1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: Tom Petty are insane. He barely escaped his life when 3 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: his house was burned to the ground by a mystery arsonist. 4 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: He hit a heroin addiction throughout the nineteen nineties, which 5 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: drove him into a pit of isolation from his family, 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 1: his fame, and his bandmates. Speaking of bandmates, his bass 7 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: player Howi Epstein wasn't so lucky. And even after Tom 8 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: Petty outran his heroin habit, his unexpected death in twenty 9 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: seventeen rocked the global music community to its core. It 10 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,319 Speaker 1: rocked the music community because Tom Petty didn't just make 11 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: great music. He made some of the greatest music of 12 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,279 Speaker 1: all time. Unlike that music I played for you at 13 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: the top of the show. It wasn't great music. That 14 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: was a preset loop from my mellotron called crazy like 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: a Fox Trot MK one. I played you that loop 16 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: because I can't afford the rights to with or without 17 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 1: you by you too? And why would I play you 18 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: that specific slice of leather vested ponytail cheese. Could I 19 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:25,679 Speaker 1: afford it? Because that was the number one song in 20 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: America On May seventeenth, nineteen eighty seven, and that was 21 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,919 Speaker 1: the day that the first phase of Tom Petty's career 22 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:38,200 Speaker 1: burned to the ground, setting the stage for descent into depression, dependency, 23 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: and then a triumphant return. On this episode house Fires, 24 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:50,960 Speaker 1: Hidden heroin Addictions, Isolation, and America's number one heartbreaker, Tom Petty. 25 00:01:51,800 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. The melting rubbers 26 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: scorched Tom Petty's skin. Little blisters bubbled up on his 27 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:32,080 Speaker 1: palms between his fingers. He fumbled with the molten garden 28 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: hose in his hands, aimed it at the hell fire 29 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: eating away at his home, and the heat from the 30 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,520 Speaker 1: towering flames chapped his cheeks, cracked his lips, dried his eyes. 31 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: Before he could shed a tear over his house crumbling 32 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: to the ground, the melted hose only spit a sad dribble. 33 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,239 Speaker 1: More flames burst through the windows, scaled the second floor, 34 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: consumed the roof until it collapsed in on itself. Tom 35 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: Petty's hopes of saving his home wilted, along with the 36 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 1: useless rubber hose in his hands, and the scream of 37 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: the fire engine siren emerging from the background was his 38 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: last hope. The local fire department pulled into the driveway, 39 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,239 Speaker 1: armed and ready to douse the fireball that was now 40 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: Tom's home, but it was too late. The flames had 41 00:03:19,360 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: already fanned, and from the street, Tom Petty and his 42 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,840 Speaker 1: wife Jane, and their young daughter Anakim watched their lives 43 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: collapse into heaps of ash. The Enzeno, California home was 44 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: the Petty's one residence. Tom Petty was famous, but he 45 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:40,240 Speaker 1: hadn't gone full superstar. The Heartbreaker's last album, Let Me 46 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: Up I've Had Enough, was their first album in eight 47 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 1: years to not crack the Billboard Top ten. He didn't 48 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,960 Speaker 1: have residences scattered all across the country on shoreline city 49 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,320 Speaker 1: streets and tucked into scenic mountains. This was his one house, 50 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: his one home, and now it was toast. So too 51 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,040 Speaker 1: was all the irreplaceable Heartbreaker's memorabilia, more than a decade's 52 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: worth memories of Tom's band burned to a crisp. The 53 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,640 Speaker 1: only room to make it out unscathed was the basement, 54 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: where Tom kept some at home recording materials, and the 55 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:22,839 Speaker 1: rest was gone, roughly one million dollars in damages. Annie Lennox, 56 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: then visiting Dave Stewart, Tom's neighbor in the other half 57 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: of Annie's band, the Arrhythmics, came by with some spare 58 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: clothes and stood with the family in somber solidarity. May seventeenth, 59 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven. It had started over breakfast. Tom sat 60 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: down with his bacon and eggs. Jane nursed a coffee 61 00:04:47,279 --> 00:04:50,719 Speaker 1: in a bowl of oatmeal, anakin just a small child, 62 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: munched away on some cereal. But as soon as their 63 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 1: meal started, Tom caught a whiff of smoke. Odd nothing 64 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: was on the stove, nothing in the oven either, which 65 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 1: could only mean Jane bolted out the front door with 66 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:10,920 Speaker 1: Anna Kim in her arms. Their housekeeper exited with flames, 67 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:14,239 Speaker 1: lifting her hair to Tom circled the backyard to grab 68 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: the garden hose in vain. What went down next was 69 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: the petty household up in flames. But as he would 70 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: soon learn, Tom wasn't the only person who had crept 71 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: into the backyard that day. Shortly after the fire, Arson 72 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:32,919 Speaker 1: investigators walked Tom around the back of his home and 73 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: pointed to a spot where someone had poured a hefty 74 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: helping of kerosene along the back staircase. This hadn't been 75 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: an Aaron house fire. Someone wanted to burn Tom Petty's 76 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 1: house down, and they wanted Tom and his family to 77 00:05:48,520 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: be home when it happened. The investigation rattled Tom. It 78 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: rattled a much worse than losing his material possessions. It 79 00:05:57,800 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: was one thing to have a chapter of your life 80 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: out of the blue. It was another to know that 81 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: that chapter had been closed by a stranger who wanted 82 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: you dead. Construction on a new house and the exact 83 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: same spot began in Earnest, but with no place to 84 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: call home, the Petty family packed up to join Tom 85 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:19,559 Speaker 1: on the road that year with Bob Dylan. Tom didn't 86 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: realize this would be some of his family's final moments 87 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: of true togetherness. As the tour bus hit the road, 88 00:06:27,160 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: only one thing was for sure. In more ways than one, 89 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: Tom Petty was about to start all over. Tom snickered 90 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,760 Speaker 1: from behind his plastic slingshot. He had good aim for 91 00:06:46,800 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: a kid, but great aim for a five year old, 92 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:53,160 Speaker 1: so good that he had just successfully redecorated the fin 93 00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,359 Speaker 1: of a passing stranger's fifty five caddy with a handful 94 00:06:56,400 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: of rocks he had dug up in the backyard. Nailed 95 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: him on the first track he chuckled to himself. He 96 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: couldn't understand why the red faced driver of the Cadillac 97 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,599 Speaker 1: felt the need to pull over and shake his fist 98 00:07:07,640 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: at him. Tom stared back with his boyish blue eyes, 99 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: totally blank faced, no remorse, A five year old, a 100 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: born rebel. The driver beyond pissed. He slammed the heavy 101 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: door of the Cadillac and marched up to the Petty's 102 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: front steps, pounded his meaty hand against the door. The 103 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: man's rage alerted Tom's mother to the scene. She listened 104 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: to the driver's of sanity laced ramp before profusely apologizing 105 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: for her son's who could behavior. Your father's not gonna 106 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: like this, she warned Tom, and he didn't. Tom's father, 107 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: Earl Petty, didn't even speak to him when he arrived 108 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: home from work that day, didn't offer any words of admonishment. 109 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: He entered the living room with his belt in his hand, 110 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,320 Speaker 1: already undone from the loops of his jeans. His knuckles 111 00:07:56,320 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: went white around the leather. Before Tom's heart froze. It 112 00:08:00,440 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: skipped half a dozen beats. That remorse was coming, after all. 113 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: His father raised the belt buckle over his head like 114 00:08:07,760 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: he was winding up for an all star pitch, and 115 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: he struck Tom on the back, on the legs, on 116 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: the arms, on the ass, on the chest. By the 117 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: time Earl Petty was finished with the punishment, Tom Petty 118 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: could hardly walk to his room as he was ordered to. 119 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,320 Speaker 1: His mother and grandmother came in later to tend to 120 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:33,960 Speaker 1: the purple welts that had sprouted all over his body. 121 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: Dousing him with ointments and gauze. Nursing him back to 122 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: health was a two woman job. Tom had suspected it before, 123 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:47,160 Speaker 1: but now he really knew it. His father, Earl Earl Petty, 124 00:08:47,559 --> 00:08:51,160 Speaker 1: was a man driven by rage, a rage that had 125 00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 1: been simmering just below boiling since he himself was a boy, 126 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 1: since back when he was no more than Tom's age. Now, 127 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:03,720 Speaker 1: it was hard to be half white in America, even 128 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:07,440 Speaker 1: harder to be half white in the South. Earle's mother 129 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,560 Speaker 1: was Cherokee. Earle's father a white lumber worker from Georgia. 130 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: He took his new bride to Reddick, Florida, where they 131 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:19,720 Speaker 1: fostered a self sufficient, albeit poor, farming life. The walls 132 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: of their shack were covered not with wallpaper but newspaper. 133 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: They trudged through the dirt just to use the outhouse 134 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,320 Speaker 1: the smell of chicken shit in the air. Earle's mother 135 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:34,200 Speaker 1: almost never left their humble homestead. Her skin was far 136 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: too dark to show around town, where any shade beyond 137 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,200 Speaker 1: lily white raised eyebrows and inevitably raised some fists too. 138 00:09:41,920 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: So home is where she stayed every day, at all hours. 139 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:49,320 Speaker 1: She was so much of a family secret that Tom 140 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: wasn't even sure of her real name, Sally. Maybe. Earl 141 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: and his twin sister, Pearl had to watch their backs 142 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: around town too. Half white meant you were half not white, 143 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: and that was an easy way to earn a random 144 00:10:02,600 --> 00:10:05,680 Speaker 1: ass whooping by some racist bastard was nothing better to do. 145 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,440 Speaker 1: These were not the makings of a happy young man, 146 00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: and Earl Petty seemed to know it. As a young adult, 147 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:16,600 Speaker 1: he uprooted his anger and started a new life in Gainesville, 148 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,199 Speaker 1: but his contemptful disposition followed him into adulthood and into 149 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:26,079 Speaker 1: fatherhood too. Earle was prone to anger, prone to knocking 150 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: back a few too many bottles, Prone to anger, especially 151 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,040 Speaker 1: after knocking back a few too many bottles, Tom was 152 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: almost always his punching back. His relationship with his father 153 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: was little more than a formality. As far as young 154 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: Tom was concerned, that was normal. It wasn't until later 155 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: in life that Tom would realize that fathers were supposed 156 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: to do more than bring home bacon and beat their children. 157 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: He didn't know any other way, though, But there was 158 00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:56,480 Speaker 1: one hand me down from Earl that Tom would put 159 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: to good use someday, such good use in more record 160 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 1: sales and royalties than almost any other musician in the country, 161 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 1: so good that Papa Petty would one day come crawling 162 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: back with a sudden change of heart. And that hand 163 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: me down was a rage. The feedback could pierce ear drums, 164 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 1: so too could the howl of the arena packed with 165 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: people shrieking his name out loud and enchanting the iconic 166 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:50,679 Speaker 1: choruses of his songs. Tom Petty cut through the rumbles 167 00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: of applause with a high voltage improvised guitar solo. But 168 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: now it was all absent, all lost in time, all silent. 169 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 1: The nineteen nineties were half over. Tom Petty was at 170 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:09,040 Speaker 1: home in Pacific Palaces, California, nearly a decade after the 171 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: fire that destroyed his family's home. He was alone, no wife, 172 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: no children, scampering around the halls, no bandmates calling, no 173 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:22,520 Speaker 1: buzz of a practice. Filling the silence. Tom hunched over 174 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: his half eaten Deli sandwich at his kitchen table and 175 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: recalled his day thus far. Woke up at nine, created 176 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:32,959 Speaker 1: himself in bed till noon, roused himself from the smog 177 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: of depression to visit the local sandwich shop. Shuffled over alone, unrecognized, 178 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: brought his sub home, cut it in half with a 179 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:43,480 Speaker 1: dirty knife, ate it slowly. He was in no rush. 180 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:46,080 Speaker 1: There was nothing much to do today, and there was 181 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: nothing much to do any day. It seemed. It was 182 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:52,040 Speaker 1: nearly two o'clock now, and that was as long as 183 00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:54,959 Speaker 1: he could go without dipping into his stash, as long 184 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: as he could go without the new constant in his life, Heroine. 185 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: The previous pillars of Tom Petty's life had crumbled. You 186 00:13:04,559 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: could say the house fire and Encino was a warning 187 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: for the demolition coming his way in just a few years. 188 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: It started with his divorce from Jane. That's what landed 189 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: him here in Palisades. A few years prior. He and 190 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: Jane had been drifting for a while before the lawyers 191 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: in legal paperwork entered the picture but finally pulling the 192 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,000 Speaker 1: plug in the marriage that was pulling apart their family. 193 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: That was the hardest part. Tom's time in the studio 194 00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 1: also pulled them away all too frequently, ever since the 195 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: marathon sessions in nineteen seventy nine with Jimmy Iavine for 196 00:13:38,240 --> 00:13:41,600 Speaker 1: his breakthrough record Damned the Torpedoes, the one with his 197 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: first major hits, incredible songs, Really Refugee and Don't Do 198 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,320 Speaker 1: Me Like That. Tom had sought perfection in the studio, 199 00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: no matter how long it took to find it, and 200 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: if he gets stuck on a song, he keep working 201 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 1: until he was unstuck. Now Tom was the one who 202 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:05,840 Speaker 1: was stuck at home alone, addicted. The isolation kept his 203 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:10,920 Speaker 1: memories healthy, fresh, incubated the bittersweet ones about when his 204 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:14,079 Speaker 1: family was still together, the bad ones about his father's 205 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:16,959 Speaker 1: fists from when he was just a boy. In the 206 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: years since Tom's ascent to Anthemic American Icon status, Earl 207 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,840 Speaker 1: Petty reconsidered the way he felt towards his son, likely 208 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: fueled by his new status as Tom Petty's dad, a 209 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 1: title that opened doors and blouses for him all over Gainesville. 210 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:35,880 Speaker 1: But it was too late. Tom saw through his father's 211 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: sudden smiles worse, He also saw unlikely parallels between the 212 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: two of them. Sure Tom never raised a hand to 213 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: any of his children as his father did to him, 214 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: but he did diffuse his anger with his fists on 215 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:52,840 Speaker 1: a few unlucky walls. And Tom didn't throw back drinks 216 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: like this old man did. But it's not like shooting 217 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: Heroin was a healthy alternative. Heroin was the new constant 218 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: in his life, his sole consolation. That and maybe the 219 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,200 Speaker 1: Deli sandwiches. So before the silence could close in on 220 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: him completely, that afternoon, Tom found a clean needle and 221 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: sunk into a different kind of quiet, just a little 222 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: something to force a sense of content. Being alone hadn't 223 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,880 Speaker 1: always been so ugly. Tom parted from the Heartbreakers for 224 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: a spell in nineteen eighty seven, and after a creative 225 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: rebirth as Charlie T. Wilbury Junior alongside his idol Roy 226 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: Orbison in the classic rock supergroup The Traveling Willbury's with 227 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: Bob Dylan and George Harrison and Jeff Lynn, Tom came 228 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: down with full moon fever. Most of the band hadn't 229 00:15:43,960 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: been thrilled about his sudden decision to go solo. If 230 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: only temporarily. He brought the Heartbreakers on that tour with him, though, 231 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: and the public didn't seem to put up too much 232 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:57,160 Speaker 1: of a fuss. When the record dropped in nineteen eighty nine, 233 00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: Tom Petty's career exploded under the guidance of his solitary vision. 234 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: Name the first three Tom Petty songs that come to mind, 235 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 1: and one of them is likely on Full Moon Fever, 236 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: free Falling, Running Down a Dream, I Won't Back Down, 237 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: classics must knows in the rock and roll cannon. These songs. 238 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: They are so ubiquitous that they are impossible to not know, 239 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 1: and for good reason, they are FM dial pop song. 240 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: Gold Critics called it his commercial peak. Full Moon Fever 241 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: might not only be Tom Petty's commercial peak, it might 242 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: be FM radio's commercial peak. Never before had an artist 243 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 1: raised on FM radio so fully mastered and exploited FM radio. 244 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,640 Speaker 1: Everything Tom learned from his days listening to the radio 245 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: as a boy in Gainesville, from Elvis Presley and Little 246 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: Richard to the Birds, the Rolling Stones, all of it 247 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: is synthesized on Full Moon Fever into the perfect combination 248 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: of pop creativity in commercialism. The blueprint. Hank Williams started 249 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: pop songs too catchy for radio to ignore and too 250 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: deep to not be listened to repeatedly. Is refined and 251 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: perfected on Full Moon Fever, and FM radio benefited from 252 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 1: it as much as Tom Petty did, as listeners flocked 253 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: to the dial repeatedly to tune him in. In the 254 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,960 Speaker 1: summer and fall of nineteen eighty nine and even into 255 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,640 Speaker 1: the spring of nineteen ninety for a year, Full Moon 256 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 1: Fever dominated the airwaves from coast to coast. The album 257 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: was on the charts for seventy seven weeks. It spawned 258 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 1: six singles, five of which charted, and three of which 259 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:34,040 Speaker 1: went to number one on Billboard's Top Mainstream Rock Songs chart. 260 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: Over thirty years later, its songs remain a staple of 261 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 1: FM radio and it continues to sell, having gone five 262 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: times platinum in both the US and the UK. With 263 00:17:46,440 --> 00:17:49,639 Speaker 1: Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty had reached the top of 264 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: the commercial mountain, and in nineteen ninety four with Wildflowers, 265 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: Tom Petty reached the top of the creative A masterpiece, 266 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: possibly Petty's finest full length, produced in collaboration with heavy 267 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,199 Speaker 1: metal and hip hop guru Rick Rubin. The songs on 268 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:12,919 Speaker 1: Wildflowers are that of a songwriter at the peak of 269 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: his powers, walking the creative tightrope of risk without a net, 270 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:20,159 Speaker 1: and too confident to give a fuck. The songs on 271 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: Wildflowers rock effortlessly in one moment and roll over easy 272 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: in the next. You know, rock hand roll, but either way. 273 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,400 Speaker 1: Tom Petty put his rage at front and center when 274 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:36,760 Speaker 1: he recorded rage from his father's abuse, rage over the breakup, 275 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: rage over the record companies that had once tried to 276 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: bend him over and screw them, And when he couldn't 277 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:43,879 Speaker 1: get a song to sound the way he wanted it 278 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:48,680 Speaker 1: to sound, he responded with rage. Back in the fall 279 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty four, when recording a previous master Stroke 280 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: Southern Accents, it was late or early, it didn't matter. 281 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,280 Speaker 1: It was four am, but it felt like four pm. 282 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,879 Speaker 1: Thank you very much, cocaine. It was taking forever to 283 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: get the songs right. They sounded nothing like the demo recordings, 284 00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: and the more he worked on matching the raw emotional 285 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: impact of the demos, the further he got away from it. 286 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,439 Speaker 1: And maybe he should just trash the songs. Weeks of 287 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,679 Speaker 1: work down the fucking drain. Tom stood up in the 288 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: control room and began to walk to the next room. 289 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: His frustration boiled over fuck. The frustration made his arm hot. 290 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: Without thinking, he cocked his arm back quickly and swatted 291 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: the back of his hand against the wall concrete. Tom 292 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 1: heard bones crack. He felt the crunch of his fingers 293 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: all the way into his molars. His knuckles were red 294 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: with blood. The surgery took four hours. Doctors filled his 295 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,240 Speaker 1: hand with wires and pins, and they told him he 296 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: never play guitar again, Never play again. Tom felt the 297 00:19:54,440 --> 00:19:57,639 Speaker 1: rage bubble up again. He would prove the doctor's wrong, 298 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,159 Speaker 1: and he did. Rage got him in this predicament, but 299 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: it also got him out. He took it day by day, 300 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: chord by chord, played through the pain. He got his 301 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:11,560 Speaker 1: tendons and muscles moving again. Soon he was playing entire 302 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: songs again, in writing songs too, and the songs were 303 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:19,399 Speaker 1: often sweeter than expected, especially some of the more tender 304 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: songs on Wildflowers. But they were sweet only because so 305 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:29,879 Speaker 1: many parts of Tom's life had already gone sour. And 306 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,840 Speaker 1: despite those sweet solo successes, there was such a thing 307 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:38,120 Speaker 1: as too much independence, too much alone time. And though 308 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: fellow Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and bem On Tench did play 309 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:44,439 Speaker 1: on Wildflowers, just as they had on Full Moon Fever. 310 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 1: Tom was ready again for the full band experience and 311 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 1: to reconnect with the entire band as a creative unit. 312 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 1: But their reunion immediately after the release of Wildflowers got 313 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: off to a bumpy start. Their nineteen ninety six album, 314 00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,120 Speaker 1: A soundtrack to the movie She's The One, was a 315 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: colossal commercial failure. It wasn't the band's fault. When the 316 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: release of the Ed Burns written and directed indie films 317 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:14,119 Speaker 1: starring Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz was pushed back nearly 318 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: three weeks. No one bothered to push back the soundtrack too, 319 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:20,560 Speaker 1: and who wanted a soundtrack to a movie that didn't 320 00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 1: even exist yet. She's The One sold only four hundred 321 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:28,520 Speaker 1: and ninety thousand copies, pitiful in comparison to Tom Petty and 322 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: the Heartbreaker's sales track record. So much for a triumphant 323 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:41,280 Speaker 1: heartwarming Heartbreakers reunion. Heartbreaker's bassist at the time, Howie Epstein, 324 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 1: was faring worse than anyone. How he was using heroin, 325 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 1: unlike Tom's more secret habit. How he had nothing to hide. 326 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:54,120 Speaker 1: How he had used since the Southern accent days more 327 00:21:54,160 --> 00:21:56,919 Speaker 1: than ten years ago. At this point, and from what 328 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:01,080 Speaker 1: Tom could tell, things weren't looking up for Howie. Not 329 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: only was using heroin a dangerous dance, but both he 330 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,639 Speaker 1: and Howie were older, in their forties, ancient in the 331 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: world of junkies. If twenty somethings rarely made it out 332 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,479 Speaker 1: from under heroin addictions, how could they expect to? How 333 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 1: could they even step outside to take their next record 334 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,919 Speaker 1: echo on the road. If drugs kept Tom glued to 335 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: the dull safety of his home and kept Howie glued 336 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: to a needle no matter where he went. Tom had 337 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: spent enough time at home, enough weeks motionless in bed, 338 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: enough hours gazing at the same four walls but glazed 339 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:37,119 Speaker 1: over her eyes. The studio and the tour bus were 340 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: the only places he had ever truly felt secure, satisfied, happy. 341 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:44,800 Speaker 1: Heroin didn't actually give him those things. It was an 342 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:50,359 Speaker 1: empty illusion, faker than his father's sudden admiration, the feeling 343 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: of the road, the roar of the stadium crowd that 344 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:59,640 Speaker 1: was real, raw righteous. Tom was joning for those feelings 345 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: more than an anything. Heroin be damned. He fell into 346 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:08,040 Speaker 1: this dependency alone, started shooting up alone, lived alone, languished alone. 347 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,960 Speaker 1: He couldn't hold out like this forever alone. The time 348 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,720 Speaker 1: for Tom Petty to commit to recovery, and only then 349 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: could he feel free. We'll be right back after this 350 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:32,600 Speaker 1: word word word. Tom Petty wasn't scared, but he did 351 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: ask the doctor to explain the procedure again. He wanted 352 00:23:36,440 --> 00:23:40,679 Speaker 1: to make sure he understood before he fully surrendered. First, 353 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:43,960 Speaker 1: the doctor said, Tom would fall asleep. Then the doctor 354 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: would administer a drug, a special drug, one powerful enough 355 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:50,280 Speaker 1: to force the remaining heroin in his body out through 356 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:54,280 Speaker 1: muscle spasms. Gnarly that that's what it took to get 357 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: clean before the Heartbreaker's echo tore. Then that's what Tom 358 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,800 Speaker 1: was going to do. For years, his hero addiction have 359 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,680 Speaker 1: been a very private affair. Who wasn't about to pack 360 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:05,240 Speaker 1: it up and take it on the road with him 361 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 1: like his favorite Rickenbacker. I had to go, especially since 362 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,200 Speaker 1: producer Rick Rubin had gone behind his back and told 363 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: his daughters about his little issue such a below the 364 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 1: belt move, and from a close friend too. It infuriated Tom, 365 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,120 Speaker 1: but his fury from the situation moved his recovery forward. 366 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:28,560 Speaker 1: He decided to undergo treatment professionally from a hospital bit 367 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:32,680 Speaker 1: armed with the right tools and medical personnel. Going cold 368 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,359 Speaker 1: Turkey hadn't cut it, so he brought in the big 369 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: guns rather the big drugs. Tom wouldn't feel so much 370 00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,199 Speaker 1: as a tick off, the doctor promised, But when it 371 00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: came time for the treatment to begin, Tom didn't even 372 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: feel himself fall asleep. What was sleep? Anyway? You were 373 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: too bold to ever fully give yourself over to it. 374 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,399 Speaker 1: And thus the weight, the heaviness, like a thick, heavy 375 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: blanket bearing down on you. It kept you still, kept 376 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,680 Speaker 1: you grounded, be honest, you liked it was a marked 377 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: difference from reality, a high wire act of rock and 378 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: roll up, up in a way, floating, always in the ascendant. 379 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,720 Speaker 1: At least that's what it looked like to everyone else. Anyhow, 380 00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,119 Speaker 1: you knew the truth. It was sometimes a mirage. Sometimes 381 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: you were free falling, but sh don't tell them that. 382 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: Quiet the crowd, just like on stage, stretch your arms 383 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,320 Speaker 1: out like wings, float, bring a single finger to your 384 00:25:31,359 --> 00:25:35,160 Speaker 1: lips and they'd respond because they didn't know. Neither did 385 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: some of your contemporaries, nor your heroes. Dell didn't know. 386 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:42,520 Speaker 1: Poor bastard Bob didn't care Prince knew it in his bones, 387 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:44,800 Speaker 1: and it was this. If you weren't on the rise, 388 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: then you were on the decline. That's the nasty little 389 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: bit about pop music. There is no status quo, there 390 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: is no leveling out. It's all up, up and away. 391 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,000 Speaker 1: Running down a dream sounds poetic, but it's fucking exhausting. 392 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 1: The run bit. That's what they don't tell you. It's 393 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: an endless marathon. The sleep, or your version of it, 394 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:10,000 Speaker 1: it helped in this time in more ways than one. 395 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: When Tom Petty opened his eyes again, he felt like 396 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:19,360 Speaker 1: he was emerging from a healthy hibernation. His eyes shifted 397 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,399 Speaker 1: to the nearby nurse. Did it work, he asked, Oh, 398 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,120 Speaker 1: it worked all right. How long have I been out? Two? 399 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:32,000 Speaker 1: The nurse replied, two hours? Tom asked two days. The 400 00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: nurse corrected him. Tom blinked at her in shock. Two 401 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: fucking days. That's one way to set out the worst 402 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:45,400 Speaker 1: to the withdrawals. With the right medical team literally by 403 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,639 Speaker 1: his side, Tom halted his heroin use entirely. After the 404 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,400 Speaker 1: two day knockout that had cleaned the dope from his system. 405 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: He established a new routine. Once a day, a doctor 406 00:26:56,080 --> 00:26:58,800 Speaker 1: or nurse would come by with a special pill for Tom, 407 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:03,080 Speaker 1: specifically to block the effects of opioids. It would block 408 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:06,239 Speaker 1: any temptation to relapse, too, and there was no use 409 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: shooting up if all you could feel was the prick 410 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,640 Speaker 1: of the needle and the sting of remorse. And after 411 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,520 Speaker 1: he took the pill, the doctor would fetch a flashlight 412 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,120 Speaker 1: and take a peek inside Tom's mouth to make sure 413 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,960 Speaker 1: that he did, in fact swallow it and wasn't hiding 414 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 1: it under his tongue or in the pocket of his 415 00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: cheek to spit out after they left, just like a 416 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:28,679 Speaker 1: rebellious little kid at the doctor's office. It was a 417 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: ritual that Tom came to appreciate. It provided real proof 418 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:36,000 Speaker 1: that things were turning around, that he was closer to 419 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 1: feeling like himself again, that he was closer to the 420 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,159 Speaker 1: road again, closer to hearing life and surround sound again. 421 00:27:44,000 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: But he had to start that journey from where it 422 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: was the most quiet work his way back to the 423 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:52,240 Speaker 1: deafening roar of a stadium show, and the treatment was 424 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:56,680 Speaker 1: reinvigorating his musical dreams. He would be fifty, soon able 425 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: to enter the great wide open of performing live once again, 426 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: and he only hoped his basis to would be able 427 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:10,000 Speaker 1: to do the same. After fifty six shows in four 428 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 1: months on the road, the Echo tour ended in October 429 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,840 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, and so did Howie Epstein's time as 430 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:22,240 Speaker 1: a heartbreaker. Two planes awaited the band in Indianapolis. One 431 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: pointed towards the sunny shores of the Bahamas, where how 432 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,720 Speaker 1: He could check into rehab and check out of his 433 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 1: rock and roll lifestyle for a spell, the preferred choice. 434 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: Another plane was headed for Van Nuys, California, home, the 435 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 1: opposite direction from recovery, the wrong choice. The goal was 436 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,600 Speaker 1: to make choosing recovery as easy as possible. Who could 437 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 1: say no to the Bahamas? Who could say no when 438 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: that private jet was right there in front of you? 439 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: How he could actually and how he did repeatedly for 440 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: an hour? No number of examples, Why could sway him, 441 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:00,800 Speaker 1: no number of wake up calls? The fact that how 442 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 1: he wasn't even on the cover of Echo, He had 443 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: unabashedly missed the cover shoe for fuck's sake, how he 444 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:07,680 Speaker 1: had just spent a good chunk of a year touring 445 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: for an album, that his face was completely missing from 446 00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: how he blew it, or when the rest of the 447 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: Heartbreakers got together to shoot that now iconic group black 448 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,160 Speaker 1: and white photo and Fields of Gold. They did it 449 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,640 Speaker 1: without how He. The band didn't need an explanation. They 450 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: didn't know where he was or who he was with, 451 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 1: but they knew exactly what he was doing. They knew 452 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 1: what he was choosing over the band, where his priorities lied, 453 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: how he hung Heroin over Heartbreakers, and with everyone already 454 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: in position, the other Heartbreakers moved forward with the shoot. 455 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: On the final cover art, the band's bodies appear slightly 456 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,600 Speaker 1: blurred from behind the barren branches in front of them, 457 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: with one familiar face noticeably absent. How He's disconnect from 458 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: the band was on display right there on the cover 459 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 1: for the world to see. But even when he was present, 460 00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: he required upkeep, more upkeep than the usual for someone 461 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 1: of his time to your rock stature, crew members were 462 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:05,280 Speaker 1: hired not just to push cases, but to placate Howie 463 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: during the inevitable withdrawals It booke ended shows in interstate travel. 464 00:30:10,600 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: Unlike Tom, how He had no shame. As the band bickered, 465 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: the promise of the Bahamas grew cold. It was clear 466 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: that how He wouldn't budge this habit. This indulgence of 467 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:24,760 Speaker 1: more than a decade was ingrained in him. It was 468 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: a package deal, Howie and heroin till the end. When 469 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:31,120 Speaker 1: how He boarded the plane, the van Nives for all 470 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: intents and purposes, he departed the Heartbreakers for good. Drug 471 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: counselors advised the band to let him go. They explained 472 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:41,880 Speaker 1: how the quote unquote rock and roll lifestyle would make 473 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: it harder for him to quit, even though Tom himself 474 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: wasn't using anymore. Heroin was only presented because how He 475 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: insisted upon it. How he could argue with the band 476 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,800 Speaker 1: all he wanted, but the band couldn't argue with his counselors. 477 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:58,200 Speaker 1: The decision to fire how He hurt, but if it helped, 478 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: that's all the band wanted. At this point, however, Heartbreaker 479 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: or not, Howie Epstein was beyond help. When Howie Epstein 480 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: heard the police siren, he didn't have to look in 481 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 1: the rear view mirror to see if it was him 482 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: that the cop was tailing. He just knew it's over. 483 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:44,920 Speaker 1: Carlene pulled the car over, he instructed from the passenger seat. 484 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,000 Speaker 1: The car's tires kicked up red dust as it pulled 485 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,200 Speaker 1: over on Air State twenty five, somewhere under the moonlight, 486 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 1: cloaking Albutquerque, New Mexico, June twenty sixth, two thousand and one. 487 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 1: Howie Epstein and Carlene Carter had been romantically and professionally 488 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:08,120 Speaker 1: involved since the late eighties, shortly after Carlene's divorce from 489 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: the Jesus of Cool Nick Low. Carlen was the daughter 490 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: of June Carter Cash and country singer carl Smith. That 491 00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: meant her stepdad was none other than Johnny Cash. She 492 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,800 Speaker 1: seemingly inherited the Cash family's long standing outlaws swagger, which 493 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: Howie witnessed firsthand when the Heartbreakers backed The Man in 494 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: Black for his nineteen ninety six album Unchained. Technically, Carlen 495 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: was pulled over for speeding, but speeding was the least 496 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,400 Speaker 1: of the pair's worries. Right now, Carlen and Howie had 497 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: two things to hide. One, Carlen was driving a stolen car, 498 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:48,959 Speaker 1: a two thousand and one Jeep Grand Cherokee that they 499 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: had lifted from a car dealership in Santa Fe three 500 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: months ago, and there was no way that could fly 501 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: under the radar. Not of the cop asked for the registration, which, 502 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:01,680 Speaker 1: of course he would two. Carlen had a hefty drug 503 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: stash hidden among her clothes in the back seat, just 504 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,720 Speaker 1: waiting to be uncovered. But stash was putting it mildly. 505 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: Carlene was packing two point nine grams of black tar heroin, 506 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:17,720 Speaker 1: along with an assortment of drug paraphernalia. Maybe, just maybe 507 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:22,200 Speaker 1: that would go unnoticed, but not likely. Once the pair 508 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: was booked for the stolen car, the cops turned the 509 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 1: jeep's interior inside out. Carlen took the rap for the 510 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,160 Speaker 1: drugs and claimed sole ownership for the stash, but it 511 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: almost didn't matter. It was all over the news that 512 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: Howie Epstein, former bass player for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 513 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: was caught red handed in a stolen car with Johnny 514 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,479 Speaker 1: Cash's stepdaughter and enough heroin to be strung out for 515 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: a century. Nobody cared who was charged with what the 516 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: public knew why he left the Heartbreakers, or more accurately, 517 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 1: why the Heartbreakers had left Howie. Now, he was only 518 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: proving the band right. He was forty five years old, 519 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:06,360 Speaker 1: a grown man, and still nothing but trouble, still a junkie, 520 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,320 Speaker 1: junked by one of the greatest rock groups of all time, 521 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: The headlines prepared the world for what they're about to see. 522 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:16,399 Speaker 1: A year later, when Howie Epstein appeared with the Heartbreakers 523 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 1: at the band's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, 524 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,800 Speaker 1: it was just what everyone expected. How He was wiry 525 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: and worn, beaten down by nearly twenty years of heroin use. 526 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,239 Speaker 1: His cheeks sunk into his sallow face. His hair was 527 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 1: disheveled and greasy, but not in that cool rock and 528 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,520 Speaker 1: roll refugee sort of way, more like the I didn't 529 00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:41,160 Speaker 1: look in the mirror today kind of way, that I 530 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:44,920 Speaker 1: need help way, and that ashen image would be the 531 00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:48,400 Speaker 1: snapshot that lingered in everyone's mind. When the news broke 532 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:52,800 Speaker 1: on February twenty third, two thousand and three, Howie Epstein 533 00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:57,439 Speaker 1: was dead. He was forty seven years old, young even 534 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:05,320 Speaker 1: by aging rocker standards. Tom Petty had chills. He mourned 535 00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:08,960 Speaker 1: in his own way from afar. He didn't attend how 536 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:11,840 Speaker 1: his funeral, didn't make the trip up to Milwaukee to 537 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:15,960 Speaker 1: pay his respects, and the heartache over losing a heartbreaker 538 00:35:16,440 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: was well heartbreaking. He could hardly believe he had been 539 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,840 Speaker 1: on the same track only a few years ago, that 540 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,600 Speaker 1: he had been able to escape Heroine's sole sucking grip. 541 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,799 Speaker 1: But that how he hadn't How he didn't live to 542 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,239 Speaker 1: see Tom return to the Rock Hall, this time to 543 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:35,080 Speaker 1: pay tribute to George Harrison alongside Prince. How he didn't 544 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:37,840 Speaker 1: get to see the sweat trip down the Heartbreaker's faces 545 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 1: on live television as the band took the stage in Glendale, Arizona, 546 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,520 Speaker 1: for the honor of playing the Super Bowl forty two 547 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:48,799 Speaker 1: halftime show. He never heard the solid late career releases 548 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:52,120 Speaker 1: that were Mojo or a Hypnotic Guy the band's final 549 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: studio sessions. Tom Petty reaped all of this, the many 550 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,919 Speaker 1: rewards of recovery, but then the opiates came for him too. 551 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 1: It was nothing, not a big deal, just to cracked 552 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,440 Speaker 1: him a little slip during a big rehearsal, a rehearsal 553 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:15,359 Speaker 1: for the Heartbreaker's fortieth anniversary tour in twenty seventeen. Tom 554 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:19,000 Speaker 1: Petty wasn't about to cancel fifty plus shows and disappoint 555 00:36:19,080 --> 00:36:23,359 Speaker 1: three generations of Heartbreakers fans over what a little fall. 556 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,840 Speaker 1: Tom was sixty six, but he wasn't feebly yet quite 557 00:36:27,840 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: the opposite. He was tough as hell. He survived forty 558 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: years of this rock and roll life. The anniversary was 559 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: proof of his stamina musically and physically. Doctors claimed Tom 560 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:42,879 Speaker 1: had a choice, that he could bail on the tour, 561 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: undergo hip replacement surgery, and stay cooped up in recovery, 562 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 1: twiddling his thumbs until he could perform again, and he'd 563 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: be at home alone. Now no more of that. Tom 564 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,799 Speaker 1: was going out on tour the way he saw it. 565 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:00,600 Speaker 1: There was no other option, backing down met letting down 566 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: literally thousands of people. Tom Petty played all fifty three 567 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:13,880 Speaker 1: shows while nursing a fractured hip. The pain pierced through 568 00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:18,600 Speaker 1: every performance. The painkillers numbed some of the sensations, but 569 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,319 Speaker 1: they couldn't quiet the dreaded sounds of his injury, the 570 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:27,400 Speaker 1: bones grinding, clicking, cracking, overtaking the music. In Tom's mind, 571 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:30,920 Speaker 1: the rage boiled in his brain, and that his fortieth 572 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 1: anniversary tour had to be spent like this, in complete agony. 573 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: Since the relief from the fentanyl patch he had been prescribed, 574 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 1: it had never lasted long enough. He wins through the 575 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 1: pain radiating from his hip into his abdomen, the pain 576 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 1: pulsing down his leg, Pain in Dallas, pain in Nashville, 577 00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 1: pain in Tampa, pain and Napa, pain in Pittsburgh, pain 578 00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:57,799 Speaker 1: in Cleveland, pain in Boston, painted the Hollywood Bowl, and 579 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:02,920 Speaker 1: then overnight there was no pain at all and there 580 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,040 Speaker 1: was no Tom Petty to complete the tour in New York. 581 00:38:08,280 --> 00:38:12,239 Speaker 2: Crisis for legendary singer Tom Petty to Petty, the rock 582 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:14,400 Speaker 2: star best known as the front man of Tom Petty 583 00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:19,840 Speaker 2: and the Heartbreakers, is on life support tonight. He was 584 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 2: rushed to the hospital after he was found unconscious in 585 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:26,480 Speaker 2: his home. He apparently suffered a full cardiac arrest the 586 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 2: Cardiac or West and may still be on life support. Unfortunately, 587 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:34,840 Speaker 2: we have some more breaking news to tell you tonight, 588 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,240 Speaker 2: the death of a rock and roll icon, Tom Petty, 589 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,520 Speaker 2: died tonight at the age of sixty six after suffering 590 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:45,439 Speaker 2: from cardiac arrest. Tom Petty, the longtime manager of Tom 591 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:48,680 Speaker 2: Petty and the Heartbreakers, confirming his death just a few 592 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 2: minutes ago. Though Tom Petty was sixty six, he survived 593 00:38:52,680 --> 00:39:03,160 Speaker 2: by his wife and two daughters. Had two daughters. 594 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:08,439 Speaker 1: First came the cardiac arrest, which left him unconscious at 595 00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: home in Malibu. Then came the sickly beap of his 596 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:17,160 Speaker 1: life support at UCLA Medical Center, and then Tom Petty 597 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:24,160 Speaker 1: circled back to silence forever his rage ran dry. Doctors 598 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:29,680 Speaker 1: blanded on a fatal mix of medications fentanyl, oxycodone, tamazipam 599 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:35,239 Speaker 1: a praslam a seat to feanyl despropiano fetanyl, all circulating 600 00:39:35,280 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: in Tom's veins when he died. According to a report 601 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:43,719 Speaker 1: from Rolling Stone Magazine, those last two drugs, both derivatives 602 00:39:43,760 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: of fentanyl, were illicit black market fodder. Tom's family declined 603 00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:53,480 Speaker 1: to comment, instead pointing their fingers strictly at his fentanyl patch, 604 00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:59,800 Speaker 1: both prescribed and palliative. Fentanyl in opiate just like heroin, 605 00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:04,720 Speaker 1: except thirty to fifty times stronger. Now it was the 606 00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,680 Speaker 1: fans turned to feel that feeling, that rage, And they 607 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:11,160 Speaker 1: felt it when they thought about a life gone too soon, 608 00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,160 Speaker 1: and they felt it when they thought about a life 609 00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,680 Speaker 1: that didn't have to end that way. And Tom Petty 610 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: had fought to end his free fall towards an early death, 611 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: and he won, or so he thought, and the fans 612 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,520 Speaker 1: were left with his music and his memory, but also 613 00:40:24,920 --> 00:40:27,719 Speaker 1: with rage that can never be resolved. It would never 614 00:40:27,760 --> 00:40:36,160 Speaker 1: bring him back, and that is a disgrace. I'm Jake 615 00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:59,920 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Your 616 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits 617 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:05,720 Speaker 1: for this episode can be found on the show notes 618 00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:09,239 Speaker 1: page at disgracelampod dot com. 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