10 Most Emotional Rock Albums Ever Made

Throughout every single era of Tom Petty, there has always some optimism sprinkled into the mix. Even when he was going through his legal battles all the way back in the '70s, songs like Even the Losers were proof that there was nothing that could bring down his spirit. That was all coming from the outside though. When the hard times hit home, it starts to get a little bit tougher to manage.

Around the time that Petty was finishing up work on Wildflowers, he and his wife were starting to drift apart, leading to the more intense feeling behind Echo. Though the song style hasn't changed, you can tell that Petty is tired and emotionally devastated by the breakup, looking to just hide his pain and writing songs that feel a lot more distant. Speaking of distant, it seems like Tom was keeping even his bandmates at arm's length, allegedly living in a chicken shack to decompress from all of the problems going on.

As much hurt is on this album though, that heartland rock shimmer is still there, giving way to emotional powerhouses like Tom pleading with his wife to stay on Room at the Top or having to deal with the fallout on the title track. There might be a great Tom Petty release in here somewhere, but even Tom has said that this was the one album that he could never bring himself to listen to again because of the raw wounds.