Saturday Morning Soundtrack #68: "American Dream Plan B" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (2014)

I've been away too long from this project--lots going on in my life, which I won't get into--but I'm glad to be back and writing more about the rock music that inspires me as a writer, an audiophile, and a human being.


We'll finish off the 1970s soon, but this week, I'm going to take on something contemporary and special to me: Tom Petty's newest album Hypnotic Eye. As most of you know, I'm a die hard Tom Petty fan, and so I was awaiting his latest album with much anticipation. I'm happy to say, it didn't disappoint. In fact, in 39 years playing together and releasing hits, this album is the first to top the Billboard charts at #1. Quite a feat in this day and age, for some of rock music's elder statesmen!


Way to go guys!

Saturday Morning Soundtrack @ Youtube

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"American Dream Plan B" by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (2014)

The first time I listened to this album, riding in my car on a stretch of highway toward Uniontown, PA, with my friend and driving music companion, Dominique, I had a very mixed response. It was a hard rocking album that displayed real musicianship, as well as a clear artistic vision. It's going to be a massive critical success, I told myself. With it's classic rock, blues, heartland, southern, and jazz influences, and its light political commentary, it's the kind of album that Rolling Stone will fall all over itself praising. And rightly so. The only problem I had was that, for all its merits, it just wasn't much fun. There wasn't that standout, catchy tune that I'd be humming throughout the day. No "American Girl" or "Free Fallin.'" Of course, not every song is "American Girl." Songs like that don't come along often.

Still, I wanted more.

I've listened to the album a dozen times since then--not because I was looking for it to redeem itself, but because something kept calling me back to it. I was missing something. It wasn't until I listened to the album with earphones on (the way albums are intended to be listened to) that the album's groove really kicked in for me, and I realized that this wasn't just a collection of iconic riffs, but a well-produced, badass contribution to the contemporary rock songbook. It's a tough album, full of resiliency and strange, tempered sort of hope. Like many of the best political albums, it's an album for people who aren't political. It deals with the failing American Dream (the generations of young people who are not better off than their parents), exploitation, even the Catholic Church scandal, but it's not preachy. It avoids the polemics that made Petty's The Last DJ a critical flop. Instead, the band sounds like they are having fun--they are tight, loud, and determined to rock. Imagine Neil Young at his best.

That conscious decision to create an honest-to-God "rock album" is what initially turned me off. It was, as though, the emphasis on rocking actually hamstrung the band a bit. It was almost too much pressure to live up to in this "rock is dead" era. But the more I listened, the more I appreciated the stripped down sound, and I realized that the album really does encompass so much of what has made Tom Petty's sound both unique and iconic over the years. As great artists do, TPHB thrived under that pressure, and they created an album that reminds me of the music I loved growing up. So many critics have compared the album to Tom Petty's first two albums, released in the late 70s, but I don't really see that. To me, this album is a return to the band's Wildflowers 1990s sound, only with some large bluesy additions reminiscent of their last release Mojo and Mudcrutch's self-titled album. From that sound, some clear hits emerged: "Shadow People," the soaring "U Get Me High" (which I almost chose for this entry), "Red River," and of course "American Dream Plan B" to name a few.

I don't want to say much about the song I chose. It's crunchy and aggressive without the lame machismo, loud and irreverent without being grumpy, and it has some killer lines, like this one:

I'm gonna make my way through this world someday
I don't care what nobody say
American dream, political scheme
I'm gonna find out for myself someday
I'm half-lit, I can't dance for shit
But I see what I want, I go after it
And my girl's alright, treats me nice
Sayin' nothin' but a woman puts out that light

Not fun? What the hell was I thinking?

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So what do you think? Did I get it right or miss the mark? Please, feel free to weigh in using the comments below. And, if you would like to write a Guest Entry for the "Saturday Morning Soundtrack" series where you creatively respond to one of your favorite rock songs, don't hesitate to contact me with queries.