Editor's note: CultureMap is counting down the Top 100 songs of Tom Petty's career in anticipation of his concert at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Sept. 24. Stay tuned for the selections each weekend and for chances to win tickets to the show.

So what kind of artist deserves the scrutiny of a massive list devoted to their music? Well, it has to be someone who has been around a long time. They have to have shown consistency in terms of the quality of their work, even as their music shows artistic growth along the way.

It has to be someone whose music has become part of the cultural landscape, with songs that feel timeless, songs that outlive the era in which they were created. The artist has to be iconic, and not for any kind of image that they may try to project but for the art that they've produced. A healthy dose of artistic integrity and respect for their musical forbears would help as well, as well as a driving urge to never rest on laurels and always try to top what has come before.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Tom Petty, who, with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist, has embodied these daunting requirements for over 35 years of amazing recordings.

CultureMap will count down the Top 100 Petty songs, giving our reasons for the rankings. Along the way you may disagree. Perhaps your favorite TP song will get a raw deal (and if you feel that way let us know in the comment section), but you won't be able to deny the quantity and quality of Petty's songwriting output. Enjoy.

Song 100: “Joe”
Album: The Last DJ

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The liner notes to the Heartbreakers’ 2002 album The Last DJ features the telling dedication, “This record is dedicated to everyone who loves music just a little bit more than money.” The title character of this furious screed certainly embodies someone on the opposed to that little line. In particular, “Joe” is a stand-in for every faceless, corporate suit who values the Big Moola over artistic integrity.

As someone who’s stood up for what he believes in at every step of his career, damned be the consequences, it’s no surprise that Petty would put the very folks who sign his checks in the crosshairs. If “Joe”, as a song, is a bit too blunt and bilious to ever become a true favorite, it certainly earns points for the honesty and fearlessness with which it puts across its message.

Petty’s sympathies lies with the artists here at every turn, even those who might not have a lot of talent to offer, like the wannabe diva who gets used up while her looks last and then has nothing to show for it in the aftermath. And do you think it’s any coincidence that the words Petty puts in Joe’s mouth (“Hey, now that’s what I call music”) form the same commercial tagline used by the popular, sub-KTel music collections that only serve to highlight how disposable today’s “hit” music truly is?

The cleverly snide one-liners help to make up for the plodding music somewhat, and even if “Joe” isn’t hit song material, the truth to which it speaks is all too often ignored. Petty couldn’t ignore it if he tried.

Song 99: “Magnolia”
Album: You're Gonna Get It

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Petty has spoken in interviews about his ambivalence toward this song, which is the reason that the band doesn’t take it on in live performance. It was written with the intent of it being recorded by Roger McGuinn, but McGuinn, who had already done a version of “American Girl,” decided against it. The songwriter felt like he forced the song in an effort to get it to sound like something the Byrds would have chirped back in the day.

I think Petty is being a bit too hard on himself here. While it’s not exactly A-plus material, it rises above mere filler material on You’re Gonna Get It! on the strength of its songcraft. Telling the tale of a memorable one-night stand, the singer nails the allure and mystery of this girl, who seems almost like a specter in the description, way too good to be true.

Really, the only hint of any Byrds influence comes in the pretty chorus harmonies, but, other than that, this is vintage, if not quite classic, Heartbreakers.

Song 98: “Built To Last”
Album: Into The Great Wide Open

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With its stutter-stepping beat and vaguely Motown feel, “Built To Last” is a bit of an odd duck, but it’s charming nonetheless. It’s well-placed at the end of Into The Great Wide Open, sending the album off into the sunset on a sweetly sentimental note.

This is not Petty’s most earth-shattering set of lyrics. In places, they’re downright clumsy. Yet they give the song a humble feel that seems apropos for this protagonist, who is trying with all of his powers of persuasion to convince his better half that their love is a long haul rather than a short dash.

Highlights of the track include Petty’s harmonizing with producer Jeff Lynne in the chorus and Mike Campbell’s watery slide solo near the song’s conclusion. If there was a problem with this album as a whole, it’s that a few of the songs feel like uneasy combinations of the Heartbreakers’ reckless energy and Lynne’s trebly productions. “Built To Last” avoids that problem because it feels like it is a unique construction, something you wouldn’t expect from its creator, producer, or the band that performs it.

Song 97: “Luna”
Album: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

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When you take an artist out of their comfort zone or usual mode of creating, you often get results that are intriguingly left-of-center. Such is the case with “Luna,” a largely forgotten gem off TP’s debut album.

It seems Petty and drummer Stan Lynch headed down to Tulsa for a quickie recording at Shelter Studios before all of the gear within was soon to be shipped to the West Coast. Petty latched onto an organ and Lynch grabbed an ARP strings machine in addition to playing the clattering beat, and they created the bare bones of the track with those instruments.

Petty made up the lyrics on the spot, and the nocturnal imagery he created has a nice poetic quality. Plus, it just sounds good against the film-noir instrumentation, which was accentuated once the rest of the Heartbreakers were brought in, by Ron Blair’s sinuous bass rumble. A nice example of diversity on an album otherwise chock full of energetic rockers, “Luna” shows that, even in their earliest days, Petty and the boys had several pitches in their repertoire.

Song 96: “Oh Maria”
Album: Mudcrutch

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I think that the absence of his name on the marquee took some of the pressure off Tom Petty when he reunited Mudcrutch a few years ago for their one-off album. All great songwriters make it look easy, and Petty is no exception, but the songs that he wrote for that album seem even more effortless than usual.

This lovely slow one features an instantly memorable melody and some “Dear Prudence”-style fingerpicking from guitarist Tom Leadon. Everything else is kept subtle and unassuming, and it shuffles along without a care in the world.

Only Petty’s vocals betray even the slightest bit of melancholy, wanting more for this girl than the world seems to want to bestow on her. It all results in a song for which most songwriters would sell their liver. With Petty, is just seems to pour out of him. That’s why he gets a list, folks.

Song 95: “Blue Sunday”
Album: The Last DJ

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All of the venomous attacks on big business and the music industry on The Last DJ could have come off tasting like medicine had Petty not included tracks like this to change the pace. I’m not sure how this tale of a highway rendezvous advances the story line, but it somehow doesn’t feel out of place. It’s a brief, memorable interlude, serving much the same purpose for the listener as the story does for the narrator in the song.

Petty wisely tells the story through the details, letting them speak for the emotions of the characters, two lost souls who find comfort in silent company with each other on a midnight drive. The girl’s backseat is as much a home for this guy as anything he’s ever known. Notice though that there’s nothing romantic shared between the two; just a friendship born of a chance convenient-store encounter. How’s that for an American story?

The acoustic guitar interplay is the perfect backdrop for this all-night road trip. his relationship couldn’t amount to anything more, as the protagonist spells out in his final line: “When it’s time to leave you go.”

It’s a lovely snapshot, a subtle story on an album full of broad, blunt strokes.

Song 94: “Love Is A Long Road”
Album: Full Moon Fever

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It’s kind of hard to stand out on an album like Full Moon Fever, with classic tracks stacked back-to-back one after another throughout. This song charges forward with enough momentum to get by, even if it’s not quite as inspired as some of the songs which surround it.

Among some of the rootsier efforts around it, “Love Is A Long Road” is an unmitigated rocker. It maintains its gritty edge throughout, thanks in part to some muscular drumming from legendary studio pro Jim Keltner.

The lyrics are a bit of an afterthought, three simple verses that accentuate the theme that being in love and miserable is preferable to being lonely. For all of the protagonist’s complaints, he still keeps coming back to this vindictive woman.

Petty’s nasally singing is a bit affected here, but it’s ultimately secondary to Mike Campbell’s crunching guitars. They’re the main selling point of a track that really tears it up when played live and would stand out on any normal album. On Full Moon Fever, it suffers for being a really good song among great ones.

Song 93: “The Same Old You”
Album: Long After Dark

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Unhinged might be the best term to describe this album cut off Long After Dark. You can really hear the abandon with which the band tears into this track, featuring a Southern rock riff that sounds like it inspired The Georgia Satellites. The interplay between the band members is such that they sound tight even while letting the track go a bit off the rails.

The lyrics tell the tale of a poseur who can’t hide her true nature from Petty’s gaze, although Tom doesn’t seem too teed off at the girl. This song seems more like an excuse to let the cowbell loose than to give anyone too much of a hard time.

Most amusing of all are the opening lines: “Hey, I remember you back in ‘72/With your David Bowie hair and your platform shoes.” I can’t think of two rock icons with more disparate musical tastes than The Thin White Duke and Petty. Although I do hear a little bit of “Diamond Dogs” in “The Same Old You,” so maybe they aren’t that different at all.

Song 92: “Dogs On The Run”
Album: Southern Accents

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For how great an album that Southern Accents is, it suffers from scattershot production. While some tracks are produced to the hilt and well-planned, other tracks, like this one, seem cobbled together with little regard for the substance of the track.

Here, the horns are slapped on as a bit of an afterthought, while the rest of the track feels sparse by comparison. This is the one track on the album that feels like it could have benefitted from a classic Heartbreaker treatment; instead there’s an air of indifference that carries the day.

It’s too bad, because this could have been a stone-cold classic based on Petty’s evocative lyrics. The imagery suggests a type of longing that can’t be fulfilled, a restlessness that the characters share with the titular canines, even as they progress through the verses from poverty to opulence. Their self-awareness never wavers, like when Petty’s companion muses sardonically, “Ain’t it funny how a crowd gathers around/Anyone living life without a net?”

If only Petty’s 12-string had been more prominent, more of the wistfulness might have shone through. As it stands, “Dogs On The Run” stakes its claim on the brilliant lyrics, which don’t quite get the showcase they richly deserve.

Song 91: “It’s Good To Be King”
Album: Wildflowers

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Petty indulges his sly sense of humor here, with lyrics that put him in the shoes of some Everyman dreaming of grandeur. I would argue that a lot of rock stars would have trouble pulling that stance off, but Petty’s humility throughout his career allows him to get away with it.

As such you can believe this ultra-successful guy when he sings “Yeah I’ll be king when dogs get wings.” The protagonist then reveals his ulterior motive for his regal obsession: “A sweet little queen that won’t run away.” It’s a nice little twist that gives the song a touch of emotional heft.

The music is all over the place, some stinging guitar mashing up against orchestral flourishes which come courtesy of the go-to guy for rock-classical alchemy, Michael Kamen. Then again, I guess if you want to be a king, you have to have a little fanfare.

Song 90: “Rockin’ Around With You”
Album: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

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The very first song on the very first album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers contains all of 53 words in its lyrics. It gets its message across just fine though, thanks to a lyrical simplicity that would have sounded right at home on Meet The Beatles. This song is pure attitude and adrenaline, a lethal combination.

Ironically, for a band that would become defined by its guitar sound, the Heartbreakers opening salvo is dominated by the primitively powerful drumbeat of Stan Lynch. The guitars just sort of gurgle around in the background, clearing the way for Petty’s elongated vocals in the verses.

It’s no accident that a lot of the band’s early songs contained some form of the word “rock” in the title. Petty was consciously trying to bring back the echoes of the music he loved as a kid, and he was also trying to make a statement in 1976 when so many critics and fans had turned their back on rock as a genre at that time. Here was a band that proved that, when done right, rock music was still as forceful and provocative as anything else.

Song 89: “Shadow Of A Doubt (Complex Kid)”
Album: Damn the Torpedoes

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Around the time of Damn the Torpedoes, the Heartbreakers hit a groove that resulted in even the album tracks that were supposed to be filler sounding like polished gems. That consistent brilliance almost works against them sometimes in terms of their legacy, since some folks take a look at that consistency and mistake it for autopilot.

In truth, songs like “Shadow Of A Doubt (Complex Kid)” can easily sound, at first listen, like Petty and co. rolled out of bed, tuned up their guitars, and cranked them out with little forethought involved. I guess it’s a good problem for a band to have, as opposed to having so few good songs that they stick out conspicuously within a catalogue.

If you listen closely enough though, TP usually includes a few quirks musically or lyrically to give each song its own distinguishing characteristics. In this case, he peppers this tale of a hard-to-pin-down yet irresistible girl with hilarious details, like this one in the last verse: “And when she’s dreamin’, sometimes she sings in French,/But in the morning, she don’t remember it.” And you also get to hear Petty’s vocal talents, as he switches from a pristine trill to a rough snarl within the course of a single line of music.

So don’t go saying that this is just another Petty song, unless you mean by that that it’s expertly constructed, flawlessly performed, and undeniable original. Then you can say it all you want.

Song 88: “Ankle Deep”
Album: Highway Companion

If the Traveling Wilburys had made it to a third album (which would have been Volume 4 by their logic, or maybe Volume 5? 5 ½?), it’s likely this breezy track off Highway Companion would have fit onto it nicely. Heck, if you use your imagination just a little bit, you can practically hear where Dylan’s croaking backing vocals might have come in.

After all, it’s got all of the signifiers of that one-of-a-kind supergroup’s finest work. Jeff Lynne provides the spotless, trebly production, and a wall of acoustic guitars’ provide the forward momentum. There’s even some George Harrison-style, weeping slide guitar, as provided by Mike Campbell.

It’s got the same laissez-faire lyrical sensibility as well. Ostensibly about a girl who steals a horse, “Ankle Deep” really just gives Petty an excuse to show off some nimble rhymes and get off some memorable one-liners. “Ankle deep in love,” Petty sings in the chorus, but the title could also refer to how deep this song prefers to wade. Its charmingly tossed-off nature is certainly something of which those Wilburys would have been exceedingly proud.

Song 87: “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”
Album: Greatest Hits

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This single, which was the lone new Petty original found on his 1993 greatest hits compilation is notable in Heartbreaker history for being the last track to feature drummer Stan Lynch. Lynch responded with an excellent performance on the skins, beating his way about as if trying to he had some serious pent-up tension to release.

“Mary Jane’s Last Dance” is also relatively unique for being a song that Petty completed in parts. He had the bare bones of the song all together years earlier. When pressed for a new song for the Greatest Hits album, he was unwilling to give up any of the new material he was working on, material which would eventually comprise his solo album Wildflowers.

So he dug up the old song, added a sparkling new chorus, threw together a truly macabre video starring Kim Basinger, and, voila, you’ve got another smash hit.

I feel like some of that disjointedness is evident in the song, and the lyrics betray their improvisational nature a bit too readily, although Petty gets credit for pulling them together to form a pretty incisive portrait of this small-town femme fatale. Of course, none of that matters much when the Heartbreakers lock into that powerful groove, hitting on all cylinders even as one of the main cylinders was about to depart.

Song 86: “Running Man’s Bible”
Album: Mojo

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I really think that Petty missed a golden opportunity to add another classic to his resume with this track off Mojo. Lyrically, it’s simply brilliant, with references to fallen comrades on “this dark highway” seeming to reference the death of former Heartbreaker bassist Howie Epstein.

“Running Man’s Bible” is a statement of defiance as powerful as “I Won’t Back Down,” but it may be even more profound because it dares to admit to bits of weakness along the way. As Petty movingly sings: “And I see through the eyes of something wounded.”

If only most of the lyrics hadn’t come in the service of such uninspired music, at least in the verses. It’s such a non-descript groove that it’s hard for Petty to inject much life into those lyrics and give them the reading they deserve. Even occasional bursts of color from Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, on guitar and organ respectively, don’t really enliven the proceedings.

The only good thing about the music in the lyrics is that it makes the refrains sound all the more triumphant by contrast. Those thunderous choruses give a little indication of what might have been had Petty not been quite so beholden to the blues ethos that brings down the verses and, truthfully, damages much of Mojo. Any band can churn out blues figures. A precious few have the chops to do justice to a set of lyrics as glowing as “Running Man’s Bible.”

The Heartbreakers are one of the few, but sadly they don’t get the chance to fully do that justice here.