Tom Petty Runnin Down A Dream

Tom Petty Running Down A Dream, released October 14^th 2007, is a documentary about the rock band Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. The film has an amazing list of guests that are interviewed throughout the film about the band. Some of the stars that are featured on the panel of guests in the film include: Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, George Harrison, Eddie Vetter, and Rick Rubin. The first part of Tom Petty Running Down A Dream covers Tom Petty’s childhood, the evolution of Mudcrutch, and the battle with the record company over a copywriting dispute.

From early on in Tom Petty’s childhood, Tom knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life. This has a lot to do with the fact that his uncle worked in the movie industry and because of this he was able to meet Elvis Presley. The fact that Tom Petty met Elvis Presley had a big impact on Tom Petty and he instantly became an Elvis Presley fan and started listening to a lot of music because of this.

After meeting Elvis Presley Tom Petty’s dream was to play music. He followed his hearts desire and learned how to play the guitar. He later went on to form a band in high school named Mudcrutch. Mudcrutch stayed together for a while and they had a lot of material written. They later went on to California and got a record deal.

After they were signed the record label decided that they didn’t want the band anymore and only wanted Tom Petty. After Tom Petty heard the news that they only wanted him, he had the tough job of telling the musicians that he convinced to drop their personal lives and other aspirations they were pursuing in order to attain the record label that the record label only wanted him. This was very tough for Tom because Mudcrutch was like a family for Tom.

Soon after this he had the privilege of picking his own band. Mudcrutch had stayed together and had made some adjustments to the lineup to the band. One day Tom went to a recording session to see how they were doing. When he heard them he was very impressed and he took the band and got them on his label. They later came up with the name Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.

One thing that I found interesting in the film was that Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers didn’t have the copy write for a lot of their hits. This is something that I’ve always heard that I need to do as a songwriter is to copy write my material. I never thought anything of it until I met up with my mentor this summer. Although I had written some good songs, I never thought that they were good enough to make a lot of money off of them.

When I saw that Tom Petty didn’t copy write his material I almost choked on my drink because you would think that someone of the greatness of Tom Petty would surely have the knowledge to copy write his material. I’m not sure why he didn’t have his material copy written I have the assumption that its because he didn’t have much knowledge about the business aspect of the music industry until it was too late.

Although this was definitely a hard time for Tom Petty and The Heart Breakers, when the issue of not having his material copy written Tom Petty didn’t just roll over and let this get the best of him and the band. He took action and took the issue to court. Tom Petty even threatened to leave the record label and to go another record label.

Throughout this process of a lengthy trials and tribulations for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers they continued to record. The band continued to record on their new album. They worked on the album in the studio and since Tom Petty was under trial they had to have a secret place to hide their material so that if it was brought up in court whether or not they were recording Tom Petty could deny and say that he did not know where the recordings were. Fortunately, the trial came to an end with good results for Tom Petty. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers got their own record label.

In conclusion I would like to say that this is a great film that portrays the life of an American icon. Tom Petty has greatly accomplished his dream of being a musician and like the name of the film and the song he has definitely ran down his dream. What is even greater is that he is so full of ambition that he hasn’t stopped yet and is still chasing his dream today and is still making his mark on rock and roll today. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t heard of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers.