" and "Breakdown" kicked off a giant catalog of memorable songs for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It's hard not to associate the veteran band with epic videos like "Don't Come Around Here No More
" and chart-toppers like "Runnin' Down a Dream
" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance
." Will tomorrow's release of the Heartbreakers' studio album No. 12, Mojo, add to that list of memorable songs?To this reviewer, it already has. Watching their "Saturday Night Live" performance in May has gotten both songs on permanent repeat in my head ever since. And there's more on the disc where those came from.
One constant throughout much of this album is that it wears its influences on its sleeve. Obvious from Steve Ferrone's drum entrance in "I Should Have Known It
" is distinct inspiration from John Bonham. It was his style, perfected on "When the Levee Breaks
" and "Kashmir" among others, to lay down a plodding and authoritative rhythm to support a guitar riff. Yet this method has also been the domain of numerous Bonham imitators, heard on AC/DC's "Back in Black
" and Whitesnake's "Still of the Night
." Thus, Billy Squier's "Lonely is the Night
" seems to be the biggest direct influence on Petty and the Heartbreakers here, especially in terms of song structure. Note the reprise of the riff in double-time rocking out at the end of the song: That's totally Squier territory.
