Tom Petty was always going to lead with honesty and integrity, even if that meant biting the hand that fed him. He often displayed this trait when it came to battles with his record companies over fair treatment of both his fans and himself.
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But on the title track to his 2002 album The Last DJ, Petty let the music communicate his frustration with the media powers that be. The song managed to both celebrate what radio had once been and castigate what it had become.
“DJ” Disgust
Tom Petty took a good hard look and an even deeper listen at the start of the millennium, and he didn’t like what he experienced. As a songwriter, he decided he’d try to process it by writing it all down in his music.
To be specific, he concocted a concept album. It was the first time Petty had tried to do something like that since his 1985 album Southern Accents. That record was supposed to be all about the American South, but it morphed a bit as the artist went looking for some hit singles. In truth, The Last DJ features a plot that gets a bit lost along the way as well, although most of the songs hold together thematically.
While the homogenization and corporatization of radio was the main target of Petty’s ire on the album, he was ultimately taking aim at greed in general. The album isn’t all doom and gloom, as there are some romantic songs as well. But The Last DJ still represents Petty at his angriest, at least on record.
The title track features some voiceover work from legendary DJ Jim Ladd, who represented to Petty the kind of independent, free-thinking radio personality that was slowly getting weeded out of existence by the change in formatting. “The Last DJ” makes a compelling case that guys like Ladd meant almost as much to the golden age of music as the artists themselves.
Behind the Lyrics of “The Last DJ”
In the “The Last DJ,” Petty imagines a rebellious on-air talent who resists the trend of spinning music based on playlists handed down to him by his employers. Instead of falling into line, he leaves America and becomes a kind of pirate DJ. The song comes from the perspective of one of his biggest fans.
Petty wastes no time in establishing an acerbic tone: Well you can’t turn him into a company man / No you can’t turn him into a whore. The boys upstairs can’t control his tendencies, especially in terms of his detailed descriptions of the music: Well the top brass don’t like him talking so much / And he won’t play what they say to play.
His actions fly in the face of the conformity all around him: ‘Cause you just can’t do what he did / There’s some things you just can’t put in the minds of those kids. Petty then uncorks a bilious couplet that left no doubt where he stood: As we celebrate mediocrity all the boys upstairs wanna see / How much you’ll pay for what you used to get for free.
In the final verse, the narrator reveals that the DJ has made it to Mexico, and that he still knows just what to play: And I’ll bust a move / And remember how it was back then. In the chorus, Petty lets us in on the import of this turn of events, in case we missed it: There goes your freedom of choice / There goes the last human voice.
In his later years, Tom Petty became a DJ himself, and his Buried Treasure show stood out for how it echoed the radio shows of old, with plenty of banter and a diverse playlist. When he hosted that show, Petty came to inhabit the role of “The Last DJ” he imagined on this confrontational song.
Photo by J. Shearer/WireImage
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