116. American Girl by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers 1977

1977 and it's year zero for punk rock (well in Blackburn south anyway) so I start chucking out some of the crap from the last few years because all i want to hear is the new stuff like The Clash and The Jam or old stuff like Iggy or The New York Dolls.
Then I'm driving in my Datsun Bluebird which cost me 400 bucks from a car yard in Springvale Road and would eventually sell for 20 bucks. (when I sold it a piece of chewing gum was keeping the carburettor working). Driving to my girlfriend's place in North Balwyn when the radio starts blasting out that guitar. like ringing a bell just as Chuck Berry said. American Girl. Then the bass in time with the drums and then...oooooh! here come the vocals. Brilliant. The vocals end and then it keeps going. Woah ho! And then driving the car is so much better. I've been putting this song on my car mix tapes for over 30 years and it never gets boring.
But he wasn't punk. He sounded like a power pop version of The Byrds. Here I was torn between punk and this great new sound from the USA. Long hair and flares indeed. Then The Fiction played a gig at the Crystal Ballroom (then Wintergarden Room) with Two Way Garden. And they did a version of Breakdown by Tom Petty. Year Zero hadn't lasted too long in my house. But with songs like these I was creating my musical identity.
I had held back, but that week I invested in the album.