petty’s vocals, with the exception of a couple lines, were wiped away to make room for Nicks. To keep up the appearance of a duet, Nicks sang with Petty’s vocal in the refrain, actually taking the high harmony part since Petty already had the main vocal line covered.

The funny thing is that the song works better as a duet. It’s got a typically sturdy Heartbreakers foundation, featuring Campbell’s moaning guitar and Benmont Tench’s creeping keyboard. Nicks is right at home in this bluesy backdrop, imbuing Petty’s conversational lyrics with oodles of fiery attitude and a tinge of genuine hurt. “This doesn’t have to be the big get even,” she warns the guy who comes “knocking on my front door” with the “same old line.” “It doesn’t have to be anything at all.”

Having Nicks take the lead puts an interesting spin on the cautionary lines from the final verses (“Make a meal of some bright-eyed kid/ You need someone looking after you.”) Normally this would be the thing that the older guy would say to the young girl, maybe even in condescending fashion. Since it’s the woman making that statement, it levels the playing field. The guy is reduced to telling her that he’s onto the fact that, though she might be protesting at the moment, she’s the one who’s making the decision to leave: “I know you really want to tell me goodbye/ I know you really want to be your own girl.”

Petty’s lyrics are stinging and evocative in the run up to the refrain: “Baby you could never look me in the eye/ Yeah you buckle with the weight of the words.” The play on the phrase “weight of the world” is telling, because that’s the kind of pressure this fading relationship seems to be exerting on the principals. It all leads up to the title’s desperate plea for mercy, Petty and Nicks both going to the top of their registers to highlight the urgency, “Stop draggin’ my/ Stop draggin’ my/ Stop draggin’ my heart around.”

There are so many tantalizing hypothetical scenarios here. Would Petty’s solo vocal take have become quite as big a hit? Would Nicks have taken the intensely personal “Insider” and made it universal as well? As always, fate has the final answer. And the answer is that, to reach its full potential, “Stop Draggin My Heart Around” simply needed two to tango.

just out of curiosity as a christian how do you justify listening to Stevie , I only ask because growing up my " good christian "( favorite oxymoron ) mother forbade her music in her house, she and her group destroyed her records and just he other day a 'good christian " man working at the pet store had an issue with me because I was wearing my trouble in shangri la t shirt with this image below

He was telling me I will burn in hell and she was evil etc .... http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/73...73ed135300.jpg