The album that showcased Tom Petty’s with the Heartbreakers. Every song features classic production and songwriting.
When Petty released the album – Damn the Torpedoes stayed at No. 2 on the Billboard albums chart for seven weeks, and if only Pink Floyd’s The Wall wasn’t at the top spot at that time, Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes would have been number one. But despite not reaching number one, the album would sell nearly three million copies worldwide. It validated the band’s stardom.
The group’s third album would be their breakthrough signaling that Petty finally would hit the spotlight. After having to release two albums they finally found their calling – Petty and the Heartbreakers took admiral David Farragut’s legendary Civil War declaration of “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead” as their weapon in creating such a masterpiece in 1979.
Damn the Torpedoes set up Petty and the Heartbreakers for creating such history in the music scene and the outcome after the release, their next three albums all went Top 10 and produced Top 40 singles.
Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers helped to shape rock n’ roll back in the game during a period in which punk and disco almost took over the scene. The group made music that still baffled critics: some thought they were punk, and while others thought they are too famous to consider them as underrated.
One thing is for sure, it was this album that put them in the map alongside legends!