"The Last DJ" - Tom Petty

The song, "The Last DJ" was released in 2002 by artist, Tom Petty. In the song, Petty complains about all he sees wrong in the rock era where multinational companies are involved. Overall, the song is about free-form radio coming to an end. In the late '90's, with the corporate takeover of radio stations, came DJ's who were forced to start computerizing their playlists and recording shows beforehand. This method ultimately saves the owners money and is actually more efficient for radio and public shows. A lyric in the song states, "Well, the top brass don't like him talking so much, and he won't play what they say to play." In this verse, he is describing how the "DJ" isn't listening to big corporate heads and still playing and recording music the way DJ's always have. I appreciate Petty''s willingness to speak up on an issue that was so overlooked by media in this era of music.  

Fun Fact: The song received very little air play, ultimately proving Tom Petty's point.