The Heartbreakers bring rock 'n' roll back to Iowa City
By J. Christenson
The Daily Iowan - Tuesday, November 27, 1979
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will bring infectious rock 'n' roll to Iowa City when they play at Hancher Auditorium tonight at 8 p.m.
Formed by studio musicians from Gainesville, Fla., the L.A.-based band gained critical approval with its first album, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which included the single, "Breakdown." This was in 1976, when every new white rock group was branded "new wave" and the Heartbreakers soon received the undeserved label of punk rockers, much to their dissatisfaction ("Call me punk and I'll cut you," Petty said in a Rolling Stone interview.)
Since then, the group's music has been labeled as everything from outlaw urban blues to melodic hard rock and, like many new artists, the Heartbreakers have been compared to the likes of Dylan and the Stones. The best description of their sound comes from Petty himself, who calls it "the kind of rock that used to come blasting out of AM radios when every new song was a new Creedence or new Stones and all you wanted to do was crank it up."
Critical success brought commercial success when the group's second album, You're Gonna Get It, became a million-seller and the single, "I Need to Know" made the top 20. Petty's latest album is Damn the Torpedoes.
Warming up for the Heartbreakers will be the Fabulous Poodles. These English rockers have a reputation as rock 'n' roll clowns, but they are also musically solid, as displayed by tunes like their excellent cover of "My Generation" and their own "Vampyre Rock."
Tickets are $6.50 for students and $7.50 for non-students.
Tonight: TOM PETTY & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty's hard-driving, dynamic show is a must to see. His style is concentrated in straight-ahead rock 'n roll featuring fresh melodies and solid playing reminiscent of the Byrds and Stones
with special guest
THE FABULOUS POODLES
Tuesday, November 27
8 pm Hancher Auditorium
Tickets: $6.50 Students, $7.50 Nonstudents
Box Office open Today
11 - 9:30