Which albums are eternally connected to a specific moment or event in your life? If you’re a big music fan, I’m sure you have several.
For me, one stands out in somewhat recent memory.
It was October 2017. We had just lost Tom Petty on October 2nd. Even though I was never a huge fan, I respected the hell out of him, and his sudden passing hit me hard. Just like Prince the year before, it felt like another rock star who shouldn’t have died that way. Prince and Petty should still be with us, still touring and making music.
It was a somber week for the music world. I even took out my guitar and started writing a song inspired by Tom’s passing, though I never finished it.
But it was also October, which means playoff baseball. As a lifelong fan of Cleveland baseball, that meant the Indians (now Guardians) were in the hunt. That year, they were facing their hated rivals, the “Bronx Bombers,” in a Best-of-5 American League Division Series.
My friend Joe (whom I also mentioned in the R.E.M. Chronic Town post) and I decided we had to go. Game 2 was scheduled for Friday, October 6th, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, with a first pitch at 5:08 PM.
On that Friday, we both made the drive to Cleveland—Joe from Ithaca, New York, and me from State College, Pennsylvania.
I was driving my daughter Emily’s cool, older-model Volvo station wagon. She had moved to Portland, Maine, and asked us to sell it for her. Since it was just sitting in the driveway, I figured I’d road-test it before putting it on the market. It was a fun little wagon to drive. Crucially, because it was an older model, it had a CD player.
I grabbed a stack of CDs for the 3 ½ hour drive through the hills of Central Pennsylvania. Naturally, I had to include some Tom Petty.
I picked Wildflowers. Released in November 1994, it was Petty’s second solo studio album. I had bought the CD immediately upon release, but never really dug deep into it; I knew the hits, but that was about it. Looking back, that was a huge mistake. Eventually, I would cover two songs from this record in my own bands: “You Wreck Me” and “It’s Good To Be King.” Whenever we got to those songs in the setlist, I would ask the crowd, “Do you like Tom Petty?” and regardless of the reaction, I’d follow up with, “Nobody doesn’t like Tom Petty!”
Joe has also covered the song “Wildflowers” when he performs.
As I drove west on I-80, I realized just what a gem this album is. Produced by Rick Rubin, it has that distinct Rubin feel and sound. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it #214 on their list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”
The album opens with the beautiful title track:
“You belong among the wildflowers. You belong in a boat out at sea. Sail away, kill off the hours. You belong somewhere you feel free.”
From there, it just keeps kicking you in the gut with tracks like “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” “Time To Move On,” “You Wreck Me,” and “It’s Good To Be King.” In all, it’s about 63 minutes of music. Petty actually had enough material for a double album, but the record company convinced him to trim it down to the 15 released tracks.
After the album finished, I decided to let it loop. I listened to it three times, all the way through, on my way to Cleveland. It felt like a way to grieve the loss of a true legend.
I met Joe at Blue Arrow Records in Cleveland. We had called ahead, and the owner was nice enough to let me store my car in their fenced-in parking lot. Joe then drove us into the city to our hotel, which was within walking distance of the stadium.
While shopping at Blue Arrow (which, incidentally, is also a record label that signed Jonathan Richman as their first artist back in 2015), I mentioned that I couldn’t find anything in the “Local” section by the Cleveland band The Adults. I asked the owner if he remembered them. Not only did he remember, but he said he was still friends with the bassist, Crystal Gray. Even better, he had a copy of their album, Ladies and Gentlemen… The Adults, in the back, that he sold to me.
Then, it was on to the game.
The Indians had their ace, Corey Kluber, on the mound. We thought this game was in the bag. However, Kluber only lasted 2.2 innings, giving up seven hits and six runs. By the 5th inning, Cleveland was down 8-3. Things were looking bleak.
Facebook alerted me that Ross, a friend of mine from college, was also at the game. I messaged him, and Joe and I left our seats in the upper deck on the right field line to meet him at the standing-room section in center field.
Then, the tide turned. In the 6th inning, Francisco Lindor came up with the bases loaded and sent a grand slam into the seats down the right-field line.
8-7.
The game became an instant classic, going 13 innings. The Indians finally won it in the bottom of the 13th on a walk-off single by catcher Yan Gomes. Ross, Joe, and I went crazy alongside hundreds of others in the SRO section. It was quite a night.
Because it was a late-afternoon start, the game ended just after 10:00 PM, despite lasting over five hours. Joe and I found a Mexican restaurant nearby and celebrated with margaritas and dinner. The next morning, we had breakfast, said our goodbyes, and drove home feeling good about our beloved Indians.
Unfortunately, they went on to lose the next three games, and the Yankees won the series.
But on that drive back to State College, PA, I listened to Wildflowers again. To this day, that record is forever connected to Game 2 of the 2017 ALDS.
What album is forever connected to a moment or event in your life?
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