In 1990 Petty made a come back with both of his bands, the Heartbreakers and the Traveling Wilburys. Volume 3 of the Traveling Wilburys was released with Petty’s contributions to a few tracks. Following the Wilburys second album, Petty and the Heartbreakers were also working to release Into the Great Wide Open, the band’s eighth album.
As the summer of ’91 rolled around, the Heartbreakers released their newest album with the help of producer, Jeff Lynne again. The success they’d had with him gave all the more reason for them to work side by side with him in hopes of releasing another hit album. However, the process of creating this album with him began to create some tension. Previously the band as a whole had worked together every day to make all of their parts work as one. Lynne had a different style that Petty’s fellow band mates were ok with the first time around but this time it was creating minor insecurities and problems for them. He wanted each member to come into the studio, record their part and leave which to members felt more like just a job rather than doing what they actually loved. Petty believed the producer was to take direction and knew what was best regardless of his band mate’s feelings. Aside from hiccups during the album making process, Into the Great Wide Open prospered with singles that made the top charts and stayed for weeks.
Throughout the triumph of Petty and the Heartbreakers, the problems they had faced with MCA had created enough of a headache for them that Petty had decided to sign with Warner Brothers. Although he didn’t reveal this until after doing so he decided it was for the best. They worked on one more album before parting ways with MCA, it was their Greatest Hits album that contained all of their most popular singles as well as a new single produced by Rick Rubin titled, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” Under contract with MCA, they had vowed to make an album like so. When the time came, Petty was completely against the idea but after completion recanted on his feelings towards the album. The Greatest Hits album went platinum 12 times, was the greatest selling album by Petty, and remained on Billboard charts for 6 years after being released in ’93. Greatest Hits was the last album the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers produced with MCA before leaving for a 20 million dollar deal with Warner Brothers.