Stan Lynch, the Homebody Heartbreaker
By Bill DeYoung
Gainesville Sun - Friday, July 20, 1984
Stan Lynch can have anything he wants. Cars, women, drugs, you name it, any of the trappings that rock stardom has to offer, Stan can get 'em. As the drummer for Tom Petty's critically-and-commercially potent Heartbreakers, he's been around the world seven times, owns an apartment high above Santa Monica bay in sunny California, can boast of two platinum and three gold albums, and nearly as many hit singles as Michael Jackson.
What Stan wants most of all, he says, is a nice house on Little Lake Geneva, where he can water-ski, and the chance to hop into Gainesville when he pleases for an exciting night on the town.
This is not merely a rock-star retreat for Stan Lynch, a place to get away from it all. He's a Gainesville native, like three of the other original Heartbreakers (Tom, too), and he'll tell you he hangs out here, lives in Keystone Heights half the year, because he wants to. It's the only nice he clings to stringently.
"I feel comfortable here," he says, "my roots are here. Really, I come back because I can. I don't have to be defensive, I don't have to have my guard up, to have a rap, or a glad hand. It's comfortable for me to be here, that's all. I don't feel like I'm lazy if I'm not working. In L.A., if I'm not working I feel very upset about it.
Pop Talk
By Glen Gore-Smith
Winnipeg Free Press - Saturday, October 6, 1984
Mike Campbell of The Heartbreakers wrote a song which was chopped from the final cut of the new Tom Petty album, but he managed to peddle it elsewhere. Turns out that the Petty reject is now destined for the new Don Henley LP.
Ouch! Tom Petty breaks hand
Lakeland Ledger - October 18, 1984
LOS ANGELES -- Rock star Tom Petty smashed his left hand into a wall during a recording session, breaking several bones and threatening his ability to play guitar, his publicist said Tuesday.
"The doctors don't know what is going to happen," publicist Paul Wasserman said. "They can't say whether he will be able to play the guitar professionally again."
Petty and his group, the Heartbreakers, were working on their first album in two years when he hit the wall "in an act of unthinking artistic pique following the playback of a track," according to a statement from Wasserman.
Showbits: Rock star Petty punches wall, broken bones put tour on hold
Winnipeg Free Press - Thursday, October 18, 1984
LOS ANGELES -- A winter concert tour for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is on hold after the rock star punched a wall, breaking several bones, "in an act of unthinking artistic pique," a spokesman said.
"The doctors don't know what is going to happen," publicist Paul Wasserman said.
"They can't say whether he will be able to play the guitar professionally again."
Petty and the Heartbreakers were working on Southern Accents, their first album in two years, and had completed recording when Petty smashed the wall last Thursday, Wasserman said.
Editor's Note: This article erroneously mentions Tom broke his hand in Miami. That's sort of a long trip to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center!
Dental students give Petty a hand
By Paul Spanhauer
Beachcomber - Monday, November 5, 1984
"We're not all teeth in the Dental Health Serves Department," says student Fred Hartman.;
He and a group of fellow dental students have entered WSHE's "left hand" contest to cheer up injured rock star Tom Petty.
His aren't just Petty concerns
Wilmington Star-News - November 6, 1984
Tom Petty sustained multiple fractures of the left hand when he slammed his fist into a wall in frustration over the sound of one of the tracks from his upcoming LP. He still doesn't know if he'll ever be in shape to play the guitar again. But he's not letting that fact keep him inactive. Petty let MCA Records know he doesn't like the cover the company chose for what will be his first album in two years. So instead of Southern Accents going out with his picture on the jacket cover, it will feature a reproduction of a post-Civil War American Painting by Winslow Homer titled A Veteran in a New Field. Why? Because Petty likes it, that's why -- and he thinks it fits the music he wrote for the LP. MCA execs aren't too high on the idea -- figuring Winslow Homer isn't exactly record-buyer bait.
Pop & Rock
By Glen Gore-Smith
Winnipeg Free Press - Wednesday, November 14, 1984
Tom Petty's days as a guitarist are probably over. Petty smashed his left hand when he punched a wall in a fit of temper. Petty needed a four-hour operation, during which doctors put two metal pins directly into the hand. The prognosis isn't good.
Rockers Recall Their First Musical Memories
By Frank Rizzo
Winnipeg Free Press - Friday, November 16, 1984
In the following interviews, pop stars recall their first musical memory.
Tom Petty, 32, (Don't Do Me Like That, Here Comes My Girl, Refugee):
"I remember being very young, maybe three, and listening to my parents play Rock Around the Clock. I remember it because it had that rhythm: 'One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock, rock.'"
Pop & Rock
By Glen Gore-Smith
Winnipeg Free Press - Wednesday, December 12, 1984
Doctors still aren't sure whether Tom Petty will be able to play the guitar again. Petty, who broke his left hand several weeks ago, has been in therapy, and doctors say he's improving. But even if he continues to heal at his present rate, it will be at least another nine months before he's able to play a guitar again.