Some thoughts on Tom Petty, Fugazi, and the distance between what we say we believe and how we actually live. Plus, this week’s playlist.

I was invited to take part in a project about songs that describe America, and, well, if you look up “paradox of choice” in the dictionary, it’s really just a picture of my invitation email. I’m pretty sure I’ve finally figured out what I’m going with, but my Google Docs folder is a graveyard of drafts started and stopped. When you’re asked to be part of something as cool as this, you want to do it right, you know? At any rate, two of the records/artists I had in mind were both released this week in years past. Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes was forged in the fire of rebellion. Throttled by his record company, he was willing to burn it all down for a better tomorrow, and, well, if that isn’t the story of America, I don’t know what is. Along the way, he also happened to make a helluva record. Forty-seven years on, and you don’t have to go long without hearing several of the tracks—doubly so if you’re in the Central Time Zone. That iconic opening riff on “Refugee”? The familiar comfort…