10 Band Members That Are Way More Important Than You Think

If you’re in a band named Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and your last name isn’t Petty, you’re bound to be forgotten. Though Petty had envisioned himself as the leader of a band, he never wanted to have his name slapped on the record, and the rest of the band did just as much to make songs like Refugee come alive. If there was a co captain in all of this though, it would have to be Mike Campbell.

From day one, Campbell had worked with Petty in his pre Heartbreaker band Mudcrutch, where he played a more countrified version of rock and roll. When it came time to transition over, Campbell was responsible for some of the more moody songs to come out of the band, like coming up with the iconic guitar part for Breakdown on the fly and lending his slide playing to songs like I Won’t Back Down, which gives George Harrison a run for his money. Campbell’s music isn’t strictly tied to the Heartbreakers either.

Outside of performing with Tom, Campbell has lent his skills to writing hits for other artists, from giving Don Henley the basis of Boys of Summer in the ‘80s to eventually playing acoustic guitar on Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt, which revitalized his career. Campbell might have as many flashy moments as his idols like Chuck Berry or Carl Perkins, but his skills are about finding the spaces between the notes that people love to hear.