![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Tom-Petty-Musician-2012-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n
Wed 14 May 2025 18:45, UK <\/p>\n
There\u2019s always talk about the power of personal art. It\u2019s something revered as an act of true bravery for an artist to boldly put themselves into the picture and say it how it is, lifting the veil on their inner lives but still keeping a beautiful sheen of artistry. Yet to the artists themselves, they often don\u2019t see that twinkling, protective wash of poetry. Instead, they sometimes just see a wide open wound they\u2019re revealing to the world \u2013 or that\u2019s how it felt for Tom Petty<\/a>. <\/p>\n There\u2019s no denying that personal art is powerful<\/a>; that\u2019s the work that makes people feel less alone. Written from the perspective of one person\u2019s lived experience or deepest emotions, hearing someone sing it makes listeners feel seen and recognised. Even the most specific experiences will be able to find a kin in someone else. They say no man is an island, and personal art proves it as people naturally yearn for connection and to relate to one another.<\/p>\n While that\u2019s maybe a motivation for things to be released as an artist too hopes to find that connection and hopes to be the spark that starts it, it doesn\u2019t make the writing any easier, and it doesn\u2019t make it any less scary. <\/p>\n Imagine tearing the most emotional page out of your diary, setting it to music and releasing it. It would feel exposing, right? Deeply vulnerable, even somewhat violating to a degree, leaving you feeling like you were standing naked in front of the world. Even for artists whose careers were built on putting feelings to music, what\u2019s on the diary page sometimes makes it feel more sensitive.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2018Running Man\u2019s Bible\u2019 was a particularly emotional page, but Tom Petty put it out anyway. It was something he\u2019d wanted to try and write for a long time, but that exact fear of being too exposed held him back every time. But as the grief he felt towards the loss of his bandmate endured, he knew he needed to say it.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d always wanted to deal with Howie\u2019s death,\u201d he said, addressing the loss of Howie Epstein, the Heartbreakers\u2019 bassist from 1981 to 2002<\/a>. In the end, Epstein was fired due to addiction issues worsening his mental state and performance. In 2003, he sadly died from drug use.<\/p>\n It devastated Petty. Epstein was a treasured friend and collaborator with the artist, stating years before, \u201cYou gotta love him, I don\u2019t know if I ever tell him how good he is.\u201d <\/p>\n But as his addictions worsened, it also proved deeply confronting to Petty and his own history of heroin habit. \u201cI don\u2019t speak of out lasting those who are gone \/ Or the things I\u2019ve done \/ I care not to remember,\u201d he sings in the song as Epstein\u2019s death made him face up to the miracle of his own survival of addiction.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Pairing grief and a reflection on a dark period, it made the track incredibly tender and vulnerable. Petty knew he wanted to put it out to honour his friend and these feelings, but it didn\u2019t make it any less scary. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those embarrassingly revealing songs,\u201d he said, but no doubt many people around the world have benefited from and related to Petty\u2019s openness on the track.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n Subscribe To The Far Out Newsletter <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still) Wed 14 May 2025 18:45, UK There\u2019s always talk about the power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,21477,44188,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-101716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-tom-petty","11":"tag-tom-petty-and-the-heartbreakers","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114508121095121684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}