TOM PETTY AND ME- My Rock n’ Roll Adventures With Tom Petty by Jon Scott

Longtime friend and promo legend JON SCOTT has his place in music history, documented in this book about the true story in how Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers went from ‘about to be dropped’ status’ at ABC/Shelter Records to hit records at radio due to Jon’s diligence and belief that his friend Tom Petty had important music to share with the world…and Jon was determined to make sure every program and music director in the US heard the debut album.

The classic story goes like this: Jon is at MCA Records and working a campaign to break a new artist: “Johnny Cougar’ (pre- John Mellencamp)… like many new artists, getting a spot on a radio station’s playlist was never easy, and while Scott believed in Johnny Cougar, the label did not and asked him to stop working the project. And, in typical Jon Scott fashion, he ignored his bosses request, and continued to pound away on the phones for airplay for Cougar. This did not sit well with the VPs at MCA and they eventually fired Jon over the issue.

Within days, the story about Jon getting fired because of his persistence in pursuing airplay for an artist he believed in was getting around Hollywood. Head of promotion at ABC Records, Charlie Minor (another legend in the business) heard about Jon’s story and called him at home and asked if he’d like to join ABC and start their Rock Promotion department. Excited at the opportunity, Jon took the offer and a week later was in his new office at ABC Records.

Jon’s first day on the job will be a day he’ll always remember-as that was the day he found a white label test pressing of an LP that did not list the artist or title of the album on the label. He put it on his new office turntable and immediately was shocked at what he heard. It was the very first LP from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, which ABC/Shelter had released 8 months previously to zero success. Jon rushed to Charlie’s office jumping up and down about how amazing the album was and was told ‘we’re looking to drop the act, it’s been out 8 months and nothing is happening’. Jon wouldn’t back down and proposed that if Charlie gave him 6 weeks to break the record, he would prove his belief that this artist and album were historic and a hit project. Charlie agreed, gave Jon the six weeks, and within 2 weeks Jon scored the first add for the record with Bonnie Simmons of KSAN FM in San Francisco, and shortly thereafter Charlie Kendall PD of KWST in Los Angeles followed suit. Those two major stations and markets kicked off the campaign and a tour that resulted with Petty and the Heartbreakers opening for Blondie and the hit singles never stopped as Petty and Scott’s friendship grew.

Their friendship was so solid that in his last show at the Hollywood Bowl, Petty told the story about how Jon vowed to break the first album and dedicated ‘Won’t Back Down’ to Jon.