As others have said, this was quite a surprise.
Tom Petty entered the music scene as I was getting older and found music less relevant and interesting to me. Then, when I heard Tom Petty, I realized this guy knows rock and roll and I was reawakened to the world of rock. Of all of his songs, my favorite is “Refugee” which I consider to be the archetypal rock song.
RIP Tom
Changed the title.
I liked his studio releases (Here Comes My Girl is my fave) but I love Pack Up the Plantation. His live songs just have a happier lighter vibe I love.
OK, he didn’t write it but I love his version on PutP
So if you’re on the road a-trackin’ down your every night
And singin’ for a livin’ ‘neath the brightly coloured lights
And if you ever wonder why you ride this carousel
You did it for the stories you could tell
This is sad. CBS also says the LAPD can’t confirm Mr. Petty’s death. I hope for his and his family’s sake, he does not linger on and his death is peaceful. It does not look like there is any hope he’ll recover.
Despite how it gets treated, Wikipedia is explicitly not a news source, and prioritizes reputation over speed.
Especially in light of the fact news sources (CBS, for example) apparently retracted claims of his death.
So let’s get to the point
Let’s roll another joint
Let’s head on down the road
There’s somewhere I gotta go
I’ll be doing at least one of those things tonight. 
R.I.P.
Never been, but damn, the pictures make it look like an incredible place to experience a concert.
This day is just kicking my ass. This one hurts, and the rest of the days events aren’t helping.
Me and Mrs.Bitchin’ are on the job:cool:
Devastating news. He will be sorely missed,and we’ll memorialized in my household. He is a Classic.
Wikipedia had him dead a couple of hours ago.
It appears to have been rescinded.
Yeah, there’s an ongoing war on his wiki article regarding adding he’s dead. Apparently it’s fully protected now, can only be edited by admins, and at least two people have been threatened with being blocked if they report he’s died on it. The talk page there is nuts.
Aw, crap!
Why does LAPD confirm a person dying in the hospital? There is no crime involved.
Weirdly, there’s nothing at all about Tom on CNN’s homepage right now.
We got lucky
When we heard him
There was a bit of a backtrack.
“CBS News’ report currently cites TMZ as saying that Petty is still “clinging to life” at a local hospital.”
This was from about 40 minutes ago.
Man oh man can this day just end!
So…is he dead or not?
Schroedinger’s rock star?