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The title is a reference to a famous quote by Admiral David Farragut: ' Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!'. The album, co-produced by Jimmy Iovine, was recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys and Cherokee Studios in Hollywood. The matter was settled with Petty signing a new recording contract with Backstreet Records, an MCA subsidiary label. MCA responded by suing Petty for breach of contract which prompted him to declare bankruptcy as a tactic to void his contract with MCA. Petty contended that his contract could not be assigned to another record company without his permission and was therefore voided. Petty's recording contract was assigned to MCA when his distributor ABC Records was sold to MCA in 1979. In 2003, the album was ranked number 313 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 231 in a 2020 revised list. The album went on to become certified Triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It built on the commercial success and critical acclaim of his two previous albums and reached #2 on the Billboard album chart. This was the first of three Petty albums originally released by the Backstreet Records label, distributed by MCA Records. Damn the Torpedoes is the third studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, released on October 19, 1979.

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