Spock;1875030 wrote:i put Tom in the catagory with Paul Stanley and Bob Dylan......terrible singers that got away with it.

and i put you in the same "catagory" as a few other terrible posters on this site that get away with it

Dr Winston O'Boogie;1875647 wrote:He's a great singer. His sound is unique, not classical. Listen to "Wildflowers" and tell me Tom Petty didn't
have a wonderful voice. Beautiful song.

Yep, unique is exactly the right word. More story teller than someone who routinely belted out lyrics or hit unbelievable notes, but he had decent range and good tone. His tone just had a little bit of a sharp edge to it and not "smooth" in the more traditional sense.

In terms of song-writing ability, an absolute legend. Kind of like someone else said, if you don't like Tom Petty you don't like good music.