By Kevin Smith
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Thursday October 10, 2002
The Last DJ
The Last DJ is Tom Petty's guest lecture in Defiance 101.
Here Petty is throwing up the middle finger to corporate America (while signed to a major label) and everything it stands for. The majority of the songs on the album deal with the conflict between integrity and loads of cash.
"Money Becomes King" is told from the fan's perspective of watching a powerful local musician blow up and sell his soul to the elite. "Joe" is sung on behalf of a major record company CEO with references to teen pop: "Or bring me a girl/they're always the best/you put Îem on stage/and you have Îem undress," and the hook, "You get to be famous/I get to be rich."
Not every song on this album is damning The Man, however, and there are special nods to "Diamond" and "Blue Sunday." However, Petty is starting to sound like generic old folks' music. Songs like "You And Me" and "Have Love Will Travel" are the type of tunes that Petty has made timeless before.
They aren't bad songs ÷ any budding songwriter would love to have these tunes in his catalogue ÷ but with Petty, you expect more effort and energy.
If Petty truly wants to fight the power, he'll need to make an album that will revitalize himself, his band, and show up the money-hungry corporate slugs he criticizes.
