On the week of November 7, 1977 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers made their debut on the Billboard Hot 100 singles list with "Breakdown" entering at #90. It would peak at #40 in February of 1978 but remain a classic radio staple for decades to follow. Petty said he wrote "Breakdown" the same week he wrote "American Girl". It was a good week.
On June 1, 1977 The Alan Parsons Project released I Robot, a Top 10 album based on the Issac Asimov trilogy. I found a cut out cassette copy at Woolworth's a year or two later and I've always a fan. Parsons had worked as an engineer with Pink Floyd on Dark Side of the Moon and The Beatles on Abbey Road so you know you're in for some sonic greatness here.
It occurred to me that the concept of the "breakdown" was popular in 1977. There's the song on I Robot, sung by The Hollies' Allan Clarke.
Earlier in the year The Buzzcocks' released the jittery Devoto/Shelley track "Breakdown", one of four songs on their Spiral Scratch EP.
In January of 1977, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released "Breakdown" as a single from their '76 debut. It wouldn't make a dent in the US Top 40 until the following year, after they hit it big in the U.K.
