When looking at the way that Iovine and Petty came up in the music industry, it’s strange to think of them seeing eye-to-eye on anything. One had been known as the rough-and-tumble producer out of New York working with artists like Bruce Springsteen, and the other was the gritty rock and roller from Florida trying to make his answer to the British invasion.
After working with the biggest names in music, though, Iovine thought that he had what it took to take Petty to the next level. While Petty had hired Iovine as an engineer, he admitted to not listening, eventually coming into the studio with his own engineer Shelly Yakus for what would become Damn the Torpedoes.
Going through the rough passes of every song, Iovine remembered being blown away by everything he heard. Discussing the album with the series Classic Albums, he remembered Petty being one of the few who had perfect songs with him, saying, “The first thing he did is play me ‘Refugee’ and ‘Here Comes My Girl’. And it’s the first time I’ve ever said, ‘You don’t need any more songs’. I’ve never said that since”.
Outside of the great songs, Petty wanted to create something that gave the record an identity. When linking different pieces of the album together, certain sounds would be fed through various settings to make it sound strange, including a cameo from guitarist Mike Campbell’s wife recorded on accident before ‘Even the Losers’.
While Iovine admitted that he wasn’t as much of a fan of those subtle blemishes, he admitted that nothing about the final product could have been improved, saying, “They wanted that stuff on there, not me. But, really, these guys were already brilliant record producers. The record’s perfect. It was number two to Pink Floyd's The Wall for nine weeks. We never went to number one. Talk about The Wall”.
As much as Petty fought to get the best takes that he could in the studio, it didn’t come without hard work. Outside of playing the song in one perfect take whenever they could, the band would eventually fire and re-hire drummer Stan Lynch halfway through the recording after Iovine thought that he wasn’t the right guy for the record.
That’s before Petty even got outside the studio, having to go to war with his record company and getting more agitated with the suits who thought they could take the copyright of his songs away from him. When you listen to songs like ‘Even the Losers’ and ‘Refugee’, though, Petty didn’t sound like he was backing down. This was a man with a clear vision in mind, and he was going to stomp out anyone who was in his way.
Source Farout
