Tom Petty Wrote This 2002 Song About Losing Our Moral Center, So Why Was He Happy When It Was Banned?

As an artist, songs with a moralistic point often matter most to the songwriter because of their strong, foundational message. But when Tom Petty released one such song in the early 2000s, he wasn’t just neutral about radio stations across the country banning his track from airplay. Their banishments actually made him happy and, according to the rockstar, proved his point.

Petty released “The Last DJ” on the album of the same name in September 2002. The song follows an unnamed radio DJ who “plays what he wants to play” until the “top brass,” who “didn’t like him talking so much,” cut him off the air. Undeterred, the DJ moves to Mexico and starts operating a radio station there. In the final verse, Petty sings about picking up the radio signal from the Southern states and dancing along to the DJ while remembering “how it was back then.”

The song undoubtedly has elements of music executives vs. music artists, which is a tale as old as time. However, in a January 2010 interview with Mojo (via SongFacts), Petty said, “Radio was just a metaphor. ‘The Last DJ’ was really about losing our moral compass, our moral center. We don’t care who gets hurt anymore in the quest for the dollar.”

Tom Petty Said That Radio Stations Were Simply Proving His Point by Banning “The Last DJ”

Radio stations that saw Tom Petty’s “The Last DJ” as anti-radio responded by refusing to play the song on the air. As Tom Petty would point out in interviews and during live performances, this only proved his point. The metaphor he presented was all about important messages on the radio being silenced and personal freedoms being taken away. The radio stations were simply demonstrating what Petty was singing about in real time.

“I don’t really give a flying f**k about any of it,” Petty once said about the radio in a 2002 interview with Rolling Stone. “I’ve tuned out. But I was elated when my song was banned. I mean, nothing could have complimented me more than to hear they just banned it at such-and-such a station because it’s anti-radio. Now, in 2002, to have a song banned that doesn’t have a dirty word, doesn’t advocate violence—it’s fascinating, you know. Like, what are you afraid of? No record has ever been made that was more pro-radio, you know?”

“I remember when the radio meant something. We enjoyed the people who were on it, even if we hated them,” Petty continued. “They had personalities. They were people of taste, who we trusted. And I see that vanishing. I thought it was a good metaphor to start the album.”

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