Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers #3: Damn the Torpedoes

Release Date: October 19, 1979

Members: Tom Petty (vocals, guitar); Mike Campbell (guitars); Benmont Tench (piano, organ); Ron Blair (bass); Stan Lynch (drums)

Produced by Jimmy Iovine

Side One: Refugee; Here Comes My Girl; Even the Losers; Shadow of a Doubt (A Complex Kid); Century City

Side Two: Don't Do Me Like That; You Tell Me; What Are You Doin in My Life?; Louisiana Rain

Damn the Torpedoes launched Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to superstardom after their promising first two albums. The album yielded four hit singles: "Refugee", "Here Comes My Girl," "Even the Losers," and "Don't Do Me Like That." 

"Refugee" channeled primal rock and roll with its supple statement of defiance, lyrically vague enough to make it relatable to many. All cylinders were firing from the jump: Petty's iconic vocal, the melodic guitars, and Tench's keyboard smoothing out the edges. "Here Come My Girl" channels angst, desperation, and salvation. Petty's "talkin" delivery brings an edge and passion to an otherwise conventional love song. "Even the Losers" is more pop perfection, Petty knows his audience. "Shadow if a Doubt (A Complex kid)" is about another mystery girl, with another great vocal from Petty, a voice relatable with great details to make the song unique. "Century City" evokes the chaos and splendor of California life. 

"Don't Do Me Like That" opens with one of the iconic intros in rock history. Even though it was overplayed on FM classic rock radio, the beats and the riffs remain catchy as hell. Imagine a sunny day in the late 70s, this song just might send you there. "You Tell Me" is more conniving and hints at a darker relationship, and let the band go into something approaching a jam. "What Are You Doin' In My Life" taps into the country rock influence on the band. The closer "Louisiana Rain" could easily be a country song, but Petty and the Heartbreakers transform it into an epic rock song.

There's a progression on Damn the Torpedoes, charting Petty's growth as a songwriter. Petty's contemporary Bruce Springsteen reimagined rock as a mythological landscape to write his tortured ruminations on modern America. Yet Petty made it all look so easy, channeling early rock into a fresh sound, creating something singular in the era of Punk and New Wave.