10 Perfect Rock Albums That Everyone Hated Making

When you first start working in the music business, you start to forget about the second part of that statement. It is still a business, and there are always going to be sharks who want to take you for all you're worth whether you know it or not. So when Tom Petty had a lawsuit come his way ahead of one of his greatest albums, he was not willing to just roll over and accept it.

After his label had been sold to a separate company, Tom had lost the copyrights to his songs and was outraged that he wasn't going to see a cent for his publishing. In one of the biggest David vs. Goliath stories in music, Tom went to war with his own label, declaring himself bankrupt and dealing with the lawsuit every single night while recording songs like Here Comes My Girl and Refugee. He wasn't exactly shy about wanting it either, including one business meeting where he began picking his nails with a pocket knife as the suits explained to him what was going to happen.

All while that was going on, Damn the Torpedoes hung in the balance, with lawyers threatening to seize the tapes and Tom telling his staff to hide every one of the masters and not tell them where they were going to so he didn't have to lie in court. Against all odds, the label ended up buckling and gave Petty his publishing back, choosing to have him distribute his records on his own separate label and giving way to some of the biggest hits that he ever had. It's not hard to see this as more of a cautionary tale though. The music industry is like the Wild West, and Petty was one of the few outlaws brave enough to take on the giant and win.