Happy Birthday Tom Petty

Here are disc jockeys with hands tied by corporate owners, cynical executives getting rich off disposable pop stars, and a singer performing for wine-sipping poseurs while his real fans look on, disheartened, from the cheap seats.

Is this a career suicide note from an act only seven months removed from induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Keep listening.

The concept album, THE LAST DJ, is actually a broad indictment of American culture using the music business as a metaphor. It ends on a hopeful note, arguing that marketers and moneymen can't bottle what's in the heart.

'I really have dedicated my entire life to this music — not that I didn't want to, or even have a choice,' said the 51-year-old Petty. 'It overcame me at an early age in a big way. I care about it, and I don't want to see it reduced to a silly caricature.'

David Bauder AP 10.10.02

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