Q 6

PLAYBOY: The music business is in a slump these days. What's your analysis of the problem?

Tom Petty: There are no record people left in the record business; now it's some guy who used to be with the leased-car department and got a promotion. Or maybe he was an accountant and now he's a record-company president. And he hires more accountants and leased-car men. They just don't know what's good or bad. Records don't sell now because they aren't any good.

Those businessmen forget that with today's economy, a kid has maybe nine or ten albums at home--albums he paid for, unlike critics and reviewers. And the kid is rooting for the album to be good; it's his money on the turntable. But today's albums have maybe two or three tracks you can stomach and the rest is awful. You know there was no thought put into the remaining seven cuts. When you deliver an album, it should be something that will endure. I like to think that today our first album is still worth the bread.

I read the other day that video games are taking 15 billion dollars directly out of the record business. As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather put seven dollars' worth of quarters into a Pac-Man machine than into some dip-shit album.

Q 7

PLAYBOY: What do you think about America's fascination with video games?

Tom Petty: We're bored. I've got a home system, and I've gotten real addicted. It frightens me. I feel weird after 30 minutes of smashing electronic rocks. I used to have a Pac-Man game at my house. I played it until my hand got fucked up and the skin rubbed off. I finally went, "What have I been doing eating dots for hours?"

Q 8

PLAYBOY: How do you get along with critics, reviewers and the record industry in general?

Tom Petty: I've never had much patience, even in the old days. I never entertain the record industry backstage; it's not a scene where I want a lot of people checking me out. I'm sorry for hurt feelings, but it's just too weird to have some guy in a three-piece suit tell me that the show was "really rocking." As for critics, there are some I know personally and like. Most are saying, "Impress me"--like, with free records. But I don't have a huge beef, because they've been good to me. Reviews don't mean shit, but you always want to believe them when they're good.

Q 9

PLAYBOY: Where were you when John Lennon was shot? And what was your reaction?

Tom Petty: His death hurt real bad, still hurts. Each time I see his picture or hear him sing, I immediately get pissed off that some fucking jerk could just blow him away. In fact, the only two people I have ever looked up to, idolized--Lennon and Elvis--are both dead. And I'm not someone into idols.

I was in the studio when Lennon died. My producer, Jimmy Iovine, had worked on a few of John's albums, and Ringo was recording just down the hall from me. The day before John died, we heard that he was planning to come out and do something with Ringo, and I thought, Great! He'll be right next door. When he got shot. Jimmy got a call with the news. We went on working for a while, then stopped. The spark was gone. It hurt for so long, it fucked me up. My mom died the same year. It was a black year. But I don't worry about it much now. I saw the Stones recently on cable TV, and there was some guy who ran onstage and went for Keith. Keith jabbed him in the head with his Telecaster. I stood up and cheered. Fucking A, no one's gonna shoot Keith. It's the attitude you have to take.

Q 10

PLAYBOY: You're an acknowledged Beach Boys fan. Given a choice of listening to their 1966 album Pet Sounds or the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which would you choose?

Tom Petty: Interesting question. Well, I like both. But these days, I'd probably play Pet Sounds. I can hear Sgt. Pepper without playing it, but, frankly, I don't think it wears that well into the Eighties. Pet Sounds still sounds great to me. Hell, I once heard a radio interview with Paul McCartney in which he said that after hearing Pet Sounds, he had to do something like Sgt. Pepper. And he was right. Brian Wilson is the greatest. The root of his personal problems was that he did genius work and never got recognition for it from the man in the street. He took a real artistic risk. It's a brilliant album.

Q 11

PLAYBOY: Drugs eventually became part of Wilson's problem. You claim to have gone through your drug phase, saying you haven't used cocaine in two years. How, then, do you deal with the cocaine consciousness supposedly rampant in the industry?

Tom Petty: I don't talk to people on cocaine. I get tired of hearing people tell me something is so fucking great and blah, blah, blah, until the coke wears off and they're embarrassed and I'm embarrassed. But I'm not knocking it. If I want a line, I may have one. Once, I was a person who couldn't keep his shit together on cocaine. It made me weird. I lost my temper regularly. I got into these huge depressions. And then I'd wonder why and do another line. But I never looked at it as if I were some big drug addict. Maybe I was; I don't know. I do smoke a lot of marijuana, though. It helps keep me level. It makes some people paranoid, lazy or sleepy. Not me. I enjoy a good joint. But I don't take drugs when I play. Alcohol tends to fuck things up in the business more than drugs do. Most of the musicians who are supposed to be great junkies are just drunks. I've seen guys drink 15 beers before going onstage. But, again, I don't want to be prudish about it. It just doesn't work for me, that's all.

Q 12

PLAYBOY: You've spoken of Elvis as a hero. You once met him. What was that like? And what did you think of the Albert Goldman bio?

Tom Petty: I couldn't read the book. I don't care what Elvis did offstage or out of the studio. I never gave a fuck about how many women he had or about girls in cotton panties. If I died tonight and Goldman came to find out what sort of panties I liked on a girl, I wonder who could give him the straight poop? Who could give him the dirt? There's nobody who can tell us what Elvis dug, not even the girls he was with. Goldman is a real jerk. Another guy cashing in on Elvis.

As for meeting Elvis, I was 11 years old. It was on a movie set and I just said, "Hi." All I remember is a scene with thousands of people. And trailers. And Elvis in a white Cadillac. He looked great.