I have a sort of not ripping on Tom Petty story if you like...
My oldest sis married one of the formulative heroes of early FM radio. He was program director/DJ of several of the biggest radio stations in the country and was brought in to help MTV during its early days.
As it worked out, he, from what I understand, gave Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers their first radio launch. He's since passed away, but he and Petty became friends. TP would send him all the silver/gold/platinum record plaques as they got them. I've seen them... pretty cool haha.
So here's the funny and sweet part with my sis. When she was dating Thom, her soon to be husband, they went to a Tom Petty after-party, and when her Thom introduced her to Petty for the first time TP said, 'I just want to say this... before I get drunk, and it doesn't mean anything, that you are a VERY beautiful woman'.
She was, no doubt,
and she tells the story with a very sweet aknowledgement of who Tom Petty is and was. It was the 'before I get drunk...' part that really makes the story haha. I never got to meet him personally, but my gut, and my sis, says he was a very genuine individual, who happened to have a very deep talent for expressing feelings that maybe we don't even recognize, but really do exist.
The world is a better place for having had Tom Petty in it.