He was probably the least technically gifted performer to ever headline the Super Bowl Halftime show.

He was an unconventional conventional rock star - his charisma subtle, his voice nasal but effective, and his appearance was - at best - a bit avian. His legacy is just DECADES of iconic songs. There are no lurid Tom Petty scandals, car crashes, stints in jail, public meltdowns or things he had to walk back and make us cringe today (well, maybe 'Zombie Zoo'). But he wrote so many iconic songs - and is remembered for little else - that it seems apt. Is it cheesy to say 'Tom Petty was all about the music, man?' Maybe. What mattered to him was being part of a lineage of timeless rock songwriting.

His greatness was that he didn't seem to be too bothered if people thought he was great or not. But as far as I can tell, all these people (not sure about Springsteen) actually revered Petty - and genuinely liked his company. Yet, he was often seen as a second fiddle to Dylan, Neil Young, Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, The Byrds, George Harrison, and more. I've long identified with Petty's celebration of songwriting and his general disregard for most everything else. I grew up loving Tom Petty - thanks to my step dad who played him nearly constantly and scoffed at the 'grunge' era of bands that didn't share Petty's classicist reverence for the history of rock music.

Tom petty album covers