10 Classic Rock Albums That Got Better Over Time
8. Hard Promises - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
If there's one album that always feels destined to be forgotten in an artist's catalog, it's the one that comes after your classic album. It just stands to reason that since you've reached perfection of one on your albums that you're not expected to just do the whole thing over again. And while Hard Promises is clearly a different record than Damn the Torpedoes, the flaws are what really make this record a lot more enjoyable.
Compared to the experience had just to get Damn the Torpedoes off the ground, this is where the fatigue really sets in for Tom, with a lot of the songs either being downtempo or a lot more dark than the time before. That's not to say that it's devoid of its charm though, with the Waiting being one of his best singalongs in concert and Kings Road being a lovely ode to the first time that the band went to England.
Outside of those few moments though, you have songs like Something Big and Insider, each of which show portraits of people that have burned the candle at both ends and have to pay for it, either with their life or having to leave their old flame behind. While these songs definitely deserve a place among the best that Petty has to offer, you're not going to go into this record and hear a lot of happiness from back to front.