Thursday, October 2, 2025
Time: 9:24 AM
Song: Honey Bee
Artist: Tom Petty
Mode of Consumption: Listening to songs with insects in title or lyric for this
week’s Pandmonium playlist.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/7bBJ2wBvhbCiNaZRqG3yTr?si=c215480f274443a9
I remember watching
a clip of Dave Grohl telling a story of playing drums for Tom Petty on this
song when Petty appeared on “Saturday Night Live.”
Grohl mentioned how
he thought “Honey Bee” was such a great rock song.
It was the first
time Grohl had performed following the death of Kurt Cobain, and that it confirmed
that he could continue in music after Nirvana. I think he even mentioned that
Petty invited him to stay with his group for the tour.
Grohl declined and
went on to form Foo Fighters.
I think it’s an
interesting lesson on how you can support others. It’s not always about saying
the right things or sending flowers. Sometimes it’s asking them to do what they
do. To get them back out in the world and make them realize the world is still
moving.
I imagine Grohl would
have reached that conclusion sooner or later, but it was probably easier going
behind the drum kit for someone like Petty and just playing, because Grohl knew
the eyes really wouldn’t be on him.
Today is the anniversary
of Petty’s death in 2017. We had seen him in Champaign that spring on his final
tour. I am not someone that gets emotional about celebrity deaths, but this was
a tough one. In part, because we had just seen him, but also because he was
such an omnipresent artist during my lifetime. His songs were on classic rock stations
and current pop stations. His music videos were played often on MTV and VH1 (in
the era where both regularly played music videos).
His CDs were ones I
played often. His little 3-minute stories always hit the right notes.
The sudden end wasn’t
one that made sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment