Label Said This 80s Album Wasn't Good Enough...Became This Legend's Biggest Ever | Professor of Rock

after writing and recording a set of songs that would blast him into the stratosphere this legends record label rejected the album coming up next legendary guitarist and co-writer of one of the biggest songs on this album he's also the co-producer he gives us the inside scoop on how the band overcame this massive obstacle to create a true masterpiece of 1989. the story's coming up next on professor of rock hey music junkies professor of rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time you know if the only reason you've ever gone to a hard rock cafe is for the memorabilia and never for the food you're gonna dig this channel make sure that you subscribe below right now to be a part of this music community daily click the bell so that you never miss out on our latest stories and interviews we've got a lot of great stuff coming this year we also have a patreon you're going to want to check out has even more content a special new show behind the scenes of our live events you can find it there the link is actually below so it's time for another edition of our series revelations this is where artists give us exclusive behind-the-scenes experiences about their biggest songs and their biggest albums that's insight that you really won't find anywhere else today we have something very special for you it is part two of an in-depth interview with rock and roll hall of famer co-writer guitarist producer with tom petty and the heartbreakers the great mike campbell last time we talked about how he first created the classic don henley song the boys of summer [Music] and we also covered uh some of the songs off his excellent new record with his band the dirty knobs we're gonna do a few more of those new songs today we also open up the book on the 1989 tom petty classic album full moon fever it was his first solo album though all the heartbreakers played on the record except for stan lynch tom petty began to work with electric light orchestra front man the legendary jeff lynn the album was tentatively called songs from the garage i believe a jeff lynn would bring a completely different approach to the band and recording lin would direct the band members and tell them exactly what to play according to warren zane's great book their previous collaborative creative method of arrangement that was not needed at that point now jeff lynn having years of production under his belt he knew exactly what he wanted and exactly what he needed for this particular record he of course knew the studio inside and out and he worked to get that engaging sound that you hear on full moon fever one of the greatest albums of the 80s [Music] you know jeff one's unique style was to record individual multiple layered instrumental parts in order to avoid any sonic bleed through with one vocal line at the top without much reverb at all added to the mix [Music] he wanted to bring tom petty's distinct voice to the front of those songs so that it was wholly recognizable part of what connected jeff lynn to tom petty in the first place was their love of dale shannon [Music] and roy orbison in fact jeff lynn would say in warren zane's excellent tom petty biography that both del shannon and roy orbison's voices had a plaintiveness with some sadness in some ways like there's a story in there i love that quote jeff lynn would discover the same thing in tom petty not in the technical side of it more in that and that dollop of melancholy a slight tinge of sadness and anyone who even has a passing interest in petty's music knows that he's always had a story to tell [Music] one of my favorite stories about that is when uh hearing free fallen for the first time george harrison commented to jeff lynn now tom's a lucky bugger because he's already got the twang built in he's got a head start on all of us it's really hard to be from an industrial city in england and get a sound like that [Music] so today we're going to dig deep on the number 23 hit running down a dream [Music] it was the second single released off of full moon fever and it became the second straight number one rocket from the set co-written by tom and mike campbell who of course also co-produced the track but again the song and the album it came from that was rejected by the label when they presented it to him tom petty was crushed he thought he had something really great how could the label not like these songs in fact a short time after mca rejected the album they were at a dinner at warner brothers chief mo austin's home and george harrison started messing around with it on his acoustic guitar he started playing free falling and he actually talked tom petty into performing it in front of the people who were there at dinner petty obliged [Music] people were dumbfounded how could mca not love this song this album warner brothers music president lanny warrenker offered tom a warner brothers record contract on the spot right then and there now petty had to decline since he still owed mca a couple albums but warrenkor didn't care and petty ended up signing a secret contract with the label that would remain under wraps until he had met his obligations with mca another funny thing that happened during the recording is that when it came time to sequence the record right after running down a dream which is the last song on side one if you're listening on vinyl or cassette [Applause] right after that tom petty recorded a secret message on the cd version of the album at the time full moon fever was dropped all the record labels were pushing fans and consumers to buy cds compact disks and tom petty was of course a vinyl guy so he added a little voice recording at the midpoint of the album that said hello cd listeners hello cd listeners we've come to the point in this album where those listening on cassette or records will have to stand up or sit down and turn over the record or tape and fairness to those listeners will now take a few seconds before we begin side two thanks your side too i love that thank you here's side too so coming up like i said singer songwriter and producer in rock and roll hall of famer mike campbell relates the story of how they were able to get mca to release and promote the album as well as mike campbell's new full-length album mike campbell and dirty knobs it's called external combustion it's a great album in fact our last piece we had hundreds of comments of people who said they wouldn't listen to it and loved it [Music] it's an amazing album all this is coming up next now as we go into this interview i do want to recognize our sponsors any eyewear one of the main features that i can wholeheartedly recommend for your xeny frames is blue blocks it protects your eyes from digital blue light that we see on our screens and i tell you to save my bacon with less headaches less migraines since i've had them check it out today zenny.com here's mike campbell well full moon fever was made mostly in your garage as i understand it's such a great story about that album because the record was rejected by the label a lot of people are shocked by that i mean i could not believe that when i read that in an interview a few years after the record was made i mean i remember my dad buying it the day it came out and i had kind of moved into new wave and stuff like that and they played foaming fever and i was right back into my love for tom and for you guys and for your music running down a dream what an incredible guitar riff written and produced with jeff lynn great jeff lynn and and tom tell me about that how did that guitar like come to you that riff well um it's kind of an interesting story the my my riff um which was my and my solo that was my contribution to the song [Applause] all the other chords and stuff and melody tom and jeff came up with but when i showed i gave my a rough demo to tom the riff was in half time it was like about kind of funky and somehow i guess jeff heard it and said oh that should be we should do that fast and so it became that thanks to them uh it was just a riff i had been out to see a band somewhere that night came home and i was inspired to play the guitar from hearing them and i think it was jane's addiction [Music] [Applause] back in the day and i started that rift just came to me i don't [Applause] [Music] [Applause] good know did they come from if i knew i'd do them all the time exactly second single from the album and it was such a big hit that album had three number one rock hits the hat trick yeah go figure and they turned it down yeah i know speaking of the record labels there the gatekeepers are keeping out i think a lot of the great music because there is great music out there yeah but it'll come through the kids will find it you know people will find it because you can't hide that quality it's always there and i think it you compare it to what's going on now and you can tell anybody can tell like that's better well i remember tom saying in an interview that when you were playing that amazing riff that you were like you stood there like a stone statue well that's uh i would take him from his word i don't remember i do remember when i did the solo at the end you know we left it long and most of our songs don't have long solos because we're not wired that way but this song we thought could go on a little bit and i could play off a little bit [Music] so it was all off the cuff you know wasn't rehearsed or anything and i did it off the top of my head and i do remember jeff standing there jeff was hard to please and i remember he was watching me and when i did one of the more intricate things he kind of went like this every time jeff looks over his glasses you're either in big trouble or it's really good you know so he was real uh he was real proud of that and uh yeah i stand corrected it was actually the solo that tom said that you just played that blazing solo there's so much going on in it but you you played it like a stone's you were just kind of well i'm not a dancer i was focused i was doing my work man i was doing my job i had to concentrate you know i had jeff lynn and tom standing there i had to do something good i can't be posing you know the lyrics were so great because there's a nod to tom's uh petty's musical roots referencing del shannon's run away [Music] and of course the documentary was named after that song and that's been used in like every sport known to mankind i mean in the nba finals i think it was like two or three years it was the official song of the nba finals they're using the 2000 world series nascar go figure my favorite line in that song is running down a dream it never would come to me that's so tom like i'm gonna go get [Music] just been used so much in pop culture as well you know larry crown that tom hanks movie you are so cute i can see you tar hero 5 and that's how a lot of these kids are finding this music you know is through guitar hero king of the hill i would like to try that i'm going to help you run down that dream bobby family guy i'm feeling the runner's high it was a beautiful day that's when a song really resonates when you just see it all over the place it's a good driving song too if you're ever in your car it's hard not to drive fast when that comes up you know when tom and i started out we dreamed about money but we didn't ever think we'd make as much success as we did you know we never thought we'd have houses and and cars and you know stuff like that it was like all we cared about was the music i'm gonna do this and maybe someday i'll make some money maybe i won't but i'm going to do this because i love it and i don't know if people are coming from that place nowadays but we certainly were and i think if you are if you do something you love you're probably going to be successful at it because it's you and if not at least you were happy at least you did what you loved you know so that's what we always did and we were so you know we came from a poor background all of us and so we just went way beyond our dreams and like you were saying earlier we got to meet so many of our heroes that you could have never thought that when you were young like i'll get to hang out with those guys someday maybe they might like my music too like it was unthinkable so let's get into the new album external combustion mike campbell the dirty knobs dirty job featuring ian hunter from mata hoopel how did that collaboration come together wow [Music] it was it just came out of the year you know i got a phone call i'd never met ian but i love mata hoopel and his singing style [Music] they asked me if i would overdub on one of his tracks i guess he was in england and they sent me the track and i put some guitars on it and sent it back to him and he really liked it he said would you do one more and he sent that over and i did that he liked it and then i cheekily said well you know would you maybe sing on one of our songs and i sent him that song and he's saying a verse and some harmonies and play piano on it and uh i don't know he kind of made it really his character so i was once again just blessed well one of my favorite songs from the record is the really mellow and methodical state of mind [Music] almost gospel tingerock and i love the horns [Music] well that once again was from the old analog tape locker i had forgotten about that song and he went through and he showed me that one and a few of the other ones so that one popped up and i thought that's pretty good you know i don't uh we could use something like that on the record and um i just like the simplicity of it the words are pretty good um and uh we cut it and one and thank god margo price happened to be in town she's saying beautifully on it [Music] then george to coulius and i thought wouldn't it be great if we had some strings and horns you know it's a you know we never done that before so they came in and blew our minds on it you know i wanted to sound like the band [Music] and it came out really good i'm really proud of that one words are very uh i think [Music] universal you both sound fantastic on that song thank you i love it when turn this train around so i can go back home it's just a really magical song that's interesting you would notice that because uh i had that line in the song but i also had another line turn this train around before it goes too far and uh george and my wife both said you know i think you should go back and sing the so i can go back home that's a better punchline and they were right go back home [Music] musically i am most grateful for i call it a gift um but these things that have come to me and ideas that come to me out of the air it's like you know i just feel like how did i get here i'm so lucky that this is being given to me it is a gift i treat it like a gift and i respect it like a gift and i try to do the best work i can so i mean without music i don't know what i'd be i'd be a to shell make sure to get mike campbell and the dirty knobs new album external combustion right below and leave us a comment about this rock classic running down a dream also the same name of the bogdanovic classic tom petty documentary what are your memories of this song and the album full moon fever let us know below and make sure again to let us know what you think of the new album if you like this episode be sure to subscribe below so that you never miss out on our daily content we're putting out videos all the time we'd love to have you as part of our community here check us out on patreon as well other programming there help us keep the music alive that is the whole idea here until next time three chords and the truth my friends [Music] you

Channel: Professor of Rock

Views: 61,337

Keywords: Professor of rock, professor rock, music history, video essay, vinyl junkies, music junkies, rock, pop fix, 80s, music community, 80s rock, 80s vinyl, professor rock 80s, classic rock, rock community, 80s music, 80s classic rock, 80s music history, 80s video essay, professor of rock 80s, 80s music hits, rock classic, tom petty story, tom petty, professor of rock tom petty, runnin down a dream, tom petty reaction, mike campbell, mike campbell and the dirty knobs

Id: B906tFCcdds

Length: 19min 29sec (1169 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 16 2022