He’d go on from there to build a stack of hits as high as the moon. But 40 years ago, Petty was just getting started. Even if “American Girl” were the only song he’d ever released, he’d be up there with the gods. He was part of the firmament and he’ll remain there. Did anything bother Tom Petty? He was so much bigger than that. I was like, ‘OK, good for you.’ It doesn’t bother me.” Nobody loved that more than Petty: “That made me laugh out loud. Was it an intentional reference or a subconscious coincidence? Eventually, Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas set the record straight: “People would say, ‘You know that song “American Girl” by Tom Petty? Don’t you think it sounds a little like that?’ And I’d be like, ‘Yeah, we ripped it off. I still experience mild nausea and a deep-seated Pavlovian “flight” response every time I hear the thing.) And then, of course, the Strokes basically sampled the song on their own career-defining hit “ Last Nite” - which means, on some level, “American Girl” is the progenitor of rock music in this millennium.įor years, critics and fans pointed out the similarities between “Last Nite” and “American Girl” without knowing the precise relationship between the two songs. (If you can disassociate it from Buffalo Bill’s horrifying abduction of Catherine Martin, consider yourself lucky. Those are two of the best domestic films of the second half of the 20th century, and “American Girl” serves a crucial function in both. I’d be willing to bet the majority of people living today first encountered “American Girl” in either Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982) or Silence Of The Lambs (1991). And yet, it’s a landmark tower in our cultural skyline: endlessly referenced, instantly recognizable, and multitudinous enough to hold a universe of meanings. You can tell she’s been raised on promises”). It’s not a mellow heartland rocker it’s a coiled and propulsive bit of proto-punk, its central lyric appropriated from a line of dialogue in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1963 gothic-horror film Dementia 13 (“Especially an American girl.

It’s one of the man’s most beloved songs, but “American Girl” doesn’t even sound like consummate Petty. You can’t begin to quantify Tom Petty’s legacy, but if you want to get a good idea of its near-infinite vastness, try to quantify only the legacy of Petty’s “American Girl,” released as a single in early 1977. – Tom Breihan “American Girl” (from Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, 1976) So read about ours, and then help us out by telling us about your own favorite Petty songs in the comments section.

Any of us could’ve picked any number of songs, and there would still be plenty more amazing songs left over. We all have Petty songs that we love, and each one of us picked one song to discuss. This was a rare all-hands-on-deck affair. So, with that in mind, we, your Stereogum staff, have come together to celebrate Petty’s songbook. Petty might not be with us any longer, but his songs always will be. Petty’s songs are such a part of our collective experience that it’s impossible to imagine a world without them. He just wrote a whole lot of really, really great songs - songs that can turn your day around when they come on the radio, songs that sound as fresh today as they did decades ago, songs that will always evoke memories of long car rides or basketball practices or afternoons spent on a porch with a beer in your hand.

He didn’t necessarily turn every head when he walked into the room. It’s not because he was a dominant personality, a stylistic innovator, or a monster performer. People who love music love Tom Petty, and the songs are why.

Tom petty songs list