The Near Tragedy Tom Petty and His Family Escaped That Inspired One of His Greatest Hits

Tragedy can and often does beget profound inspiration, which was certainly the case for Tom Petty when he wrote one of his greatest hits following a horrific attack from which he and his family barely escaped. Petty’s lead single from his 1989 album, Full Moon Fever, was the rock musician’s response to the experience. You could stand me up at the gates of Hell, but I won’t back down.

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Petty feared that the song was too “embarrassing” in its directness, but co-writer Jeff Lynne managed to convince him otherwise. And he was right. “I Won’t Back Down” peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and No. 12 on the Hot 100. It also made the top 20 in Canada and Australia.

Tragedy Struck Tom Petty and His Family in May 1987

Tom Petty and his family were the victims of an arson attack on their Encino, California, home early in the morning on May 17, 1987. The family was preparing for an afternoon barbecue in celebration of Petty’s then-wife Jane Benyo’s birthday. Before Petty could fully process what was happening, he realized a massive fire had started somewhere in the house and was quickly engulfing the wooden house. The musician had to act fast.

“The first thing I did was just push my wife and kid out a side door and told them to go to the swimming pool,” Petty recalled in Paul Zollo’s 2005 book Conversations with Tom Petty. “Just go and jump into the pool because that won’t burn. And then I ran out the back door and picked up a hose to try to fight the fire in the back. And the hose melted in my hands. Just absolutely melted. I got kind of burned. Standing close to it was kind of like being in the sun for too long. And I remember then I tried to come out of the house, and that’s when I realized the whole place was on fire.”

Petty followed the guidance from hotel safety films he had watched in the past and got down on his belly and crawled under the smoke. As he stood up outside, he noticed his housekeeper’s hair was on fire. Thankfully, she was holding a water hose and was able to put out the blaze, saving her life. Petty grabbed his wife and daughter (their other daughter wasn’t home at the time) and went down the driveway, where Petty saw the press had arrived before the first responders.

“Literally everything I owned was burnt,” Petty said.

Living Out The Lyrics To One Of His Greatest Hits

Tom Petty and his family lost nearly all of their possessions in the house fire, which investigators easily labeled as arson after finding a hole in the family’s back fence and a nearby empty can of fuel. The entire experience understandably shook Petty to his core, to the point that he wouldn’t even include “fire” in his songs. “They didn’t just try to kill me,” he told Paul Zollo. “They tried to wipe out my whole family.” But Petty refused to live in fear forever.

Going out on the road helped Petty, his wife, and their children regroup from the harrowing attack on their home. When they did return to California, they lived in various rental properties. But Petty liked his property. He wanted to go back. So, he decided to rebuild his home right where it stood before the fire. “I thought that would be the ultimate therapy to build the house back, and to say to whoever did it, ‘You didn’t get me. I didn’t move an inch. And I’m still alive. And I’m going to build it back.’”

He wrapped this fearless, persistent attitude into his 1989 single, “I Won’t Back Down.” At first, Petty worried the song was too hyper-specific to his situation. “I remember asking Jeff Lynne if he thought the song might be a little embarrassing,” Petty told Guitar Player in 2006. “He said, ‘No. It feels great.’ So, I was surprised when it was received the way it was. People are always telling me, ‘That song helped me through the worst time of my life.’”

And indeed, it did for Petty, too.

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