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tom petty rails against the music industry
Banned on radio stations across the country, Tom Petty’s new album (his 13th in 26 years) and single, “The Last DJ” has created quite a stir. The banned song, which doesn’t contain a single swear word, or any talk of violence, is being banned not being offensive, but for its right on the money critique of the music industry!
In his song, Petty talks about how a DJ is forced out of his job because he refuses to go along with the new trends to charge people for things they use to get for free, and to submit to censorship and dumbing down his commentary. According to Petty, "It's really about vanishing personal freedoms."
Elaborating on the song’s lyrics, and his unfolding battle with the music industry, Petty told Rolling Stone magazine how he felt the industry was overcharging for CDs and concerts, and that radio and TV weren’t worth listening to or watching anymore. Among the specific reasons he gave was the sensationalism, promotion of greedy values and the gross exploitation of young women. “The music industry has always been laughably corrupt, always.” said Petty.
As part of their protest Petty and his band have vowed that they will never allow one of their songs to be used in any corporate commercial.
Petty even fired a shot at the special treatment given to the wealthy at rock concerts. "Getting back to the whole issue of ticket prices: We don't do the Golden Circle/VIP thing. I don't see how carving out the best seats and charging a lot more for them has anything to do with rock & roll. A lot of the time, some corporation's bought up these seats with someone's money who doesn't even know it's being spent -- and they are going to use it to entertain clients. A lot of the people who buy these seats don't give a damn about the music -- they're going to get a waiter. What you see from the stage is a group of people just talking to each other, not really interested in being there at all. And the poor guy who really is interested, he's sitting way in the back."
Petty, and his band, the Heartbreakers, have a long history of not seeing eye to eye with the crass commercialism of big record labels. For example, back in 1982 when Tom Petty recorded the album Hard Promises, he got in a big fight with his record company over what price it would be sold for. The company wanted to use his album to initiate a new, more expensive $9.98 list price for albums. Petty fought back by withholding the tapes for the album, and even threatened to rename his album $8.98 in protest.
To conclude, Petty’s social commentary and his stand against at least some of the more sickening aspects of the commercial music industry, is a welcome breath of fresh air from a scene that all too often holds up greed and the pursuit of the almighty dollar as the end all and be all.
The article above was written by Amber Maki.
