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Listen to Your Heartbreaker (with Brad Johs) · Hangin' Out with Bob

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Okay, welcome to “Hangin’ Out with Bob,” a podcast
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hosted by me, Bob Edholm. Thanks for joining
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us and let's get started. When I got together
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with my friend Brad Johs in late July 2026 to
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record a podcast episode about the timeless music
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of Tom Petty, it was a thrill for me, and I'm
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sure for our listeners too, to hear Brad's wealth
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of knowledge of Tom's work. But with such a large
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catalog of work that Tom Petty gave to the world,
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it feels like Brad and I only scratched the surface
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of that timeless music in our original podcast
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episode. So what Brad and I would like to do
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is to record a series of shorter but comprehensive
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deep dives into each original studio album that
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Tom Petty was a part of, whether it was with
1:01
the Heartbreakers, his solo albums, the Traveling
1:04
Wilburys, or his original group Mudcrutch. In
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this second episode of deep dives into the timeless
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music of Tom Petty, Brad will share with us his
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thoughts and insights on Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers'
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second studio album entitled You're Gonna Get
1:24
It, which was released on May 2nd, 1978. This
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was the second studio album by the Heartbreakers,
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peaking at number 23 on the Billboard charts.
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This brief 29-minute record bridges the gap
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between their raw, self-titled debut album and
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their massive smash album, Damn the Torpedoes.
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When you search online for the album cover of
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You're Gonna Get It, you'll see a stark, black
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-and-white portrait of the Heartbreakers, from
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left to right, drummer Stan Lynch, lead guitarist
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Mike Campbell, Tom Petty himself, bassist Ron
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Blair, and keyboardist Benmont Tench. The band's
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name in bold red text spreads across the top
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of the portrait, while the album title in yellow
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block spreads across the bottom. Generally, You're
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Gonna Get It is viewed by critics as a solid,
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direct refinement of the Heartbreaker's self
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-titled debut album. While occasionally pegged
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by some as a mild sophomore slump with familiar
2:28
filler, quote-unquote, others praise the album
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for its tighter, radio-ready hooks, stronger
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vocals, and the timeless singles like “I Need
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to Know” and “Listen to Her Heart.” So for now,
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sit back, relax, and have a listen as Brad Johs
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shares his thoughts and insights on Tom Petty
2:48
and the Heartbreakers' second studio album, You're
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Gonna Get It. So Brad, welcome back to “Hangin’
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Out with Bob.” It's good to see you again. Good
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to see you too, Bob. Let's talk about the sound
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of this second studio album by Tom Petty and
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the Heartbreakers. In other words, do you see
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You're Gonna Get It! as a continuation of the
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Heartbreakers' original raw energy that we heard
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on their self-titled debut album, or did you
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see it more as a departure from it? No, I saw
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it as a continuation of that raw energy and that
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kind of a sound. You listen to the recording
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quality, you list some of the feel and the rawness
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and the energy and the angst that's in some of
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those songs. You can definitely feel that in
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some of those songs. Now there are some mellower
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songs like “Magnolia” and “No Second Thoughts.” You
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listen to that, which is a little bit mellower
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from that standpoint. But there's still that
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raw energy with “I Need to Know” and there's “She's
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a Rock ‘N’ Roller.” Especially “She's a Rock ‘N’
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Roller,” you could easily hear that song being
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on the first album as well because it would have
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fit very well with that album and that kind of
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a sound. How effectively does the song “Listen
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to Her Heart” bridge the 1960s jingle jangle of
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the Byrds into the late 1970s power pop landscape?
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I think “Listen to Her Heart” was, it definitely
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has the Byrds sound to it, and it kind of, it's
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got the Byrds sound to it, and it's got modernized
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lyrics to it, you know, “You think you're gonna
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to take her away with your money and your cocaine,”
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you know, okay, that's something you would be singing
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about in the 60s or whatever, you know. Good point.
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You know, so that was something that came along,
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it kind of bridged that from that standpoint,
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but it still sounded like the Byrds. It still
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had the riffs and it still had that tone and
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it still had the licks and, you know, the solo
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sounded like a Byrds solo, which you would expect
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to hear on a Byrds album, you know, from that
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standpoint. But like I said, it kind of ties
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in the new language and the new whatever. Some
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of the gets more into the pop culture thing,
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you know, from that standpoint, which was huge.
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I mean, coke was a big thing at that time. Drugs
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were a big thing at that time. And they were
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singing about it more than they were singing
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about more and exactly and yeah and that was
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the thing, you know, Tom didn't want to change
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the lyrics from that, you know, I mean he got a
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lot of a lot of crap for that for they, they want
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to have, you know, cocaine, and you can't put that
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in a song, and he was always very true to the
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lyrics and true to the artistry of it, and he's
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Like, screw that, I'm, I'm gonna put, you know, I'm
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Gonna, this is how the song was written, and I'm
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not gonna deviate from this, and, you know, so
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he let it fly. Brad, why did some critics, and
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emphasis on the word some, initially greet this
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gold-certified release with a sense of apathy
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compared to the breakout success that followed
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with Damn the Torpedoes? Well, like you said,
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it's, you know, you can retroactively look at
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this, you know, you can take a look at this album
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and after Damn Torpedoes come out and you can
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look back at it. But the thing is, when You're
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Gonna Get It! came out, it charted better than
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the first album. you know, um, and, and so from
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that standpoint, it was it was more popular at
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that point than the first album because it, they
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were still catching on, and they were still getting
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radio play, they were still kind of, you know, they're
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trying to find their place and, you know, like
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I said, there was a lot of, Jon Scott had a lot
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to do with them getting radio play and getting
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popularity across the country. I mean, when they
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finished the first album, yeah, they finally
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had a couple of hits, but they still really didn't
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have the recognition. They didn't really have
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the sales that they were looking for at that
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point. By the time the second album came out,
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their name was better well known. And so therefore,
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they sold better, they charted better, they got
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more radio play from that standpoint. And so
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just... just to look back at it, retroactively
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after Damn the Torpedoes came out, yeah, you can
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kind of look at it in that standpoint. A lot
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of bands have that sophomore slump, but I don't
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really feel that this was an album that had any
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type of a slump whatsoever to it. Let's give
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this album some context, some background, maybe,
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some of the pressure that went into making it.
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You can debate whether it was a sophomore slump
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or not, but how did they seem to handle this
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second album? Putting it together after the first
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album was kind of a slow burner in the beginning.
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Yeah, you know it, it takes a long time to get
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recognition to get any type of fame whatsoever.
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You know, this was back before, and this was before
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the MTV days. So this, there wasn't videos. This
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was radio play, where you would have to go around
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and knock on the radio, knock on the station manager's
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Door, you know, the program manager's door at the
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radio station to try to get them to play something
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for you, you know, you have to bribe them. You’d
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have to do whatever, you know, and there was a
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lot of that, that was going on at that particular
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time, I remember Pat Benantar one time said that,
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yeah, she'd have to go sit on some program manager’s
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lap in order to forget them to play her music,
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you know? Well, I wasn't gonna go sit on anybody's
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lap or anything like that but that was part of
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It, you know, like I said, he didn't have the recognition
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from that standpoint, but the writing was still
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good. Mike was contributing a lot more from that
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standpoint. He had a lot more ideas. And so Tom
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was able to take those ideas and come up with
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the lyrics for that. So I think the writing progressed
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a lot faster and they were able to write this
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album quicker than the first album. And it came
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easier for them at that point. And that was the
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thing about Tom. His songwriting got better and
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better. And so it got easier and easier for him
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as he went along too, quicker and quicker. Talk
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a little bit about the tension with their label,
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Shelter Records, over the original title. I learned
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they were going to call it Terminal Romance, and
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then some of the song choices on that album.
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Yeah, well, they're going to call it Terminal
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Romance, originally. And then what they were doing
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Is, they were sending out a flyer or a program
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thing that said, You're Gonna to Get It! or whatever,
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which was the single at the time. And then they
8:43
were sending this out. You're Gonna Get It!
8:44
coming out. You're Gonna Get It!, they were sending
8:45
this out to radio stations. And they decided
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that that's a much better title. We're just going
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to called the album You're Gonna Get It! I think
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Terminal Romance was one that Stan came up with,
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and they really didn't know what they were going
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to do with it. They thought, well, we can't really
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think of anything better. And then finally, from
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a marketing standpoint, they thought You're Gonna
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Get It! would be a much better choice from that
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standpoint. As far as song choices on it. Well,
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you just alluded to one song, right, where they
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wanted to... Leave out a word or something? Yeah,
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yeah, “Listen to Her Heart,” you know, they want
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to leave out the cocaine song, you know, or let
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reference to cocaine or whatever. “I Need to Know,”
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you know, I mean, that was another hit from that
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from that album that had just a great raw energy
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to it. You know, like I said, the, the, some of
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the vocals that, I'm sorry, some of the lyrics,
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I should say, are getting more descriptive and
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they're getting more, don't know, poetic almost,
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to a standpoint, you know, like you talk about
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“No Second Thoughts,” you know, he's got that line
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where “dreams fade, hopes side hard,” you know,
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“she cups her eyes, looks out at the stars,” you
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know, that's, that's very, you can, you can you
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can imagine that, you can imagine being outside,
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you know, out in the country somewhere, and just, you
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know, wondering what your future is gonna hold,
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you know, that whole album is about making only,
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is about you know, one-night stand or whatever.
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You know any… He sings about this one-night stand
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that he had with a girl named Magdolia. I remember
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her, she don't remember me, that kind of thing
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or whatever. It's very descriptive and it's very
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Storytelling, and it really tells a good, full
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story about you think back of your first love,
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or you think back at whatever, or you think about
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the girl that got away or whatever. It's like,
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whatever happened to that girl? It's that kind
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of a thing and that's what he's referencing in
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that. So those are some of the great songs that
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are on this album. I mean, everything's really
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cool about this album. I mean, there's some really
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gritty, dirty stuff on there, you know, some
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harder stuff, like, you know, “Restless,” you know,
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gah, gah, gah, gah, gah, gah. That's pretty,
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you know, that's pretty heavy, you know. My “Baby's
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a Rock ‘N’ Roller,” you know, that kind of sounds
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like, like I said, that sounds like... something
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that could have been on the first album. It kind
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of has a Dwight Twilley sound to it in a way,
10:57
or whatever. When you listen to the original
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Dwight Twilley album, which was also on Shelter
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Records, and Tom, when those guys were hanging
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out at the time and they were singing and playing
11:05
on each other's album and all that kind of stuff,
11:07
it kind of has a Dwight Twilley sound to it from
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that standpoint. So that was part of the influence
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that was around at the time also that I was picking
11:14
up. Because if you listen, like, “I'm on Fire,” the
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Dwight Tilly album, you know, that was, that was the
11:19
first hit that came off of that, and that was
11:21
at the same time that the first Tom Petty album
11:24
was coming up, too. So you go back and listen to
11:27
that, you'll, and then you go listen to that first
11:29
or second album of the top a go, okay, I kind
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of see that. I can kind of see the reference
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or kind of see the influence on that, you know?
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How did, Brad, how did their nonstop touring change?
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They were touring a lot before this album came
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out. How did they change the band's live energy
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in the studio? I had read somewhere, Brad, that
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when they recorded the second album, they did
11:48
it almost entirely in this single, tight space
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known as the “Brown Room,” which was like a converted
11:54
conference room next to the Hollywood Shelter
11:56
Records studio itself. Well, like I said, they
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were, the touring made them a tighter band. So
12:03
the more you play together, the tighter the band
12:04
gets. The more you start to, you kind of know
12:07
what one guy is going to do. You kind of get
12:09
a second sense for, you get a feel for who's
12:11
going to do what, what it's going to sound like,
12:13
what they're going to feel. If somebody is going
12:14
to go off on a fill or something, you know where
12:17
they're going to go and you can kind of anticipate
12:19
and play along with that. And that's all part
12:21
of that chemistry. So the fact that they were
12:23
touring so much, playing together so much and
12:26
were so solid at that point it helped with the
12:29
writing and the creative process it made it quicker
12:31
for them to record because a lot of stuff they
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were already playing on the road some of the
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stuff that was going to be on the new album they'd
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already played it live a bunch, and so they had
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it down, so when they just that was just matter
12:42
of coming back and recording it and it was just
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Boom, you know, I think, I think there was a reference
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where, where they say, I think they recorded
12:50
something and Denny Cordell, you know, Tom goes,
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uh, okay, “Are we gonna record that,” and Denny goes,
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“We just did,” you know, next track, you know, and
12:57
it was just producer on this second album, right?
13:01
Yeah, Denny Cordell is one of the producers on
13:03
this. Noah Sharks is the other producer on this, and
13:05
you know, you look at the back at Danny Cordell's
13:07
era, you know, he joined he formed Shelter Records
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with Leon Russell, but Denny Cordell, one of his
13:13
Biggest, biggest hits was “Whiter Shade of Pale,”
13:15
with Procol Harum. He's the guy who produced that,
13:18
you know, and that was obviously where he got
13:20
a huge chunk of money from that, and so on and
13:22
so forth. But you listen to the sound quality,
13:24
and you listen to all the stuff that was, you
13:26
know, the whole Procol Harum album from the 60s,
13:29
you know, that whole era. Yeah, that was his
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kind of thing. That was his production. That's
13:33
where his, you know, his vein was and his sound
13:36
was or whatever. So interesting. Oh, I didn't
13:39
know he was a producer on that album. Interesting.
13:41
Okay. He produced a lot of interesting stuff.
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Yeah, like, oh, you know, I have no idea. Oh,
13:46
yeah. Let's talk about the musical style and
13:52
recording of You're Gonna Get It! First, let's
13:54
just highlight the Mike Campbell's guitar riffs
13:57
and Benmont Tench's keyboard and organ work. Yeah.
14:01
Well, like I said, the biggest thing is, at this
14:03
point, Mike was writing a lot more. He was recording
14:05
some stuff. He'd come up with tracks that he,
14:09
you know, I was reading his book and he said
14:11
he came up with a track just as a jam track,
14:13
you know, just something you go, well, here's
14:14
a cool chord change, here's a cool chord change.
14:16
He would record it and he'd go, okay, I just
14:18
want to play over that to practice lead stuff.
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And then his wife goes, that's a song. He goes,
14:23
no, that's not a song. Yeah, that's a song. And
14:25
then he gave it to Tom, and Tom made up a song
14:27
off of it. You know, he got the lyrics wherever,
14:28
you know, from a musical standpoint. So a lot
14:31
of it. the stuff you know they were learning
14:33
stuff just as they were, uh, you know, they, they
14:37
Would, he said I think they figured out. I can't
14:39
remember the track now, but there was a song where
14:41
they just sat down and Tom goes, “I got this idea,”
14:44
and then they sat down, they kind of figured it
14:46
out as they played it and ran through it a few
14:47
Times, and then they had the song written and
14:49
they just recorded it like that, and it just came
14:51
together quick and he thought up the lyrics on
14:53
the spot. He came up with whatever and yeah, it
14:56
was all that kind of stuff. So, but like said,
14:59
Mike's guitar playing was, you know, Mike was
15:01
always a great player That's the one thing about
15:03
it. And that's one thing Tom said, too And Mike
15:05
was as, was as good as he is now then Benmont
15:09
was as good as he is now then. Now some people
15:12
get better as they go along. They, they get better
15:14
at the musicianship is going, Some people get
15:17
worse at the musicianship They peak off the beginning
15:19
and they go down from there. But Mike was one
15:21
of those guys. He was always a great player even
15:24
that so from that standpoint what he was playing
15:26
is it had some really cool grooves to it, it had
15:29
some really cool licks to it, you know, it was
15:32
memorable what he was playing, he’d play a riff
15:34
as soon as you heard, that riff, you go, oh that's
15:36
that song, oh, that's that song, so they had hooks
15:39
to them, and they were very cool from that standpoint.
15:42
And Benmont, of course, is just the musical master.
15:46
That guy was schooled in music, and he had just
15:48
that feel for taste. He knew how to play everything.
15:51
You could play a song and go, play this, and
15:53
he'd play it. Play this, he'd play it. Play this,
15:56
and he could play it. Because he was just into
15:57
all that stuff, and he had such a good ear and
15:59
such good training, he could just do all that
16:01
stuff. So yeah, I mean, Benmont is just great.
16:05
And Stan Lynch was still the drummer and Ron
16:08
Blair was playing the bass again. Talk about
16:10
their playing on this album. Well, those two
16:13
had been playing, they got, they became tighter
16:15
and tighter, you know, and so you listen to some
16:18
of the cool bass lines that Ron Blair is doing,
16:21
like during “No Second Thoughts,” there's some really
16:23
cool bass lines that you hear underneath that
16:25
are very musical and very melodic. And that's
16:28
something that, you know, instead of just a bass
16:30
player playing one note or doing whatever, playing
16:32
a simple run, he was actually, it was kind of
16:35
a solo thing from his standpoint. And then Stan
16:37
was just a powerhouse, you know, doing his vocals
16:40
and doing his stuff and just... playing hard
16:43
and beating hard, and I mean the guy was just
16:46
a monster, you know, he was, he was, he was an animal
16:48
is what he was, you know, he was kind of like an
16:50
Animal. I felt sorry for those drum skins, huh?
16:53
Right, exactly, that's how a lot of drummers are,
16:55
you know, it's like all right, um, some, some of
16:58
them would fling their poop, but I'm not going
16:59
to go there, so, you know… Let's talk about the
17:04
album's mix of songs. You've got some hard rock
17:07
riffs such as “I Need To Know” and “You're Gonna
17:09
Get It!.” Then there's some pop hooks such as “Listen
17:12
To Her Heart.” And then there's the southern influence
17:16
rock and roll like “Too Much Ain't Enough” and
17:18
“Magnolia.” Just discuss the mix that was used
17:21
on this album. As far as the styles of songs,
17:26
is that what you're referring to from that standpoint?
17:29
Yeah. I mean, well, like I said, Tom was great
17:32
for writing from his influence. So, you know,
17:34
“Listen to Her Heart” sounds like a Byrds song. You
17:37
know, “You're Gonna Get It!” That's, that's pretty
17:39
straightforward rock and roll. You know, that's
17:41
pretty, pretty hard from that standpoint. “Too
17:43
Much Ain't Enough.” I mean, down and down and
17:45
down and down and down and down and down. You
17:47
know, that's kind of, that's kind of, I don't know.
17:50
I wouldn't really call this kind of a Southern
17:53
rock thing. Just more of a straight. you know,
17:56
straight rock, straight blues rock kind of feeling
17:58
from that standpoint. And then like I said, “Magnolia”
18:00
is just, it's a great song. It's a great, it's
18:04
got great imagery from that standpoint. You know,
18:07
it's kind of mellow, you know, it's got a nice
18:09
mellow sound to it. But like I said, the biggest
18:11
thing about that song is just the lyrics from
18:14
that standpoint. The, you know, what he's talking
18:16
about is a one-night stand or whatever, and wondering
18:18
whatever happened to that girl, you know. Okay,
18:23
a little more about Tom Petty's skill and artistry
18:25
that he used to write some songs on You're Gonna
18:28
Get It! For example, do you see the song “I Need
18:31
to Know” as an intentional punk-style song, or
18:33
was it just standard, energetic heartland rock,
18:36
or a combination of both? Think it's general
18:39
just general heartland rock for the most standpoint.
18:42
Like I said, he never really wanted to, he didn't
18:45
really like being called a punker, you know? I
18:47
mean, you know, that was, you know, like I said,
18:49
they, they kind of threw him into that category
18:51
because the way the first album looked, and so
18:53
on and so forth. They didn't really know where
18:55
to classify him, because he was doing something
18:57
different than what people were doing at the
18:59
Time. Because you look at all the music that came
19:01
out in the late 70s. There wasn't really anything
19:03
that was that, I mean, yeah, there was, you know,
19:06
KISS and there were some of these other bands
19:07
or whatever that were playing that kind of rock
19:08
and roll stuff. And Arena Rock, too, the British
19:11
groups. Yeah, yeah, the arena stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
19:14
But there wasn't anything, really, like what Tom
19:16
was doing at that time from that standpoint of.
19:19
But I think it's just good influence. You know,
19:22
like I said, it's kind of country influenced,
19:24
but it's just hard southern rock, southern country
19:27
kind of a sound is what it's more than anything.
19:31
You know, they talk about, you know, he was just
19:33
on the Americana, or they had a lifetime achievement
19:34
award at the Americana Music Awards. And then
19:36
they're like, well, what's Americana music? Well,
19:39
basically, they describe Americana music as what
19:41
old country used to be, you know. Now, country
19:43
is just pop music with a fiddle. But they're
19:45
talking about, you know, now they're talking
19:47
about old country where it had real lyrics and
19:50
had real writing and it had real groove. And,
19:53
you know, you talk about Hank Junior and some
19:55
of that kind of stuff, that kind of that Southern
19:57
rock feel to it. it's kind of that whole influence
20:00
from that as well, the Americana thing. And that
20:04
just goes back to what he's doing, you know,
20:07
that's go back to how he learned who he was influenced
20:08
by. Brad, how does the haunting, vague storytelling
20:12
of “Magnolia” that you referred to earlier, compared
20:15
to Tom Petty's more direct narrative style on
20:18
later records? Well, I think it's just a precursor
20:20
of what's to follow. I think it's a great song
20:24
from that standpoint. Like I said, the imagery
20:27
of that, you know, I met this girl and, you know,
20:29
he went him off and he fell, you know, she made
20:31
me feel like a million bucks or whatever, and
20:33
then she said, well, I gotta go, see you later, and
20:35
he was just like, well, where's that girl, you know,
20:37
whatever happened to that girl? And so I think
20:39
it's a huge, it's, it's an early inkling of what's
20:43
going to be coming later as far as him as a songwriter.
20:45
And like I said, you know, you talk about, um, “No
20:49
Second Thoughts,” you know, when you really listen
20:51
to the words of “No Second Thoughts,” you know, “She
20:53
threw down her golden band, crushed it with her feet
20:55
into the sand,” you know, “took her silent partner by the
20:58
Hand,” you know, something, it's about she's, it's
21:01
Something, it's about a woman who's thinking about
21:02
leaving her husband, you know, and there's all
21:04
this imagery and, you know, she's leaving town
21:06
and then she changed her mind and, you know, there,
21:09
there were some of that, then sometimes it's, they're
21:11
thinking about, you know, she's having, she's going
21:15
through a crisis with her husband and she's, you
21:17
Know, he's still there or whatever, and so there's
21:20
that imagery of, of, you know, you know, “We’ll drive
21:22
for the line now, there's nothing to be lost,
21:25
you and I will cross over with no second thoughts,” or
21:27
Whatever, you know, that's, that's part of the imagery
21:30
that, that's, that's a great indication of what
21:33
also is going to be coming later from that standpoint.
21:35
Because like I said, he's got some really, there's
21:38
some great lines, there's some great Tom Petty
21:40
memorable lines. And it's just one line, and it's
21:44
gonna stick with you. Like I said, “Dreams fade,
21:46
hope dies hard.” That's a great line from that
21:48
standpoint, you know, you remember that, you
21:51
Know? Does the immediate in-your-face vocal delivery
21:54
on the title track, “You're Gonna Get It!” mark,
21:57
Tom Petty's true arrival as a commanding lead
22:00
singer, do you think? Yeah, I think he was getting
22:02
more comfortable with his role at that point
22:04
with what he was doing. You know, this came out
22:08
late 78? 78. Yeah, late 78, or whatever, is when
22:12
this came out. And it was at that point where
22:15
they realized that, yeah, this is, it was at that
22:17
point where they realized that, you know, Tom
22:19
was the leader of the band. It like I said, they
22:23
kind of define that this is Tom Petty's band
22:25
and this is the leader. And so that was kind
22:26
of part of his. coming out at that point, being
22:29
more in command and being more in control of
22:31
it. And then you saw it with the live performances
22:33
more. How he performed on stage and stuff. All
22:39
right, next I want to highlight some of the key
22:41
songs in this album. Not all of them, but some
22:44
of them. First, “I Need to Know,” that song. Why
22:47
did this energetic track become the main radio
22:49
single? And how did it set the album's aggressive
22:52
tone? Well, I think it's, it's very catchy. The
22:55
riff on it's very catchy on it. The lyrics, I
22:58
think, are great. You know, it's, it has a, I mean,
23:02
I don't know. It has such a great feel to it.
23:04
You know, “The talk on the street says you might go
23:06
Solo” you know? I mean, it's, you know, you could
23:08
talk about that. Is that referencing a band or
23:10
is that referencing a relationship? You know,
23:13
it's, you know, because it has that kind of a
23:16
sound point. So I think it was just kind of a
23:17
really cool riff. “I need to know, I need to know,
23:19
I need to know,” you know? It was very catchy.
23:23
And so that was the big thing about it. That
23:25
was one of the huge things. The next thing I
23:27
want to talk about a little bit is “Listen to
23:29
Her Heart.” Discuss the real-life story behind
23:32
the lyrics of this song and the radio boycott
23:34
controversy that resulted. Yeah, well, like I
23:37
said, he was, you know, “You think you're gonna
23:39
take away with your money and your cocaine.”
23:41
Obviously, this is about somebody trying to steal
23:43
your girl, and you know either trying to steal
23:46
with impress her with your money or trying to
23:48
Impress her with you know, the party life or
23:50
whatever, you know, and, and so I think that's
23:53
what That's what “Listen to Her Heart” is about,
23:56
you know, she's gonna listen to her heart, right?
23:58
You know instead of being wowed with all this
24:02
superficial stuff. She's gonna list her heart
24:04
and actually do what do what her heart tells
24:07
her to do, not what, you know, her head. or whatever,
24:09
tells her to do And I think if I read it correctly,
24:12
the word that they wanted him to replace for
24:15
cocaine was champagne. Yeah, I think so. Something
24:19
like that. Yeah. It just wouldn't have been the
24:20
same. No, no, no. Big deal. Right. Exactly. You
24:25
know, right. You know, I probably couldn't find
24:28
anything that rhymed with Lamborghini, so I don't
24:31
think you could have put that in there either.
24:33
And then they had a question about the title
24:36
track itself: You're Gonna Get It! Talk about the
24:39
dark threatening theme of this song. It's, at
24:42
least, that's how some critics refer to it, as
24:45
a dark, dark song. I don't know if I would have
24:48
Read, I mean, critics are critics, you know? It's,
24:51
I mean, it's kind of like, I mean, wait, you know,
24:53
the second line is “ain't gonna give you any more
24:55
than you give to me,” you know? It's, it's
24:57
one of those kind of things. It's definitely,
24:59
there's definitely some angst within that relationship
25:03
that he's thinking about, or whatever, because
25:05
it's like, you know, “Yeah, you do, you do you do,”
25:09
you know, “kept thinkin’ somethin' might change
25:12
but I was just a fool,” you know,
25:14
“I can't crawl any further, you never crawled for
25:18
me.” So I guess I would say it's, it's, mutually,
25:21
it's not a very good relationship for either
25:23
person is how I would look at that, you know?
25:26
No, it's not working out. Well, and I think and,
25:29
you know, and, and that the time you always married
25:31
it could have been, you know, writing about my
25:33
wife, or whatever, because there was a lot of drugs
25:35
involved at the time that they both got involved
25:37
in, and, you know, “Yeah, I shoulda quit it babe,
25:41
but,” you think, you know, “but you look so good,”
25:43
you know? I mean, you know, what's he talking
25:46
about? Which is what should they have quit? You
25:48
know, I mean, like I said, they keep thinking
25:50
we're going to change. It's not going to change,
25:52
you know. So I think it's just a mutually non-
25:55
happy relationship for two people is, I guess,
25:57
how we kind of describe that. Let's talk about
26:01
the creative vision and the recording of You're
26:03
Gonna Get It! The art and the production of the
26:06
Album, in other words. How much do you think
26:08
abandoning the original working title, “Terminal
26:10
Romance,” changed how listeners approach the records
26:13
overall mood, if at all, did the title change
26:16
make a difference? I think, so I don't think Terminal
26:18
Romance, when you think about it, because you know
26:21
what? I don't know. I mean, like I said, You're
26:24
Gonna Get It! is kind of like a terminal romance
26:26
from that standpoint. Well, like I said, it was
26:27
a bad relationship from that standpoint. I think
26:30
Terminal Romance has other connotations. I don't
26:34
think it's as market friendly from that standpoint.
26:38
So I think I think changing that name would definitely
26:41
be, you know, what was definitely a smart move
26:44
on their part to change it to something other
26:47
than Terminal, Terminal Romance. But like I said,
26:50
it had kind of a negative connotation. You were
26:52
going to get it was about a bad relationship.
26:56
And Terminal Romance would be about a really
26:57
bad relationship from that standpoint. It's coming
27:02
back to you. It's one of them kind of things.
27:05
So I think from that standpoint, I think Terminal
27:07
Romance would have been a bad title and I don't
27:09
think the album would have done anywhere near
27:11
as well as it did if they would have used that
27:13
as a title. At just under 30 minutes, does the
27:16
brief runtime help the album remain a lean punch
27:19
of rock and roll fun? Or do you think it leaves
27:21
some key ideas underdeveloped? Um, I think it's
27:25
the fact that they kept it under 30 minutes.
27:28
It kind of was a, it was, he didn't really have
27:31
the luxury to write long drawn out songs or whatever
27:34
like that. People wanted quick hits. They wanted
27:36
stuff that had quick play. And so from that standpoint,
27:40
the fact that it was shorter, I don't know if
27:42
it would leave, you know, I don't know if it
27:44
would necessarily leave unfinished stuff because
27:47
I think he'd finished what he wanted to write
27:49
for that album and the theme that he was trying
27:51
to portray and where it was at, at that time.
27:54
Because when you go on to Damn the Torpedoes,
27:58
Damn the Torpedoes doesn't really have anything
27:59
that sounds like You're Gonna Get It! or the
28:02
first album from that standpoint, so much on
28:04
it. So I think he pretty much finished out everything
28:07
that he wanted to. I don't think there was anything
28:09
left unfinished, I should say, from that from
28:12
that second album or his thoughts. It's a quick
28:14
album to listen to. You know, you get a lot of
28:16
good songs are in there. They're not they're
28:17
not terribly long. You know, I think there's
28:21
what, 10 songs on that album also, or whatever.
28:23
Yeah. You know, yeah, there's 10 songs on that and
28:26
it moves fast and it's like it's very up tempo
28:28
from that standpoint there's really anything
28:30
there's like a slow “Luna” song or anything like
28:33
that on there, you know, nothing from that standpoint
28:35
So, yeah, it's very hit, it's very quick, it's very
28:39
kind of poppy from that standpoint from the fact
28:41
that it's radio friendly because it is fast and
28:44
it moves quick and, you know, you, like they said,
28:47
the most people wanted, you know, radios want to
28:49
have songs there less than three minutes from
28:51
that standpoint And he definitely fulfills that
28:54
With, with this album. Yeah, and I think Denny
28:56
Cordell had a lot to do with that. He's like,
28:57
No, you gotta, you gotta do this and you gotta
28:59
make it quick You gotta do this to get radio
29:01
play and you gotta do this and I think that had
29:03
a lot to do with it also from that standpoint
29:08
Okay, next, Brad, let's talk about the legacy
29:10
of You're Gonna Get It! Does this album deserve
29:13
a reappraisal as an overlooked gem, or is it
29:16
fairly ranked as a stepping stone, if you will,
29:19
between two masterpieces? That is the self-titled
29:22
debut album and Damn the Torpedoes. I think this
29:25
is a gem in itself from the because it's, it's
29:28
the progression of, of the songwriting. This song
29:31
is you know, this album is about, you know, you
29:33
you have your good days. You have your bad days,
29:35
you know, you still love somebody, you know,
29:37
this is about relationships and sometimes, you
29:39
Know, even though you might have a good relationship,
29:41
or you might you know, even you might have your
29:43
good and bad days within your relationship, you still
29:45
love that person and so, even though there's questions
29:48
and there's thoughts and so on so forth, that's
29:50
kind of what this album's about. Everybody's
29:52
going to get their day in this. I think it's
29:56
a great stepping stone between the two albums.
30:01
And it deserves its own recognition from that
30:04
standpoint. Because like I said, things change.
30:07
And things evolve musically from his standpoint.
30:10
Sounds change. Ideas change. different periods
30:13
of his life change because that's one thing that
30:15
Tom was so great about is you could tell what
30:17
was going on in his life because based on what
30:20
he was writing at that particular time. Some
30:25
final thoughts on this album, Brad. Of the many
30:27
times that you saw Tom Petty in concert over
30:29
the years, have you heard most of the 10 songs
30:32
from You're Gonna Get It! played live? Do you
30:34
know or some that? No, I mean, he mostly did.
30:37
Let's see. I remember him doing “I Need to Know”
30:40
and how else did he do off this album? “Listen
30:44
to Her Heart,” I'm sure. “Listen to Her Heart,”
30:46
yeah. You need to know listen to your heart.
30:48
Did he sing the title track live much or? Yeah,
30:52
he did do that as a deep cut. I've heard him
30:54
do that before as a deep cut, yep. I suppose
30:57
it depends on the years that you saw him. Maybe
30:59
in the earlier years you would have heard maybe
31:01
more songs. In the earlier years you would have
31:03
definitely heard a lot more of him. Like I said,
31:05
I didn't get out to concerts until about ‘95.
31:08
So by that time he had the Wildflowers out. He
31:10
had all that other stuff that was out before
31:12
that or whatever. I remember him playing “Restless”
31:14
before. “Too Much Ain't Enough.” I know he's played
31:18
“Magnolia” in concert before. No, like I said before,
31:21
one of the things is... You know, he'll bring
31:23
stuff out. He'll be like, Hey, let's do this
31:25
song tonight. Let's do this song tonight. So
31:27
he would, you know, he would just, he'd get the
31:30
urge to play something old or play something
31:31
off the list or somebody would scream something
31:33
out, request it. You go, okay, let's, let's do
31:36
it. You know, all right, let's play this, you
31:37
know. The rest of it. And they're like, you know,
31:39
sometimes you're like, you know, he'll go, hey,
31:41
what key is this in? You know, they'll have to
31:43
tell him what key it's in so he can, you know,
31:45
remember how it goes. And so it's over. But they'll
31:47
pull stuff out and they'll do it that way. That
31:50
was one of the greatest things about live shows.
31:51
It was live. Right. Right. But that was I bet
31:55
those were awesome concerts. So I'm going to
31:58
throw out this hypothetical question again, Brad.
32:01
You're in a pub-style restaurant with this really
32:04
advanced jukebox. They can play any song from
32:08
you're going to get it, but you only pick one
32:10
because there's a lot of people behind you that
32:12
want to pick songs. What would you want to play
32:14
and why? I kind of like “Restless,” you know, because
32:19
it's a good rocker, you know. You know, it didn't
32:25
get as much radio play as I would have liked
32:27
it to have gotten or whatever at the time. But
32:30
I think it's really good rock and roll song or
32:33
whatever. dark and it's kind of dirty and it's
32:36
just you know it's kind of heavy you know that's
32:41
kind of the cool thing about it and that's something
32:42
you don't normally hear them play you know but
32:46
like I said that that would be when I would maybe
32:47
want to play, you know, in a bar. Yeah, if I was
32:51
Driving, you know, you know, I mean, like I said,
32:53
it's, if I was driving down the road and listening
32:55
to something like that I think “No Second Thoughts”
33:00
is a great song. The imagery from that is such
33:03
a great song. Those lines are so great in that.
33:07
And that's one of those things that really resonates.
33:11
Like I said, you kind of remember that. You kind
33:12
of feel that. You kind of feel what they're going
33:14
through. So I think that's one of the cool things
33:17
about “Magnolia.” It just kind of takes you back
33:19
in time. That's one of the great things about
33:21
the Tom Petty stuff. Like I said, when this came
33:24
out, I was six years old. How old were you, Bob?
33:28
I got 20 years, or about 18 years. 1978 this
33:34
came out? Yeah, I was 25. Yeah, there you go.
33:38
Remember, he's only three years older than I
33:40
was. So whatever I was, he was just three years
33:44
older. And wasn't he 26 when he did the debut
33:48
album? That was in 1976. Yeah, born in ‘50. So
33:52
yeah, so yeah, yeah, yeah, it's just a young
33:55
buck then. So okay, so that's good to know. “Restless”
33:59
would be the.. I just had to get that age crack
34:02
in there again for you. Age is just a number
34:07
to everybody—except me. So I'm getting a dirty
34:11
look for my wife. So I'll just stop that. Just
34:17
remember. If I disappear, you're the last one
34:21
to see me alive. So just remember that. Oh, good
34:25
stuff. Good stuff. Well, like I do with all our
34:30
podcasts, Brad, I'm going to give you the last
34:32
word on this one. What do you think is the most
34:34
important thing for listeners to know about Tom
34:37
Petty and the Heartbreakers' second studio album?
34:39
You're Gonna Get It!? Well, like I said, I
34:42
think it's just the evolution of Tom Petty. It's
34:45
one of those things where it's kind of like watching
34:47
the whole Star Wars series You know, you want
34:48
to watch those in in their in their sequences
34:51
as how the movies progress because it continues
34:53
the story. You're Gonna Get It! is kind of the same
34:56
Thing, where he's going through these, these issues,
34:59
the relationship stuff going through all these
35:01
other things that are going on, doubts and all,
35:04
the things with, you know, with now, you got the
35:06
second album, well now, you got these performance
35:08
Doubts, you're gonna be able to have the success
35:10
that you know you had in the first album. It's
35:12
gonna be better is gonna be worse is it gonna
35:14
be this you know you're touring all the time.
35:16
Well, then, you're putting all the, all the stress
35:18
on your family from constantly being gone. And
35:21
then if you're not touring, you're in the recording
35:23
studio and you know, you got kids and you got
35:25
all these other things, you got all these other
35:26
stresses. So like I said, I think the important
35:28
thing to take away from this is, it's the evolution
35:31
of Tom Petty, and it is the second album, and it's
35:34
a great album from that standpoint. The writing
35:36
on it is great, and you can really hear how he's
35:39
progressed from the first album as far as that
35:42
goes. But like I said, there is still some influence
35:44
you do hear from the first album on there. The
35:47
sound and some of the stuff like that is still
35:49
there, but it's just important to listen to those
35:51
albums. It's really important to listen to them
35:53
in their order because you really are getting
35:55
the feel of how things are moving along, and you
35:57
get a good feel for him and you understand him
35:59
a little better and you understand how some of
36:02
these songs relate to different people at different
36:05
times in their lives and that's the most important
36:07
thing about this music is because it's all relatable.
36:10
It's all, like I said, you know some people it
36:14
gets them through these times they have this
36:16
song They're having a tough day and they're having
36:17
a tough life, and they hear the song and it's
36:20
what brings them, it brings them back, it gets
36:23
them through that tough time and, and sometimes
36:25
you know before there was therapy And there was
36:27
all these other things all you had for therapy
36:30
was music, and sometimes that's the best therapy.
36:32
Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, I mean you
36:35
look at how it's just the emotion the feeling
36:37
of everything You know, I mean, you look at a
36:39
fast song you can you know, you're a fast song
36:42
makes you dry it fast, you know a song like,
36:44
you know, “Magnolia” makes you think back, you
36:46
Know, you know, when you're younger and you met
36:49
somebody, and you wonder what happened to that
36:50
person, you know, what happened to that person,
36:52
you know, and then you look at all these other
36:55
things, “You're Gonna Get It.” Well, you're
36:56
talking about a tough relationship, you know,
36:58
you're talking about, you know, you're kind of
37:00
in that, that, that battle or whatever, you know,
37:04
from that standpoint, you know, you don't want
37:07
to put any extra effort in, they don't want to
37:09
put any extra into you and you're kind of locked
37:11
into this middle ground or whatever with that
37:13
relationship is doing. So like I said, that's
37:16
the biggest thing. That's the biggest takeaway.
37:18
And I maybe went off a little too far on that.
37:20
But you know, that's what you're, that's the biggest
37:22
thing. Like I said, this music is therapy.
37:25
And that's the most important thing to remember
37:27
about it. Well said, Brad. That's great. That's
37:30
great. Thank you again for your time. It's great
37:32
to see you again. I can't wait till the next
37:34
time we can talk about an album. Good to see
37:36
you too, Bob. And that's going to do it. for
37:44
our discussion of Tom Petty and Heartbreakers’
37:47
second studio album, You're Gonna Get It!, which
37:50
was released on May 2nd, 1978. My thanks to Brad
37:54
Johs for sharing his thoughts and insights on
37:56
the timeless music of Tom Petty. And to our listeners,
38:00
thanks for hangin’ out with me, Bob Edholm,
38:03
and my guest, Brad Johs. We hope you'll join
38:05
us for the next deep dive episode of another
38:08
Tom Petty album on “Hangin’ Out with Bob,” wherever
38:11
you listen to your podcasts. And until then,
38:15
Bye-eee!