BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1985
R.I.P. Tom Petty
October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017
“Make It Better (Forget About Me)” is a song written by Tom Petty of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics. It was released in June 1985 as the third single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ 1985 album Southern Accents. Musically it is an uptempo number that pays tribute to the Memphis Soul style, with heavy emphasis on horns and funk-inspired rhythm guitar. The music video continues in the Alice in Wonderland motif of “Don’t Come Around Here No More” and riffs on the ‘model annoyed by flying insect with the face of the singer superimposed’ as in the then-recent “You Might Think” video by The Cars.
“Make It Better (Forget About Me)” peaked at #54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on July 6, 1985 spending eight weeks on the survey.
SIDE A:
Make It Better (Forget About Me) (Dance Mix) 7:11
Engineer – E.T. Thorngren*
Remix – Shelly Yakus
Remix, Recorded By – Don Smith
SIDE B:
Make It Better (Forget About Me) (Instrumental Mix) 4:16
Engineer – E.T. Thorngren*
Remix, Recorded By – Don Smith
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Make It Better (Forget About Me) | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #54 |
| 1985 | Make It Better (Forget About Me) | U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | #12 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – MCA-23559
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Promo, 33 ⅓ RPM
Country: US
Released: 1985
Genre: Rock
Style:Pop/Rock
CREDITS:
Producer – David Stewart*, Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty
NOTES:
From the Album “Southern Accents”
Find the 12″ on DISCOGS
VINYL RESTORATION BY:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon 2M Bronze
Isolation: Auralex Acoustics ISO-Tone Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Sovtek 12AX7LPS Vacuum Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2, ocenaudio
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi
RIP Tom Petty. Your music will live forever
Beautiful comments here guys. Yeah, total shock here as well. I feel, being a Los Angeles native that… a bit of the Valley died with Tom Petty. I know he was a transplant from Gainesville Florida, but he loved this city. It feels… lonely, a strange kind of feeling knowing Tom is not with us. A night after Tom’s untimely passing, in the middle of the night, all his great songs rushed in my head in full detail, all the hooks, the key parts, it was strange reaction of mine. That’s when I knew his music did mean a lot… Read more »
I only knew Tom thru his late 80s and early 90s hit singles and videos.
Nice of you to pay tribute to this great artist, but this song isn’t at the level of his best
like, I Won’t Back Down, Runnin’ Down A Dream, Free Fallin’, Learning To Fly, Into The Great Wide Open, which also were accompanied by cool videos.
Well,this WAS the album during which Tom fought a wall….and the wall won. (Didn’t mean to parody “I Fought The Law” there) But,in all seriousness,the best material was often left for the B Sides of the 45’s (Trailer,anyone?),but I liked this one at the time more than “Don’t Come Around Here No More”,as the mentioned song just didn’t seem to have Tom’s best lyric. But,it’s also an essential part of Tom’s catalog – proving Tom was one of the few whose worst efforts could outshine others’ best efforts by a mile. What’s ironic is,my favorite song on Southern Accents was… Read more »
Thank you for this!
I was hoping you would post this terrific dance mix in tribute to Tom Petty and, as always, you came through. Thank you DjPaulT and all the best to you!
You’re welcome Retro Hound 🙂
Paul, You are correct about this being the only Dance Mix released by Tom Petty And The HEartbreakers. Last Monday (or is it two Mondays? My mind is still off what with the double punch of what went down in Las Vegas and,almost at the exact same time,what went down with Tom Petty) was a total mindjob…..I was struggling to keep from bawling….and I don’t mind if people read this…Since 1980,with the one two “punch” of discovering both singles from “Damn The Torpedoes” on a local juke box,I’d been a fan of Tom’s. I,unfortunately,never got to see them live,except for… Read more »
You’re welcome George Price. I wish I could have posted it under happier times 🙂
True. But there’s never a bad time to post any Tom Petty.
Wow…. like everyone else, I didn’t know about this dance mix from Tom Petty. It’s nice for you to post his song, a dance mix on your website. You never fail to amazed your fans. Thanks Paul
Thank you Steveasian 🙂
You mean,I was the only one who knew of this release? Really??
Have no idea that there’s a dance mis of this song.
Thank DjPaulT for it
You’re welcome partytimeboy 🙂
What a wonderful post Paul. A rare Tom Petty dance remix. Lovely surprise, though it’s so sad he passed away this young.
Thank you Stefano. Good to see you iy’s been a while 🙂
Thanks a lot Paul for this beautiful tribute to Mr. Tom Petty. I didn’t know about this remix. It sounds great. I generally love 12″ remixes of 80’s rock songs. Tom Petty had some great songs which I loved. And as this song says, it’s the opposite, we won’t forget about him. RIP Tom Petty.
You’re welcome Daniel 🙂
How many times can you possibly thrill me, dear Paul!?! My goodness, I can’t believe Tom Petty actually had a dance remix 12-inch! What a wonderful surprise this is for all of us. I just loved Tom Petty and was extremely saddened by his sudden passing. Thanks Paul for always giving tributes to the one’s we’ve lost. You are so mindful and everything when it comes to things such as this.
Thrilled, once again!!
Jeff
You’re welcome Jeff. I think this might be the only dance mix he released someone can correct me if I am wrong.He really was a treasure to music and the world.
I love this Paul!! Thanks a million for introducing this to me. It reminded me of something Peter Wolfe might have done. These rock mixes mean so much as they are raucous and rowdy and a lot of fun!! Love the instrumental too!
Jeff