Music News

Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell's band The Dirty Knobs poke fun at the pandemic in "F*** That Guy"

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Credit: Pamela Littky

The Dirty Knobs, the band fronted by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell, have released a humorous music video for “F*** That Guy,” a song from the group’s forthcoming debut album, Wreckless Abandon.

The profanity-filled clip follows a guy wearing a giant, furry replica of a COVID-19 virus cell over his head as he walks around Los Angeles doing obnoxious and inconsiderate things.  He obliviously walks into traffic while talking on his cellphone, grabs money from the guitar case of a street musician — played Campbell — and struts naked on the beach while pestering a bikini-clad young woman.

A crew of people in Hazmat suits eventually begin chasing the COVID-headed man, who steals a young girl’s bicycle while trying to avoid being caught. At the end of the video, the Hazmat crew catches up with the coronavirus guy and gives him a beatdown before stuffing him the trunk of a car, which then drives off to parts unknown.

The clip features cameo appearances by Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Goldbergs actor Jeff Garlin and Hollywood tough guy Danny Trejo. The video was directed by Trejo’s son, Gilbert.

“‘F*** That Guy’ is a simple song that could really be about anyone you know,” says Campbell, who co-wrote the tune with country star Chris Stapleton. “The video is a bizarre and darkly humorous take on 2020. It’s been a hard year. It helps to just laugh.”

The video is available in a clean version and an uncensored version, both of which have been posted on YouTube. The track has been released as a digital single and via streaming services in advance of Wreckless Abandon.

The album, which you can pre-order now, was originally scheduled to be released in March, but its arrival was pushed back until November 20 because of the pandemic.

By Matt Friedlander
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