It ONLY Hit

Shrouded in the intrigue of an urban myth about a deadly acid trip, and cryptic lyrics, many shared that this 70s classic was about a suicide. American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers etched the superstar onto the Mt. Rushmore of rock n’ roll storytellers. The fact & fiction surrounding one of the greatest rock songs ever. IN hindsight it’s actually this Tom and his band the Heartbreakers biggest hit ever… Except for the fact that it wasn’t actually a hit.. and it was the last song he ever played live. the real story of this classic rock standard is next.. …. NEXT on Professor of Rock.”

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Hey music junkies, Professor of Rock always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time. If you’ve ever ever been curious about the stories behind the art, lyrics and music of rock and roll this channel will be stop you’ll want to make. Just subscribe below right now to get The stories of the songs from the legends . also if you’d like help our mission of curating this history and received benefit for doing so, take a look at our patreon link below.

IT’s time for another edition of our show breakthrough where we break down that singular sensation that helped kick open the door to an artists career. This one packs so much power it’s will give you roundhouse kick to the jaw from one of the greatest who ever stepped up to a microphone. It’s interesting that sometimes a breakthrough story doesn’t seem like one until you have some hindsight.

When Tom Petty released his legendary debut album, Breakdown was the first single released, becoming their first top 40 hit. Just a while later when Tom and the Heartbreakers released American Girl form the album it didn’t’ even chart in American, but it started the flame that would enable Tom and the band to dominated into the next few decades. But let’s go back to the beginning.

There were two events that proved most pivotal in forging Tom Petty’s journey to stardom: The first was meeting Elvis Presley when he was 10 years old in 1962, on the set of Follow the Dream- a movie that Elvis was starring. in. Tom’s uncle was working on the set, and one day his aunt took him to the location they were shooting, and Tom’s uncle introduced his nephew to ’The King.’

Petty described the life-changing moment as “a religious experience.”The 2nd defining happening was when Tom saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show in ’64. Like so many other aspiring artists that saw that landmark broadcast there was no turning back for young Tom: When Petty saw The Beatles, and the ensuring audience hysteria, he discovered his purpose in life was to be a rock musician and put a band together.

So as he started to make his way in the world, he was a starving musician, just out of high school, he grabbed some random jobs to make a few bucks around his home in Gainesville, Florida.
One of those odd jobs was that of gravedigger. He took the job because he could dress slovenly…. and no one would care.
The first band that Petty put together to follow his Beatles inspired career path was a frat house group called The Sundowners, followed by the much more notable outfit (Mudcrutch)- that he founded with Tom Leadon in 1970.