![\"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
Sun 11 May 2025 21:00, UK <\/p>\n
The explosion of heartland rock that swept across the 1970s American charts is virtually singlehandedly championed by New Jersey anthem stirrer Bruce Springsteen. However, similarly penning numbers speaking to the blue-collar experience of the country was Florida\u2019s Tom Petty<\/a>.<\/p>\n Backed by his Heartbreakers band, Petty added a southern twist to his rootsy rock stroll that would win fans as prestigious as Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison\u2014becoming an official member of the Travelling Wilburys supergroup in 1988, comprised of his new songsmith fans.<\/p>\n Following their career peak up til the mid-1980s, waning relevancy had nagged Petty as he soldiered through the decade\u2019s rapidly changing pop climate. Keeping afloat with the successful Southern Accents and True Confessions tours, the latter shared with Dylan, and his first solo LP Full Moon Fever, Petty entered the 1990s with a buoyed rejuvenation in the commercial afterglow of monster singles \u2018Runnin\u2019 Down a Dream\u2019 and \u2018Free Fallin\u201d. Eager to maintain momentum, Petty corralled his Heartbreakers to California\u2019s Rumbo studio, with ELO\u2019s Jeff Lynne sharing production duties, to cement himself as an elder statesman for the new decade.<\/p>\n Released in July 1991, Into the Great Wide Open furthered Petty\u2019s semi-comeback with the help of its mammoth lead single \u2018Learning to Fly\u2019. Shaped by the global tumult of the day, Petty soaked up the tensions surrounding the Gulf War<\/a> to inform the single\u2019s lyrical examinations of redemption, yet it was \u2018Two Gunslingers\u2019 that reflected the era\u2019s warring belligerence more overtly, albeit draped in his characteristic narrative humour amid its gentle acoustic strum and dramatic piano.<\/p>\n Depicting two cowboys pressured to shoot it out by a braying crowd, the mutual existentialism forces the duellists to \u201ctake control of their lives\u201d and put down their guns. A soft analogy of the USA-led coalition forces\u2019 assault on Iraq, but in keeping with Petty\u2019s grounded lyrical relatability that smatters his work.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, I love that one,\u201d Petty revealed to Performing Songwriter in 2014. \u201cIt\u2019s one of my favourites. The whole idea of a gunslinger questioning his existence is great, saying, \u2018I\u2019m taking control of my life\u2019. It really cracks me up, still, that song (laughs). I was tremendously pleased with that one. That was one of those rare moments when I actually got to say something and entertain the people at the same time. I wrote it in a couple of hours. Written during the Gulf War\u201d.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a plea for peace that struck a chord with a global fanbase and beyond fatigued by conflict. \u2018Two Gunslingers\u2019 archetype was malleable to reflect everything from the Cold War\u2019s waning oppositions, the political violence still engulfing Northern Ireland, or the bitter ethnic divisions spiralling out of control in the crumbling Yugoslavia. While some may say its commentary is trite and lacking sophistication, a humble plea for peace and an extended handshake recognising each side\u2019s humanity feels less cloying in a contemporary world ravaged by entrenched divisions.<\/p>\n \u2018Two Gunslingers\u2019 wasn\u2019t the only song to touch on the Gulf War. Pearl Jam allegedly crafted Ten\u2018s \u2018Garden\u2019 as a response to the surge of military funerals rocking the American conscience, Geto Boys launched a more full-throated hip-hop attack on \u2018Fuck a War\u2019, and Bad Religion invited foreign policy expert Noam Chomsky to offer a spoken word analysis on their New World Order: War #1<\/a> EP.<\/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) Sun 11 May 2025 21:00, UK The explosion of heartland rock that…\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-93853","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\/114491680685950097","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93853","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=93853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93853\/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=93853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}