Runnin' Down a Dream

I'm finally getting around to watching Peter Bogdanovich's four-hour Tom Petty documentary. It's very well made, and I think all the more impressive considering Petty is, even at his best, something of a b-lister about on par with prime John Mellencamp, but nowhere near someone like Bruce Springsteen. If anything, that's the ultimate failure of the flick (so far). Sure, he's a big star with familiar big star problems, but it's just so weird to see people praising the bejeezus out of the guy while barely mentioning his inherent second-class redundant status. To hear hacks like Bill Flanagan talk about Petty in the same breath as, say, U2 is pretty audacious. Love him or hate him, his career is a whole different animal. A nice animal, one you're glad to have hang around, but a different animal all the same.

Every time they flash an album or date on screen, I keep thinking what someone like Prince was up to at the same time, and then I think: no contest.