He was like Neil Young to me in that he appreciated great songs , great musicians , crossed genres , and of course was respected immensely by great songwriters , musicians , critics with way too many for his time and inclination wanting to perform songs written by him or collaborating with him in writing and in song.David Fricke (American) and David Hepworth (British) spring to mind, but perhaps it more informative to look at the list of musicians paying tribute to Petty following his death. Or maybe look at the Peter Bogdanovic documentary and see the musicians who held him in high esteem.
The comment about modern "rock n roller" alludes to the fact that his music is more in the spirit of Elvis, Buddy Holly or The Byrds and Dylan than it is with the other artists that you mention. His music wasn't of the 70s or the 80s or the 90s (even though this was his popular period) - the point is that it could have been written at any time since the 50s. There's nothing in it that ties it to AOR or punk or grunge or any other sub-genre of rock. He knew how to write a good melody, a great middle-8 and brilliant choruses. He also had a great band, Mike Campbell (guitar) and Benmont Tench (keybboards) who played with him for all of this career.
Look, we all like different artists, but the point is, Petty is not some AOR artist who came and went in the 80s. He was big from the mid-70s to the 90s and well respected for all of his career until his untimely death.
Don't Come Around Here No More is an absolute classic , one of the first records I would take if I had to stay stranded on a desert island with no internet and only a cd player to have access to or whatever.By “experts”, I meant the great (hell, iconic) musicians who decided to work with him. I like all those records (and Southern Accents has “Don’t Come Around Here No More”) plus Let Me Up (I’ve Had Enough) — also underrated — which is the one record on which he DID have something to say (albeit not THAT much). However, there are a few clunkers on all his records too. I don’t think he was ever groundbreaking but he wrote enough good songs to fill a six-CD collection of greatest hits which is probably two CDs long. But still — how many artists can fill four? Not many. So you know what artist I compare him to? The Smiths — because like them, I listen to my own long curated list of favo(u)rite tunes of Petty rather than the records.