Where do you begin with an artist who — at least throughout my life — has always been there to lean on, relate to and sing along with. It is a strange, almost silly feeling to mourn someone you don’t know personally, but the impact music has had on me is much bigger than an Instagram tribute post, especially when that music is Tom Petty’s.

I can remember my mother sliding the Full Moon Fever cassette into the tape deck of our Ford Astrovan on trips long enough to drive the five children in the backseat crazy. Instead of what would otherwise be madness, my siblings and I would all just end up singing along to “Zombie Zoo”.

The appeal of “Zombie Zoo” is obvious to a young boy. But as I got older, and my love for music grew into an academic pursuit, the depth of my appreciation for Tom Petty’s music also grew. Something begins to happen when you dive deeper into the arts: our tastes become expanded, yet refined, and we begin to search for something a bit more complex than our previous obsessions. Even so, Mr. Petty was always there to remind us that harmonic complexity is not a requirement of what makes music great.

As an artist, it seems to me that Tom’s strength was not overthinking a song, but letting them go where ever it was they dictated. If it felt good, you followed it. There is a confident simplicity found in nearly every single one of his recognizable hits — and even among the deeper cuts — that remains unmatched in rock n’ roll. A catchy-and-simple guitar riff met with an even catchier vocal melody is all it takes to lay the ground work for a great song. Yet in the content of his lyrics, which on the surface may seem simple, often sat a nostalgia for the innocence of adolescence which adds the depth of emotion that every great song requires and, in Tom’s case especially, becomes relatable to just about anyone who has grown up in this country.

The verses on “Here Comes My Girl” — arguably my favorite of Petty’s songs — are still some of the most heart-aching melodies I’ve ever heard, even when half of the verse is essentially spoken word. And with the brilliant sentiment of the hook aside, “Even The Losers” opens on a moment in time that will never cease to give me chills each time I hear it…

“It was nearly summer, we sat on your roof

Yeah, we smoked cigarettes and we stared at the moon

I showed you the stars you never could see

It couldn’t have been that easy to forget about me…”

…perfectly capturing those beautiful moments we have growing up which we are nostalgic for as adults — the ones where a relationship or a feeling or a moment can transcend time.