The Last DJ is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The title track, "Money Becomes King", "Joe" and "Can't Stop the Sun" are all critical of greed in the music industry, which led to a song boycott by some radio stations.
A "limited edition" digipack version of the album was also released, including a DVD of music videos and other footage shot during the album's production.
The album reached number 9 on the Billboard 200, aided by the single "The Last DJ", which peaked at number 22 on Billboards Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 2002. As of 2010, The Last DJ had sold 353,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The album marks the return of original Heartbreaker Ron Blair on bass guitar, replacing his own replacement, the ailing Howie Epstein. His return was late in the recording process, however, and Petty and Campbell contribute most of the bass work themselves. It is also the first album to credit longtime touring members Scott Thurston and Steve Ferrone as official members.
The title track (which was the first single) and "Dreamville" were included on the compilation The Best of Everything.
Reception
According to review aggregator Metacritic, The Last DJ received "generally favorable reviews", with a 61 out of 100 score based on 14 critic reviews.
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1score =
| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev2score = A−
| rev3 = Kludge
| rev3score = 9/10
| rev4 = Los Angeles Times
| rev4score =
| rev5 = Mojo
| rev5score =
| rev6 = Q
| rev6score =
| rev7 = Rolling Stone
| rev7score =
| rev8 = Stylus
| rev8score = D−
| rev9 = Uncut
| rev9score = 6/10
| rev10 = The Village Voice
| rev10score = C+
Track listing
All songs written by Tom Petty except 8 and 12, co-written by Mike Campbell
Personnel
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- Tom Petty – guitars, vocals, piano, ukulele, bass guitar on "The Last DJ", "Money Becomes King", "Joe", "Like a Diamond", "Blue Sunday", "You and Me" and "Have Love Will Travel"
- Mike Campbell – guitars, bass guitar on "Dreamville", "When a Kid Goes Bad", and "The Man Who Loves Women"
- Benmont Tench – piano, organ, various keyboards
- Scott Thurston – guitar, lap steel guitar, ukulele, background vocals
- Ron Blair – bass guitar on "Lost Children" and "Can't Stop the Sun"
- Steve Ferrone – drums
Additional musicians
- Jon Brion – orchestration, conductor
- Lindsey Buckingham – background vocals on "The Man Who Loves Women"
- Lenny Castro – percussion
Production
- Mike Campbell – producer
- Richard Dodd – recording engineer
- George Drakoulias – producer
- Ryan Hewitt – assistant engineer
- Steve McGrath – demo engineer
- Tom Petty – producer
- Jim Scott – recording engineer
- Ed Thacker – additional engineer
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Chart performance for The Last DJ
! scope="col"| Chart (2002)
! scope="col"| Peak<br />position
|-
|-
! scope="row"|Canada Albums (Nielsen Soundscan)
| 25
|-
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 9
|}