Da Capo
464 Pages
As many of you may know, I love music. Tom Petty is one of my all-time favorite musicians. When I saw that his guitarist, Mike Campbell, wrote a memoir about his time in the Heartbreakers, I had to read it. Finally, after several months, it was available at the Lockport Public Library, and it came home with me. I must also say that rock bios are not my favorite books to read. Far too often, they’re ego driven tripe or they’re recovering addicts that want to preach their sobriety. All that is part of the story, but often detract from the moments we came to read about. Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell doesn’t do that. He’s a straight forward rocker and his narrative of those decades is just as straight forward. It was a welcome change from most of the music biographies that I read.
Mike Campbell was one of Tom Petty’s oldest friends, and was in some of Petty’s earliest bands. Almost his entire musical career was in tandem with Petty. He details meeting Tom and the efforts they went through to become a band. The tales of seedy bars, overzealous bar owners, and communal living make up a great deal of the early part of the book. These stories help to set the backdrop for the origins of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and where they got some of their inspiration.
The stories behind some of our favorite songs are just as interesting. The personal interactions between the band members are shown, even in their ugly moments. Mike Campbell can be brutally honest as he retells the high and low moments of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. As I said in my introductory paragraph, many times rock memoirs are either bombastic pomposity or sermons on addiction. Mike Campbell’s book is much different, and it is good. He reminds everyone that he is a rock star, from the stories, to the songs, to offering no apologies for that ridiculous mop on his head. He takes no prisoners but keeps the memories personal rather than theatrical.
Heartbreaker was a fantastic read that peeled back some of the haze around one of greatest bands in the land. Campbell spins yarns with the hominess that makes it seem like he’s just sitting around the fire with friends. This easiness brings the book together in a way that makes it a fun and engaging read. As a songwriter, he is a natural storyteller. It shines through with this book.
After reading many memoirs from rock stars, I have to say that Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell is one of my favorites. It is so different from the others, so much more engaging and pure about the story he was trying to tell. I learned many things I didn’t know before, especially surrounding Petty’s death. If you’re a fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell’s intimate look at decades of making music with his best friends is a great one to pick up.
Craig Bacon got to see Tom Petty once. It’s a crime that he didn’t get to see him more, but Ticketmaster sucks.