"Love Is a Long Road" is a song by
Tom Petty from his 1989 first solo album ''
Full Moon Fever''. Although only released as the B-side to "
Free Fallin'" in the UK, and not released as a stand-alone single, it received a fair amount of radio airplay. In the U.S., it peaked at No. 7 on the ''Billboard''
Album Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
chart.
Background
The rock song was co-written by guitarist
Mike Campbell, who was inspired by a motorcycle he owned. The musician told "I was really into that frame of mind. This feels like a motorcycle shifting gears."
"Love Is a Long Road" appears on the 2000 double-disc compilation album ''
Anthology: Through the Years'', as well as on the 1995 box set ''
Playback
Playback or Play Back may refer to:
Film
* ''Playback'' (1962 film), a British film in the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' series
* ''Playback'', a 1996 film starring Shannon Whirry
* ''Playback'' (2012 film), an American horror film by Michael A. N ...
''.
Critical reception
Another one of Petty's late-1980s songs which looks back at a fractured romance,
AllMusic describes the song as sounding like a stripped-down version of
the Who's classics "
Baba O'Riley" and "
Won't Get Fooled Again", and one of the most powerful rockers on the album.
''
Rolling Stone'' ranked the song at No. 38 in a list of Petty's 50 greatest songs.
Media usage
In 2023, the song was used in the first trailer for the video game ''
Grand Theft Auto VI
''Grand Theft Auto VI'' is an upcoming action-adventure game in development by Rockstar Games. It is due to be the eighth main '' Grand Theft Auto'' game, following ''Grand Theft Auto V'' (2013), and the sixteenth entry overall. Set within ...
''.
It led to a 36,979% increase in streams on
Spotify, skyrocketing from less than 5 million to nearly 40 million streams within a span of a few months.
Charts
References
{{Tom Petty
1989 songs
Tom Petty songs
Songs written by Tom Petty