“They’re starting to call us punks. It was absurd, these stupid labels. One day I said to a guy, ‘If you call me a punk again, I’m gonna cut ya’”: How Tom Petty took on the record industry and won with Damn The Torpedoes

Tom Petty posing for a photograph smoking a cigarette.

With 1980s, Damn The Torpedoes, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers would shoot to global acclaim. But, thanks to his stubborn, ruthless streak, he’d come under fire from his label, lawyers, fans and critics alike, almost being sunk in the defence of his artistic integrity