“So frustrated”: The song Tom Petty wrote to attack radio
It was probably easy for someone like Tom Petty to look around at the modern age of music and wonder where all the fun went. The whole point of being a rock and roll star was to live outside the norm and make something that no one could have imagined, and yet the biggest names in music circa 2001 was starting to become far too homogenised for his taste. Someone needed to say something about it, and even if he made a few enemies, Petty came out swinging with a song about the horrors of radio.
Because, really, the massive drop in quality didn’t make any sense going into the 2000s. Rock and roll still had a firm handle on the masses by the time the grunge movement hit, but by the time that rock and roll’s dividing line got drawn between the indie scene and the butt rockers, radio seemed to side with the massive bands with stadium rock hooks rather than looking for any semblance of quality.
So when Petty came out with The Last DJ, it was his version of crying out to the world. The whole point of him making something like this was to rally against those who were looking to run rock and roll like a business, and despite money exchanging his hands more than a few times over the years, the title track was a piece of sharp social commentary aimed directly at corporations like Clear Channel.
You also have to remember that this was the first moment when reality television started to work its reign of terror on the charts. Although American Idol had remained a viable way for nobody to turn into the biggest stars in the world, Petty saw through the manufactured side of those competitions, saying that it was the equivalent of rock stars being invented on game shows.
Looking at the lyrics, Petty isn’t looking to call people out in the same way Bob Dylan was, but it’s clear that he’s still pissed at the suits of the industry, saying that he refuses to turn himself into a whore for money. And despite never naming anyone directly, the radio stations clearly got the message when they heard the opening single, initially refusing to play the song because they felt attacked.
While Petty never wanted to mention anyone, he did admit that the whole tune was meant to attack radio, saying, “The only song on that album that goes into radio is ‘The Last DJ,’ and it’s a work of fiction: It’s a story about a D.J. who becomes so frustrated with his inability to play what he wants that he moves to Mexico and gets his freedom back. The song is sung by a narrator who’s a fan of this D.J.”
Even if it is a work of fiction, as Petty says, it’s a little too close to reality that even he thought. There are pieces of the music industry that have changed for the better, but by limiting everyone’s freedom of choice when it comes to rock and roll, all that you’re left with is people in tiny little musical boxes who refuse to listen to anything if it doesn’t suit their personal taste.
So, while Petty may have had to face some awkward board room meetings when talking about the song, ‘The Last DJ’ isn’t a song strictly speaking about the curmudgeon rock and rollers of yesteryear. It’s about looking for the freedom that came from someone willing to listen to everything from Jay-Z to Beck to U2 to Johnny Cash whenever they turned on the radio.
