Marty Stuart on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers:

@stuartk: I’m uncomfortable admitting this now (it sounds pretty elitist ;-), but in the 1970’s---when my peers and I considered most Pop music (non-Classical, non-Jazz, non-Blues, non-Country) to be getting really bad (except for the stuff we liked, of course ;-), I and those I was involved with were of the opinion that a band/group/artists’ level of popularity was most often the inverse of it’s quality. That was a direct result of us liking music that was ignored and/or not liked by a mass audience, that audience liking stuff we didn’t. I didn’t then consider that to be somewhat influenced by a feeling of smug superiority, but I now fear it was.

What I above meant by saying you can’t argue with success, is not that "popularity is proof of artistic merit", or even that there aren’t examples of garbage that sells well, but rather that anything that is popular and does sell well is providing something of value to the people who like it, even if I myself don’t. In other words, popularity is also not proof of a lack of artistic merit, at least to those who find such merit in the music. That it is wrong for me to apply my standards and/or tastes to those who have dissimilar standards and/or tastes is what I was implying.

So I’m watching A Bronx Tale, and in one scene "99 And A Half (Won’t Do)" comes on the radio. I am instantly reminded that the studio band backing Wilson Pickett on the song---known as The Swampers---are just unbelievably, stupendously great. Tough, wicked coolness. THAT is what The Stones have for all their history been trying to sound like, and failing.

The Swampers---whose members include the superb rhythm section of Roger Hawkins on drums and David Hood on bass---are legendary amongst better musicians. Though not a band in the same sense that the self-contained (doing all the singing, playing all the instruments, and at least some if not all the songwriting) ones we’re talking about here are, they are imo the best band I have ever heard, American or otherwise. Do they qualify as a Rock ’n’ Roll band, as Marty Stuart was speaking of? I believe so.

You’ve heard The Swampers too, on hundreds of recordings. Aretha---and all the other R & B artists Atlantic Records’ producer Jerry Wexler took down to Muscle Shoals to record, Traffic---and members Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi’s solo albums, Boz Scaggs, Paul Simon (give a listen to "Kodachrome"---omg, the drumming is insanely great!), hundreds of others, including, yes, The Stones.

@bdp245:

"What I above meant by saying you can’t argue with success, is not that "popularity is proof of artistic merit", or even that there aren’t examples of garbage that sells well, but rather that anything that is popular and does sell well is providing something of value to the people who like it, even if I myself don’t". 

Gotcha. Thanks for the further clarification. Sorry It took me so long to fully grasp your point about "providing something of value". You're right-- in that respect, you "can't argue with success". 

Commercial success is a signifier of commercial success and it may or may not correlate with artistic achievement.  To maintain commercial success, or even viability, over decades is rare and IMO to be applauded.  Tom Petty did that and he did it while maintaining the respect of other high quality musicians.  What more can you ask of a guitar player boy from Gainesville?

Agreed, @onhwy61. Though he and his band are not amongst my favorites, he and they certainly had a very long and artistically and commercially successful run. Good for them. I also like that Tom stood up to his record company when they were intending to raise the price on their LP’s, starting with his at-the-time new one.

Speaking of Petty’s large-scale success always brings me back to Dwight Twilley, whose songs, singing, and band I have always greatly preferred to Tom’s. They plow the generally same field, though Dwight’s music contains far more of a 1950’s influence that does Tom’s, perhaps why I find it more to my liking. The mass audience disagreed, rewarding Tom to a much greater extent than they did Dwight.

Even more to my liking is Dave Edmunds, my favorite 1970’s/80’s artist. But that’s another story for another day. Let me just say that both as a solo artist and as a member of the super-group Rockpile (with Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner, and Terry Williams)---and as a producer-for-hire---Dave was one of the very best sounding live performers I’ve ever seen and heard. His 1983 show at The Ritz in NYC was my ex’s all-time favorite live shows. She has great taste. ;-)