10 Songs About How The Music Business Sucks

10. Century City - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

From the first time that he picked up a guitar, Tom Petty had the spirit of rock and roll flowing through his veins. Even though songs like American Girl might not be the most hard edged thing you've ever heard in your life, this was a man that believed in the true power behind a few chords and was not going to let it go to waste. So when he eventually got lawyers coming for his art, there was no way he was going to just gloss over the subject.

While most of the songs off of Damn the Torpedoes talk about characters that are a little bit lost in the world, it was also autobiographical as well, with Tom being in a lawsuit with his own label over songwriting royalties. Though a track like Refugee may have captured the tone of their lives a little better, Century City was the one song written about those times, talking about going to see the lawyers every single day and an almost forced excitement about living in the modern world.

This wouldn't even be the last time that Tom would get vicious on a track, going to war with his distributor on the next album over jacking up the price of his album and eventually writing an entire concept album about the scummy puppeteers behind the scenes called The Last DJ. There's always a gamble that comes with taking on the people who make the wheels roll, but if Tom was going into an uphill battle, he was going to come out swinging.