I have been a music fan for my entire life and was fortunate enough to have lived through the greatest musical era in history.  During my formative years in the 1960s, radio was the main medium of the day and typically broadcast the top 40 songs of any given week.  It was obvious at the time that we were spoiled with an amazing volume of talent because it felt like a great song or album was coming out every week.  But in hindsight it was impossible to realize the true historical magnitude of the Classic Rock era because we didn’t have anything to compare it to.  In some ways, we naively believed that it would go on forever.

 

But as amazing as that era was, I was aware at an early age that there seemed to be a consistency of tragedy specific to music artists that eclipsed that of other genres of the entertainment world.  By the late sixties and early seventies, some of the top musical performers of the day died through misadventure that typically included some type of substance abuse.  And sadly enough, this would continue right up until today.

 

I picked Tom Petty as my first musical tragedy for a few reasons, but the main one is that his life and demise prove that fame and fortune don’t necessarily protect you from suffering.  And in Tom Petty’s case, it was his physical suffering that ultimately led to his death from an accidental overdose of drugs he was taking to deal with unbearable pain related to a fractured hip.  He had delayed a surgery so he could finish an American tour, and his fractured hip ended up deteriorating to a full break.

 

One of the main points I always include in my messaging is that it is critical that physical ailments are properly treated to ensure they don’t go from bad to worse.  Delaying or neglecting to get a health situation properly treated can have devastating consequences…and sadly this was the case with Tom Petty.  And by all accounts, he was a very decent man who deserved so much better.