Editor’s Note: From Albumism’s inception back in 2016, we’ve remained unabashedly and unequivocally passionate about our mission of celebrating the world's love affairs with albums past, present and future.

But while our devotion to the album as an art form has remained steadfast, as evidenced by our deepening repository of individual album tributes and reviews, we’ve admittedly seldom taken the opportunity to explicitly articulate our reverence for the virtues of artists’ complete album repertoires as a whole.

Hence why we’ve decided to showcase what we believe to be the most dynamic discographies of all time in this recurring series. In doing so, we hope to better understand the broader creative context within which our most beloved individual albums exist, while acknowledging the full breadth of their creators’ artistry, career arcs, and overall contributions to the ever-evolving musical landscape.

We hope you enjoy this series and be sure to check here periodically for the latest installments.

TOM PETTY

I always knew who Tom Petty was. After all, I was born in the mid-1970s and grew up within earshot of music-playing radios. But oddly enough, I knew him from classic rock stations, since for a time he wasn't played on Top 40 in New York City. And, like any well-adjusted person, I enjoyed Petty’s work. Not many artists could put across so many emotions. Anger. Sadness. Defiance. Petty didn't just tell a story: he practically created a full-length musical movie within a three-minute song.

But, mostly because of his affiliation with the Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup which included George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Roy Orbison, I always cataloged Petty as an older artist, a classic rock one, rather than someone more contemporary, not realizing he and the Heartbreakers released their debut the year I was born.

I finally positioned Petty in the present when I went away to college in 1994. I had MTV for the first time and Petty was all over the music network that year. There was the "You Don't Know How It Feels" video from Wildflowers (1994), Petty’s second solo album. Petty sang right into the camera, a harmonica rack around his neck, looking much younger than Harrison or Dylan. The "Into the Great Wide Open" video, the title track from Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1991 album, was still in heavy rotation, mostly due to it starring Johnny Depp. And the Kim Basinger-starring video for "Mary Jane's Last Dance," from their 1993 Greatest Hits collection, also seemed to air once an hour. The videos were enchanting, but also made me more aware of Petty as a contemporary artist. I quickly took to endlessly playing my roommate's copy of Wildflowers.

And then Petty appeared on the cover of the May 1995 Rolling Stone, bearded, in old jeans and a flannel shirt, his Telecaster hanging casually off of him, like he only stopped playing long enough to allow the photo. The image captivated me (I've written about it before), Petty looking so wildly wise, displaying the naturalness of grunge, but coupled with a composed serenity. He wasn't my parents or an older sibling, but rather an uncle who would tell me about the world, but didn't care if I listened. I've kept that picture, in one form or another, on my wall for decades (Rolling Stone used it as the cover for one of their Petty tribute issues, too, so I'm not the only one obsessed with it). The beauty of the photo sent me spiraling backwards into Petty’s music, hitting his catalog hard.

And that's where I came to appreciate Petty as a songwriter. The music videos, especially his roles in them, made him seem a bit goofy, like someone surrendering to whatever the directors and marketing people told him to do. But the music behind the videos was the opposite. You can hear Petty wrestling with his songs and performances. Is "I Won't Back Down," from 1989's Full Moon Fever, Petty declaring he's not going to change or is he reassuring himself? Only Petty can make the song realize its true purpose and perfection. Other artists can cover the tune, and it’s still a great song, but it’s not the same as when Petty sings it himself.

Petty died in October 2017. I was lucky enough to see him in July of that same year. My girlfriend moved in with me that month and we went together, knowing we would both be exhausted from fitting two apartments' worth of things into one. The concert was amazing, Petty and the Heartbreakers delivering flawless versions of familiar songs. He and the Heartbreakers weren't a legacy act, performing hits because no one cared about their new music, but rather a cultural touchstone giving the audience the songs that represented important moments in their lives. And Petty still had the beard.

Steven’s 3 Favorite Tom Petty Albums of All Time:

1. Wildflowers (1994)
2. Damn the Torpedoes (1979)
3. Songs and Music from ‘She's the One’ (1996)

VISIT Tom Petty’s Official Store

LISTEN & WATCH: