#2 Southern Accents (1985)
Southern Accents was a bit of a departure for Tom Petty. His prior albums had a faint Southern influence, but this was the first time he let his roots show completely. It was a risk—he could have alienated his liberal rock and roll following just based on having an album with a song called “Rebels,” even though Petty had always been a hippie at heart. In fact, the album has his most freaky tune ever—and it was the lead single: “Don’t Come Around Here No More.” Written with Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics, the song had sitar and a video of Petty and the Heartbreakers eating a woman (Alice in Wonderland) made out of cake (I posted it above—it’s fantastic). But it also had his most personal song, the title track, and Petty’s ode to rocker rebellion, Spike.
It’s also got my all-time favorite Petty song on it: Rebels. The opening lines of the song resonate so completely with my personal past that I literally think about them just about every week: “Baby don’t walk out/I’m too drunk to follow/You know you won’t feel this way tomorrow.” It’s a song about an alcoholic. It’s a song about how drugs can devastate a man and make him hurt the ones he cares most about. In fact, Petty was so strung out when he made the record that he broke his fist punching a wall. His hand had to be reassembled with pins and screws, and a doctor told him he’d never play guitar again.
He was really mad at that wall.
Cover versions:
