marvelous...
 

A long time ago, way before internet, a movie called FM about a radiostation was released. This song was one of the songs played in the movie. My favourite band Steely Dan wrote the titlesong, so my special attention was aroused. Many of the songs were good or great (including this one) and I used to listen to copies of the songs which my elder brother had copied for me on a taperecorder (one with large reels of tape). There was some magic about artists (for me esp. Steely Dan) because they never came to Europe so they seemed to only exist in my imagination. Nowadays the world is so much smaller and the magic has gone. Such a pity.

 Stingray wrote: 
I went out with a dutch mountess once upon a time ... she was a nine; just like this classic.

I will never forget how the world looked when this came out...and I recall clearly how we had the radio going really good and loud in the back of the room in high school one morning before Mr. Horne's Electronics class when this came in over the airwaves and BLEW US ALL AWAY!  Teach strolled in and was grinning as if even HE liked it as he reached over to shut it off.  We had all been turned onto this cool, rockin' new stuff by Tom Petty...and it continues to jam for me, like a Rock 'n' Roll Time Machine, right here on good old RP!

 rockpommel16 wrote: 
because you come from the "Dutch mountess"

God would be happy to be a roadie in this incredible band!

....not a great petty fan...but THIS song is a 9.......no doubt.....

I had not heard this song for so so long  - "classic" radio stations tend to play other Tom Petty tracks - but not this one - loved it! Thanks!

 Dinges,_the_Dude wrote: 
Right on. I actually prefer this to the live version, that we usually hear on rp.

8 -> 9

 lmic wrote: 
It seems he writes the majority of his songs in traditional, folk-music, chord structures; whether or not anything is innovative about that is debatable, but that's apparently what he likes, and he does it well.  Early on, his music did sound similar to The Byrds (especially when employing his 12-string Rickenbacker), but his influence is more obviously from Bob Dylan - whom The Byrds were overtly influenced by.

I think the live version is better.

This is so dull compared to the Grace Jones version.

 vandal wrote: 
count me in too

 adroc wrote: 
I'll second that emotion. . . 
 

such a good track.

the epitome of 70's cool...

Been w/ TP since 1976, but he'd nothing w/out Mike Campbell.  Brilliant!

 adroc wrote: 
So true...saw him in Irvine, CA last October.  Hadn't seen him in concert since 1983...God, it was great!

Nothin but love for the Petty!

Timeless.

 azdcryan wrote: 
Not much to touch it.

oh she runs lol believe me

have always been fond of the searing guitars on this one...TP and his mates are just so solid.

 h8rhater wrote: 
Hey, I love EC and Tom! Let's celebrate all the good music, and leave these squabbles to be sorted out by history.

Both of these guys have become pillars in the modern music pantheon, changing styles and sounds like a chameleon changes colors. There are very few artists who can pull that off. Thank God I've had both of them to listen to for all these years.

 billybob123 wrote: 
It's true that Less than Zero debut in March 1977 but only as a single. The album My Aim Is True was not released until July 1977 and then only in the UK. The US release was March 1978. So BillG is closer to correct when he says that TP predates Elvis by nearly 2 years.  EC came out at the beginning of the New Wave era of the late 70's/early 80's.  TP predates that era by coming out as a late classic rocker in the mid-70s.  Any similarity between the two is coincidental and likely the result of some h8r, like billybob here whose interest can't be held by the likes of lowly Tom Petty, trying to make a connection at the expense of TP.