The 11 Best Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers of the 80s

Tom Petty rules.  

Petty owned the 70s.  It was this decade when Petty crawled out of the Florida swamps and kicked us in the ear drums with jangle-rific rock n' roll that infected us with push play, rewind, repeat.  "American Girl" & " Refugee" will out live us all.  In the 90s, Petty had a massive rebirth ignited by the late 80s iconic solo album, Full Moon Fever.  "Learning To Fly" had us strumming along as they went to the top of the rock charts, Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway were making video cameos, and indie filmmakers were hiring the band to score soundtracks.  Like the decade did for other 70s icon, John Travolta, the 90s reminded us why we loved them in the first place.

Twenty years down the road, TP & the HBs were as dominant as ever.  But in between the 70s and the 90s, Petty took the road less traveled.  The 80s may be Petty's most subversive decade.  The 80s were owned by MTV.  Petty couldn't dance like Michael Jackson, and he couldn't wear a dress (or not wear) like Madonna.  He couldn't rap like LL Cool J and claymation just wasn't his thing.  But that didn't mean Petty and the boys weren't churning out music that stood on par with the best of their career.  

Here are the 11 Best Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers of the 80s:

1. Rebels (Southern Accents)
2. A Woman In Love (It's Not Me) (Hard Promises)
3. Insider (Hard Promises)
4. Change Of Heart (Long After Dark)
5. The Waiting (Hard Promises)
6. Deliver Me (Long After Dark)
7. It Ain't Nothing To Me (Southern Accents)
8. Runaway Trains (Let Me Up I've Had Enough)
9. You Got Lucky (Long After Dark)
10. We Stand A Chance (Long After Dark)
11. Jammin' Me (Let Me Up I've Had Enough)

Buy Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers new album, Hypnotic Eye...now!!!

Don't forget to check out our blog's awesome new book The 111 Best Lists of the 2000s.  Available now!  (featuring Tom Petty's best of the 00s)