Anyone who has been in a band can attest that keeping the group together can sometimes be as difficult as the creative process itself, and according to Tom Petty’s lead guitarist, Mike Campbell, the Heartbreakers were no different. If anything, the stakes for (and, consequently, the tensions in) the Heartbreakers were even higher than your run-of-the-mill garage band. There was real money and international celebrity on the line, which made balancing friendships and professional connections that much more difficult.
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Knowing which role each band member needs to play in the ensemble can help ease conflict and keep workflow smooth and easy, but not even this can guarantee a stress-free group dynamic. As Campbell explained in a March 2025 interview with Guitar Player, there were plenty of times where the Heartbreakers were at risk of, well, breaking up.
Mike Campbell Explains Each Musician’s Role In The Heartbreakers
Some band dynamics and responsibilities are simple to define. The frontperson typically sings. The guitarist plays guitar, the bassist, the bass, and so on. But playing music in a group is more than having an assigned instrument. Ensembles require leaders, peacekeepers, and managers, among other social roles. According to guitarist Mike Campbell, he was the peacemaker of the Heartbreakers. “Guys in bands have different roles,” he explained to Guitar Player. “Tom [Petty] was a leader.”
“Benmont [Tench, keyboardist] was a genius,” he continued. “Stan [Lynch, drummer] was a ball of fire, and Ron [Blair] was the quiet, solid bass player. I embraced my role, and if there was a conflict that might break the band up, I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’m going to get in there and negotiate to keep it going. And we did.” While Campbell’s effort was certainly a noble one, it wasn’t foolproof. During the making of the band’s third album, Damn the Torpedoes, Petty and Campbell famously butted heads.
“That’s a perfect example of our relationship, me going, ‘Don’t you think dah, dah, dah,?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah, but I’m Tom Petty,’” Campbell recalled. “I couldn’t really argue with that. I could say, ‘Well, yeah, but I’m Mike Campbell,’ and he would go, ‘Nobody knows who that is.’ So, it was checkmate, and even though it stung a little bit, I had to give him credit. Tom would always give it to you straight, and I couldn’t argue with that.”
What Kept Tom Petty’s Band Together For So Long
In his memoir, Heartbreaker, guitarist Mike Campbell recalls sometimes being so angry with his bandmate and frontman, Tom Petty, that he couldn’t even look at him. Yet, somehow, the band managed to survive those moments even after decades of working in close quarters in the studio, living on the road, and dealing with countless high-stress, high-energy live performances all over the world. “It wasn’t all Gold records and sold-out shows,” Campbell told Guitar Player. “Bands are very delicate animals. There’s egos and resentments that can develop. Everybody’s passionately involved in this thing, and it can get very intense. I don’t think a lot of people realize how tough it is to keep a band together. Things come up, and one guy gets mad and says, ‘I don’t need this s***.’”
“The reason why the Heartbreakers didn’t break up was because Tom and I had a brotherhood. It’s hard to define, but no matter what happened from day one with him, the music came first. Whatever we might have agreed or not agreed, we agreed that the music was more important than anything else. We couldn’t let that fall apart, no matter what,” Campbell said. “We had our brotherly friction here and there. But there was a deep love that kept us together through all the rough times.”
Photo by Ian Dickson/Redferns
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