Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released Long After Dark, their fifth studio album, in Nov. 1982. Barely two weeks after the record was out, the band was in the studio taking calls from fans to discuss the album on the syndicated radio program Rockline.
With an expanded edition of Long After Dark arriving this week, Ultimate Classic Rock Nights will rebroadcast the Petty Rockline episode for the first time since its original airing on Wednesday (Oct. 16) at 10pm EST. You can listen on affiliate stations or stream it live here at that time.
It was an important time for the group, as director Cameron Crowe recently shared with UCR. He joined the band in studio that night at Rockline, because they were also filming for what would become 1983’s Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party.
“[Tom Petty] really had something to say. I think he was at the crossroads then. I think he felt that there was a shot this band was going to go the distance. [Hard Promises] was a thoughtful follow-up to Damn the Torpedoes,” Crowe explains. “But now, it was a time to kind of remind people that they did have rock in their arsenal. They did know how to blow it out and write all kinds of songs in many different genres.”
READ MORE: How Tom Petty Made a Quick Return on ‘Long After Dark’
“It’s about the band. The band was f–king unbelievable, first album,” Adria Petty told UCR in a separate conversation. “You know, some people have one hit and they have a career — or three hits, that’s a career forever. But they had that on the first record. I think in the case of Long After Dark, there was more of a revelation there maybe than we thought, in terms of the importance of where the band was at.”
Listen to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ ‘Straight Into Darkness’ From ‘Long After Dark’
Petty and the group were in good spirits during the Rockline broadcast, as they sat with host Bob Coburn, talking to listeners and answering a variety of questions. Though they had been a band for less than a decade, a lot had happened in that time, as Petty detailed, telling Coburn about their journey from being on Leon Russell and Denny Cordell’s Shelter Records to the present day events of Long After Dark.
Thanks to the generosity of Coburn and Petty’s respective estates, fans can hear the original broadcast one more time on Wednesday evening at 10pm EST.
Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party will be in theaters for the first time ever on Thursday (Oct. 17) and Sunday (Oct. 20) courtesy of Trafalgar Releasing. Find local showtimes in your area via the film’s website.
The Best Song From Every Tom Petty Album
There’s a common thread running through Tom Petty’s catalog, and it’s the Heartbreakers.
Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
