The adage about what doesn't kill you makes you stronger hardly has a more powerful musical manifestation than the story behind Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' 1979 album "Damn the Torpedoes."

That tale has become a central part of the mythology of rock ‘n’ roll, one that aspiring artists of any stripe might look to as a source of inspiration and reassurance in the face of the hurdles that inevitably spring up in front of those who are pursuing a grand vision.

It's a story worth revisiting, what with this week's deluxe reissue of the original album, which catapulted the group to a new level of commercial success and critical respect with its bold ambition and fearless musical execution. The album reissue follows the recent release on DVD and Blu-ray disc of a new "Classic Albums" documentary about what went on behind the scenes between the release of the group's 1977 sophomore album "You’re Gonna Get It" and the arrival more than two years later of "Torpedoes," which yielded the hits "Refugee," "Here Comes My Girl" and the band's first top-10 single, "Don't Do Me Like That." They make excellent companion pieces, the home video edition of the documentary containing an additional 42 minutes of material not included in the August airing of a 56-minute cut on VH1.

Along with new and vintage interview and performance footage of Petty, guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, bassist Ron Blair and drummer Stan Lynch, director Matthew Longfellow gets album producer turned often-elusive industry titan Jimmy Iovine on camera for his typically colorful insights. At one point, Iovine recalls telling Petty they had enough songs for the record. "It was the last time I ever said that to a band," Iovine says with a laugh. They also get engineer Shelley Yakus to elaborate on his perspective about what made "Torpedoes" successful on so many levels.

Tom Petty's 2010 album "Mojo" is a relatively intimate affair. It's comfortable, but not in a way that's predictable; more the sound of a veteran act in complete sync with each band member's moves. The Hollywood Bowl, despite its refined acoustics, rich history and clear sight-lines, is not, however, an intimate venue. 

Petty and the Heartbreakers neatly packaged the "Mojo" songs mid-set, a brief bluesy diversion amid an evening of some of the most durable greatest hits around. Though only four songs from "Mojo" made their way to a sold-out Hollywood Bowl on Friday evening, they were the moments that gave the Heartbreakers -- 30-plus-year soldiers of tidy, roots-tinged American pop -- the most space to roam.

Scott Thurston's harmonica stabbed the beat of "Jefferson Jericho Blues," moving at too hectic a pace to even hit on a melody, while "Running Man's Bible" didn't build so much as simmer, offering Benmont Tench's keyboard time to smolder.

Think of it as a an arena-rock mood-setter rather than singalong crowd-pleaser. Perhaps that's why the new songs were accompanied with a smattering of lasers pointing off toward Hollywood Boulevard, an adornment for songs that needed none, and a plea for an audience -- one that seemed slightly impatient that the Heartbreakers dug up the spry 1991 cut "King's Highway" -- to stay seated. 

When Petty and the Heartbreakers hit the coda of "I Should Have Known It," they locked into a bluesy howl. There was no extended jam here. Instead, drummer Steve Ferrone seemed to be offering a challenge, taunting Mike Campbell to keep pace. The ace sideman was more than capable of accepting, and his guitar sounded as if it was drawing skid lines in the dirt, and then suddenly jolting direction and leaving behind a trail of dust. 

Canadian soap opera-star-turned rapper Drake titled his 2009 debut EP "So Far Gone." He's proving to be anything but, as the young star's full-length entrée "Thank Me Later" entered the U.S. pop chart at No. 1, tallying first-week sales of 447,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

That number is good enough to give Drake 2010's third-highest debut, placing him behind first-week totals from the likes of Sade and Lady Antebellum. Sade's "Soldier of Love" moved 502,000 copies in its first week, and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" posted an initial showing of 481,000 copies. 

There was some speculation by the media that Drake would have a massive, Lil Wayne-type debut, including a leading MTV headline that proclaimed Drake could sell 1 million. Yet Drake's total still builds mightily on last year's "So Far Gone," which entered at No. 6 with 73,000 copies sold. To date, the latter has moved 485,000 copies, and it rests this week at No. 7.

Entering at No 2 is Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Mojo," which received a heavy boost from a ticket promotion. Those who purchased tickets to Petty's summer tour were offered a chance to download the artist's first album with the Heartbreakers since 2002's "The Last DJ," and it helped give "Mojo" a solid first week of 125,000 copies sold.

Downloading the album was a relatively easy process, as ticket buyers were guided via e-mail to a website to redeem the album on its day of release."We've gone back and forth on various scenarios," said Billboard's director of charts Silvio Pietroluongo about the decision to include the concert-related downloads in the first week sales tally."In the move to digital, we've OK'd a bundle where you receive a redemption code, so the consumer still has to make an active decision and download it ... You'd be surprised at what the redemption percentage was, and this one was very high."

While spending an afternoon with Tom Petty at his Malibu beach house for Friday's feature on him, I couldn’t resist asking whether he considered himself and the Heartbreakers more part of the history of L.A. rock or that of Florida, where most members of that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band grew up. Yesterday I floated the question to our readership, and now I offer Petty's response.

“We loved L.A.,” Petty said about the band's move across the country in the mid-‘70s. “We wanted to come here because so many of the artists we admired came from here, especially the Byrds and the [Buffalo] Springfield and the Doors, and the Beach Boys — we’re huge Beach Boys fans. …Plus Bernie Leadon had come and Tom Leadon had come, and they’d both found success. They were both making records, and I just followed their trail really.

“I often see us included in Southern [rock]. But honestly, when the Southern rock thing happened, we were long gone for the most part,” he said. “I think we’re really Californians. I’ve been in California longer than I was in Florida. Certainly where you grow up is always going to be deeply embedded in your soul. I don’t know, but sometimes it kind of hurts my feelings that were not included in discussions of Southern California music. The Heartbreakers formed here. We really are an L.A. band.”

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Tom Petty in the garden of his Malibu beach house. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

During my recent interview with rocker Tom Petty for a profile that will appear in Friday’s Calendar, I asked him about his decision in the 1970s to leave his home turf in Florida and relocate to Los Angeles in search of a record contract, when he could as easily have gone to New York.

"If I was going somewhere," he told me, "I’d rather come here. I could relate to this more than I could have related to New York. Why starve and freeze? I may as well go to California."

There was more to the original decision than that, of course, but it led to the question of whether Petty and the Heartbreakers deserve to be placed in the long line of noteworthy acts that have emerged from Southern California, where Petty and his band mates have remained pretty much ever since they arrived here three and half decades ago.

Before I share what Petty had to say on the subject, we wanted to give readers the chance to weigh in: Do the Heartbreakers belong in the pantheon of Southland music that goes back to Ricky Nelson in the '50s; the Beach Boys, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and the Doors in the '60s; the Eagles, Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt in the '70s; X, Black Flag, Fear, the Blasters, Los Lobos, Van Halen, Metallica and N.W.A. in the '80s; No Doubt, the Offspring, Sublime, Rage Against the Machine and Snoop Dogg in the '90s; and System of a Down and Linkin Park in the '00s?

Or should they be counted in the history of Southern rock along with the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Limp Bizkit and Molly Hatchet? 

On Friday, I’ll post Petty’s own comments about where his heart lies musically.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: Tom Petty in Los Angeles in 1977. Credit: Los Angeles Times