From The Archive: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers "Century City"

Tom Petty's 1979 deep cut is a middle finger to a city he loathes but clearly can't quit.

We don’t run ads here. On Repeat is made entirely possible through the support of our paid supporters. You can back independent ad-free music journalism for less than $1 a week.

Good Morning!

Today we’re taking a second look at “Century City” by Tom Petty. One of the things I plan to do this year is feature more of my Desert Island Discs. Damn The Torpedoes is one of them, so consider this something of a soft launch.

---

In 2017, 90000+ Florida Gators fans sang Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down." It was a moving tribute to their hometown hero who had passed away days earlier and never left in many ways.

In 1979, Tom Petty found himself a million miles away from Gainesville, Florida, in Los Angeles Superior Court right in the heart of a legal battle with his record label. In the middle of recording his 3rd album for Shelter Records, the label's parent company was sold to MCA. When Petty tried to opt out of his contract, he found himself in court. Petty threatened to scrub his forthcoming record, and MCA petitioned to seize the tapes from the band's sessions.

After each session, Petty had an engineer hide the recordings as a preemptive strike. Refusing to back down (heh), he even filed for bankruptcy, forcing MCA to open his contracts to renegotiation.

In the end, he stayed on the label but under far more beneficial terms than he'd had previously. Under the same deal, they also established a label for him: Backstreet Records.

Four months after appearing in court, Damn The Torpedoes appeared on record store shelves.

Photo: Futuro.cl

---

Petty's always been great at dropping singles- most fans can name quite a few tracks, but not always which record they appear on. Damn The Torpedoes is full of them, of course. This is the record that gave us "Refugee," "Here Comes My Girl," "Even The Losers," & "Don't Do Me Like That."

Four out of nine songs making the charts is remarkable. But the record is all killer from start to finish. Four of the nine songs charted. "Century City" isn't one of them, but it could've (should've?) been.

The track is a blistering bit of kicks rock; it's Tom raising his middle finger to a city he loathes but clearly can't quit.

Sometimes I want to leave you 
Sometimes I want to go 
Right back where I came from 
Back where I belong 
But it never lasts for too long 
Always goes away 
Well, I still don't look for reasons 
That's much too hard these days

Jimmy Iovine was on the boards and channeled that energy into a stadium-ready sound well. If Iovine teed the band up for stardom, the writing & music on the album knocked it out of the park. For a guy who often sang about losers, this was—and remains—a huge W.

1981's follow-up, Hard Promises, would find Petty much more relaxed with a sound that reflected it. But in 1979, Petty was still a kid from Florida with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove.

Almost 45 years later, Damn The Torpedoes proved he was here to stay.

---

More:

They’re eager enough to dress for success and hungry enough to show their teeth. In the past, they’ve flirted with black leather and bombast, intimations of tough-guy, flower-power pop and an occasional nervous New Wave beat. And carried off a lot of it. But what makes Damn the Torpedoes their best album yet isn’t so much its sound (though that’s clearer and punchier than before, thank heaven and coproducer Jimmy Iovine) but its assurance. Mechanical rhythms are hip, but something more fluid makes better time with the flowing organ and guitar surges Petty uses so well, and Damn the Torpedoes glides like a supertanker.

Read what else Rolling Stone had to say about the record here.

---

Listen:

“Century City” by Tom Petty| Damn The Torpedoes, 1979

Click the record to listen on your platform of choice.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this track!

Programming note: Tomorrow’s the 18th, and that means it’s time for what has become an On Repeat tradition.

If you’ve been here long enough to know what’s coming, I want to take a second to thank you again for continuing to be a part of this community. It truly means a lot to me. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, well, I hope you find tomorrow’s post half as fun as I do.

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

P.S. Have you seen this yet? Some of your favorite music writers got together and wrote about your favorite records. Check it out!