10 Rock Bands That Got Better With Age

From the moment he took his first step onto the scene, Tom Petty had the spirit of rock and roll flowing through his veins. While getting picked up on the stations that were catering more towards new wave and punk, Tom was always one for the same style of rock and roll that the Beatles got started with back in the '60s, and was willing to die if it meant doing what he loved. When you come out on the other side of that though, the road ahead is a lot wider than you thought.

Starting with Damn the Torpedoes, nearly every one of Tom's albums seemed to have the same quality that he would have put into one of his singles, mixing his signature brand of rock and roll with bits and pieces of everything from hard rock to folk music. Even as he entered the next few decades, he seemed to blend into the new genres with ease, working with new producers like the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart for his '80s work and enlisting the help of Rick Rubin and Jeff Lynne to kick off the '90s with albums like Full Moon Fever and Wildflowers.

For all of the different sounds that Tom's music has taken on, there's never a moment where he has felt like he's stumbling around in the dark for a new sound either, all while writing lyrics about not giving up in what you believe in and going to war with anyone who stands in the way of you being happy. Sure, some of the production choices may be a bit jarring from one album to the next, but nothing is off the table as long as it comes out the way Tom would do it.