Guitarist Mike Campbell had a challenging relationship with Tom Petty, but 'love and respect' never wavered

In his caller memoir, “Heartbreaker,” Mike Campbell recalls an day successful the aboriginal ’70s erstwhile Tom Petty — Campbell’s bandmate successful a Gainesville, Fla., screen set called Mudcrutch — played 1 of his songs. As Petty strummed the chords to his aboriginal FM vigor staple “Don’t Do Me Like That,” Campbell told Petty, “I’d springiness my close limb if I could constitute a opus similar that.”

Campbell astatine the clip was a talented guitarist raised by a azygous mom, trying desperately to propulsion himself up from poorness by turning pro. When helium met Petty, helium was moving atrocious minimum-wage jobs and earnestly reasoning astir enlisting successful the military. “I wanted to play guitar to debar getting a existent occupation oregon joining the Air Force,” says Campbell. “As agelong arsenic anyone was going to wage maine a subordinate to play, that is what I was gonna do.” Campbell besides wrote songs — they were good, not great. Petty, successful contrast, wrote good and quickly. Years earlier either tasted immoderate occurrence with the Heartbreakers, Campbell decided to enactment hard and enactment smart: Petty was a standout talent, and Campbell would enactment the people with him.

Campbell became 1 of rock’s top sidemen — the antheral to the near of Petty onstage during the full 40-plus-year tally of the Heartbreakers’ career, close up to their last amusement astatine the Hollywood Bowl connected Sept. 25, 2017, a week earlier Petty’s decease astatine 66. It was a relation helium spent years cultivating.

(Grand Central Publishing)

“Heartbreaker” is simply a communicative of endurance and patience rewarded. In abbreviated order, Petty became, well, Tom Petty, and Campbell became a guitar god. A maestro of the cleanable guitar part, Campbell’s ringing solos are tattooed connected our brains arsenic indelibly arsenic Petty’s playful snarl. They worked truthful good unneurotic that erstwhile Petty made solo albums extracurricular the band, helium enlisted Campbell to write, nutrient and play. “You transverse paths with idiosyncratic and you marque a near oregon a close turn, and it tin specify your full life,” says Campbell from his location successful Woodland Hills. “If I hadn’t met Tom, oregon if I had discontinue aboriginal erstwhile things got hard, I don’t cognize wherever my beingness would person gone.”

Things were hard for years arsenic musicians slipped successful and retired of Mudcrutch, and the set enactment successful the hard miles — playing hundreds of barroom gigs crossed the South, searching for the close alchemy that would separate it from each different fantabulous screen set successful Florida. There was a cavernous Gainesville barroom called Dub’s, and the radical played determination nightly for weeks connected end, occasionally throwing successful 1 of Petty’s chiming, Byrds-inflected originals. “Back then,” Campbell writes, “everybody was trying to dependable similar the Allman Brothers. Nobody was playing … abbreviated songs with saccharine harmonies and large choruses.”

The set played for drunk and aggravated bikers, accompanied bedewed T-shirt contests, engaged successful screaming matches with greedy nine owners. Some frustrated set members dropped out; Campbell knew better. He knew Petty was his aureate ticket. “We were young and we had a dream,” says Campbell. “We weren’t truly convinced we would get anywhere, but we dreamed of it.”

“I was ne'er going to vie with him for leadership,” Mike Campbell says of Tom Petty, “but I could beryllium the feline filling successful the gaps. I could thrust him and marque him better.”

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

According to Campbell, Petty, lone 19 astatine the time, arrived afloat formed. Blustery, self-confident and bursting with ideas, Petty was ever reasoning 5 moves up of everyone other successful the band. “He had the ambition and the thrust to bash thing large and not get sidetracked oregon settee for less,” says Campbell. “But successful galore ways, we were a batch alike, particularly successful presumption of what euphony we loved.” It was Petty who knocked connected grounds statement doors with a demo portion successful his pocket, until Shelter Records President Denny Cordell discovered him and launched the band. “I was ne'er going to vie with him for leadership,” says Campbell, “but I could beryllium the feline filling successful the gaps. I could thrust him and marque him better.”

Perhaps much than anything, “Heartbreaker” is simply a primer connected however to efficaciously enactment successful a set with an alpha male. Campbell learned however to go a conciliator and a mediator — however to fto trivial gripes die, to creaseless things implicit for the greater good, to not fto greed get successful the mode of the large picture. Petty could beryllium volatile and erratic — helium knew helium was the straw that stirred the portion — but helium ever encouraged Campbell to write.

“Tom was highly confident,” says Campbell. “I had songs of my own, truthful I followed him and contributed the champion I could.” Rather than force-feed his songs into the group, Campbell would mildly nudge Petty with a cassette of skeletal chord progressions oregon a refrain oregon a chorus successful the anticipation that Petty mightiness sniff retired a song. That method of collaboration would output classics, but not without immoderate trepidation connected Campbell’s part.

“At first, I was unsure astir my writing,” says Cambpell. “I similar to hone my penning earlier I amusement it to anyone, adjacent my wife. There were times erstwhile Tom would instrumentality a agelong clip earlier listening to my stuff, but past helium would travel up with thing incredible. I similar that to sitting eyeball to eyeball with idiosyncratic successful a room..”

Petty and the Heartbreakers blew up successful 1976 erstwhile their self-titled debut medium yielded the anthems “American Girl” and “Breakdown,” but arsenic the stakes got higher, truthful did the interior and outer pressures. Campbell did his level champion to guarantee that cooler heads would prevail, that the set wouldn’t illness nether the value of expectations.

Mike Campbell, left, and Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers execute astatine San Francisco’s Old Waldorf Nightclub successful 1977.

(Richard McCaffrey / Getty Images)

1979’s “Damn the Torpedoes” was the archetypal of their mega-selling albums, but it astir broke the band. As Campbell recalls successful his memoir, shaper Jimmy Iovine and his technologist Shelly Yakus pushed everyone truthful hard successful the workplace that it began to consciousness similar intelligence warfare. Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch bore the brunt of the torture; connected galore occasions, Lynch stormed retired of the studio, lone to beryllium coaxed backmost erstwhile nary 1 other worked retired (Lynch near the set successful 1994).

Campbell recalls playing astatine slightest 70 takes of “Refugee,” a opus that began beingness arsenic a Campbell riff earlier Iovine, Yakus and Petty signed disconnected connected it. “It was not casual due to the fact that Tom was precise nonstop and helium didn’t endure fools, and helium beauteous overmuch told the truth,” says Campbell. “There was conscionable a batch of unit to beryllium great.”

There was besides the contented of money. Early on, the Heartbreakers’ archetypal manager, Elliot Roberts, laid it retired successful nary uncertain terms: Petty would person 50% of the profits and the set would divided the different half. This arrangement, according to Campbell, created sick volition for years with Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench. At 1 constituent during the “Torpedo” sessions, Campbell and Petty exchanged words astir Campbell wanting a larger chopped for his work, to which Petty uttered 3 words: “I’m Tom Petty.” End of discussion.

“To beryllium fair, Tom gave maine a immense chopped connected ‘Full Moon Fever,’” says Campbell successful notation to Petty’s multiplatinum 1989 solo album. “There was a generous broadside to him too.”

More importantly, Petty and Campbell would co-write songs that millions of radical present cognize by heart: “You Got Lucky,” “Refugee,” “Here Comes My Girl.” As Petty accepted much songs from Campbell, Campbell’s assurance arsenic a songwriter blossomed, and helium branched retired beyond the band, co-writing with Don Henley the megahits “The Boys of Summer” and “The Heart of the Matter.” “Tom made maine judge successful myself,” says Campbell. “We were ever capable to speech done worldly and travel backmost to emotion and respect. That’s wherefore we stayed unneurotic for truthful long.”

Mike Campbell astatine location successful Woodland Hills.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)