Well, this isn’t good now, is it?
It’s in with the new and out with the……. well, OK, maybe not quite out with the old yet since the scrapyard is apparently in no hurry to remove my hunk of junk from the primo spot it’s taking up in Mecca’s parking lot while I’m patiently on hold to have to run out there whenever they are finally ready. So with that irritating the hell out of me, I haven’t been able to sit down until now and type up the next entry in The Nest’s Top 30 Iconic Songs I Can’t Stand countdown. So you can bet me and DJ Scratchy are going to be extra harsh on this week’s dishonoree while I spend Day 14 under siege simply because a dear old friend failed me at the worst possible time…
#15. “Free Fallin'” – Tom Petty
When Tom Petty had his last dance with Mary Jane right around the time I was putting this countdown together in early Fall, there were many fond rememberances of all of the great music he left behind. Unfortunately, instead of playing all of that wonderful music he and the Heartbreakers rocked the late 70’s and early 80’s with, every radio station on the FM dial instead decided to pay tribute to the legend by increasing the already ridiculous amount of airplay they gave to his absolute worst piece of dogshit he ever wrote…
What in the hell do people see in this song anyway? It’s four minutes of mind numbing repetitiveness set to the slowest of all possible melodies. It’s also a perfect example of the notion that radio airplay does not necessarily equal a song’s actual appeal. “Free Fallin'” came off Petty’s landmark solo album Full Moon Fever in 1989, which produced the excellent tunes “I Won’t Back Down” and “Running Down a Dream.” But those songs got overshadowed by all of the unwarranted hoopla this shitty ass schlock got. Tom Petty was obviously high when he wrote this, and we were obviously just as stoned for ever taking it to #1 almost thirty years ago…
I’m gonna smash this damn radio if it plays that horrible song I did just one more time…
I’ll be back next Wednesday with another song that shouldn’t come around here no more…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
Oh. My. God. I can’t believe you actually went there….
This is one of those songs that immediately takes me back to a certain time and place. But, more than that, back to a certain feeling that I really can’t explain. It is therefore sacrosanct, even though it’s probably not even in my Tom Petty Top Ten.
Which isn’t saying that much because I am a major Petty fan. I still have their debut album I bought as a young teen (along with the photo booth type picture strip that came inside the jacket).
Well, there you go! I told you I’d hit a sensitive spot eventually (though I’d have probably not guessed this one). I also admit that had Petty not died right at the time I was doing this countdown, giving Free Fallin’ new life, I might not have thought to include it… but it is deserving from my view.
I also love his music, but there’s always a few duds in the basket or whatever.
The duds seem to be the most popular for some reason… which is why I have so much countdown fodder…
Go forth and dud.
This is the only song, so far, that I have correctly predicted would make your list! It was an easy guess though, with Tom Petty’s recent death and Free Fallin’ being so massively overplayed. I don’t completely loathe this song, I just get irritated that it’s the only Tom Petty song I ever hear on the radio. For me, there are worse, more depressing sounding songs, like the one the title of your post made me think of – I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline. I’m gonna be really unhappy if that gets stuck in my head!
Yep! You did call this one, and another of my readers has successfully predicted one that’s in my Top 10. I would not hate this song as much as I do if it weren’t overplayed, but I still wouldn’t like it if it wasn’t. I like a lot of Petty’s other songs, but…. where are they? Especially the pre-1989 songs which just seem to have disappeared off the radio!
I remember Mecca (long before I ever started working there) used that Patsy Cline song in a commercial, which may be the only reason I know it existed!
We are lucky then, here in Germany, that they do not play it that often. Cannot see the appeal to this, just sounds so … average …
It has been a while since you’ve approved of one of the songs after such a nice run as their appointed defender…
But I did not have to defend this – somebody else got found out …
I am a Tom Petty fan, same sentiments as ” Fanrosa”, another place and time, I free fall into my brain! lol…
This song can free fall right off a cliff as far as I’m concerned…. 😛
Okay, I guess squirrels can’t always agree. I like it. It was the song that first introduced me to Tom Petty.
My introduction was “You Got Lucky”, which is not only a good song but a favorite music video of mine. Most of Petty’s videos were as good as his songs, but this one struck out on both counts with me. At least this one is spurring some disagreement, so I know my countdown isn’t completely out of touch with popular opinion…
I’m with you… but smashing the radio is sadly no option… we better should smash the DJ….
And a good lawyer (with good taste) could get you off by saying the DJ smashing was justified…
even matlock would agree for that song I bet ;O))))
Andy Griffith had a couple top 40 hits of his own…. amazingly. I’m sure he knows good muzak when he hears it…
Smash instead the CEO and the majority stock owners of the corporate owners of stations across the country whose market research insists that this is one of the only 5 Petty songs you will be allowed to hear on the airwaves they control! Don’t harm the poor DJ. I GUARANTEE you they are even more sick of this song and hate it much more than you do!
I always found that song depressing – sort of hypnotically depressing as I’m sure it’s used in many a sleep lab to put the patients instantly in snoresville. I really did love a lot of his music but not this one…..can you tell?????
Pam
You are correct Bill, that in it’s time, this one continuously fell on the head like the anvil in a Roadrunner cartoon. Even this Petty fan was left wheeling my legs in thin air trying to escape …
I am sorta ‘meh’ about this one. I like it ok, but wouldn’t go out of my way to defend it, as I can easily understand how it would grate on someone’s nerves. Since I avoid radio as much as humanly possible, oversaturation of the tune is not an issue for me. But I won’t hit the skip button on the cd player when this comes up, and it is on my iPod (along with some 13,000 others). The Petty song I REALLY can’t stand (and there are VERY few that are in that category) is the one you referenced at the beginning of this entry. I really detest “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. I’m not that fond of “Don’t Come Around Here No More” either, but I’d listen to it a thousand times before I would sit through “Last Dance”. Can’t think of another Petty hit single or prominent album track I don’t like.
🍻Here, here…I concur 150%! NEVER liked that song even before it was played it 87 million times a year. Reminds me of a bad trip on drugs…not that I have any personal knowledge mind you. 😏By the same token, here’s hoping for a quick disposal with the parking lot offendee. 🏗
One of the most awesome live concerts I ever went to was Tom Petty. He was absolutely enchanting and just wonderful. That said, I have to agree with you on this one. Shitty Ass Schlock. This is such a dirt bag song. It makes my skin crawl.
I don’t hate that song but when I hear it the damn thing gets stuck in my brain for days!! Stupid earworm!! 😡
Have you ever heard the finnish band Leningrad Cowboys. I am sure you will not want to hear them twice. And of course something different, not always American music.
I don’t really know who Tom Petty is/was aside from the name – possibly he was bigger in America than here. This is a very boring song.
Wow, I am stunned. Wiki confirms that Tom Petty was largely a North American sensation. And even odder, he wasn’t really all that in America either. Free Fallin’ was his only Top 10 hit, and it only went to #7. I was so sure it was a #1, I didn’t even bother to confirm it…
I was thinking back to the 70s and 80s, and that was before American music and TV was such a big thing over here. Almost every single band I remember listening to as a kid was British or European.