Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer brings back a 1989 Tom Petty song
Grand Theft Auto6 The trailer was just released a little early, and that's not the only surprise here. There's an unexpected music choice in our first look at Rockstar Games' upcoming open-world game, and it's Tom Petty.
I'm writing about Grand Theft Auto here, so pop culture references and whether or not we understand them all are an important part of the overall pie. I'm a millennial, so I know Tom Petty well, not necessarily because he is Mine favorite, but because it's a favorite of my guitarist dad (among other rock 'n' roll mainstays from the '60s and '70s). Hearing Petty's signature moans in this trailer filled me with the same feeling of nostalgia I get when I walk past my parents' house and hear my dad strumming his guitar in the basement. And that's how I feel about returning to the world of Grand Theft Auto, so… definitely. Tom Petty is also from Florida! So that works.
The specific song in this trailer is a B-side to Petty's much better known song “Free Fallin'”, which was first released on Petty's debut album, Full Moon Fever. But this song wasn't actually on that album; it came out when “Free Fallin'” was released as a single. (That's what the term B-side used to mean before it became a cute pejorative for a song that wasn't expected to be a top 40 hit – it meant the song that literally hit the other side of a single record.)
The trailer features all kinds of revolutionary things for Grand Theft Auto – everything from a playable female character to the addition of new in-game social media apps – so it's a nice bit of whiplash to combine all that with a lesser-known song by a rock star from yesteryear. I think it's not so much the Tom Petty aspect that we should pay attention to as the lyrics themselves, which describe a very intense relationship: βYes, we were desperate then / To have each other to hold / But love is a long, long way.β Sounds a bit like what the protagonists Jason and Lucia might be feeling, in what seems somewhat serious Bonnie and Clyde-like tricks. (Also check out the supermarket door the duo is holding up β there's a 'Petty Forever' sticker there!)
Anyway, I'm sending this trailer to my dad at his expense. Perhaps this is the moment when Rockstar finally focuses on its target audience. (Probably not. But hey… maybe.)