Tom Petty's Last Dance

I always wanted to ask you if Ray Davies was a big influence on the songwriting on "The Last DJ."
Very much. I love Ray Davies. I especially liked that Lola Versus Powerman album, and I felt like it was time for an album with those themes again.

Did you get much of a backlash from the music industry since the release of the album?
Yes.

In what ways?
In every way possible. I got a lot of criticism. But I saw the record more as a sort of moral play rather than a specifically music-business-oriented thing. Bob Dylan told me that he actually liked the record a lot. He said I shouldn't confuse things that are popular with things that are really good. That was the best review I got.

You did a lot of fighting to keep record prices down. Do you feel in the end it had any effect on the music industry?
Certainly I am glad I did it. I tell you, it really beat me up. My psyche suffered. I felt like I had the shit beat out of me. Because [obstacles] came at me one on top of the other, and no other artist stepped forward to say, "Yeah, me too." Nobody.

But I know I held the prices down for a long time. I know that was directly my doing. But I also knew that eventually I was losing the battle. It's interesting that that's what sank the ship, in a way. I think that if they kept the CDs really affordable, there wouldn't have been the tragic impact from the computers that there was. And that's a blow that I don't think they're ever going to recover from.

Well, services like the iTunes Music Store are helping restore the balance.
iTunes is a great idea. It reminds me of the old days when you bought a single for ninety-nine cents, and if you liked that, you bought the album. But it's not as good for selling or even acclimating people to the album as an art form. I was up until the middle of the night sequencing this thing. And I am starting to think, "Who cares? 'Cause they're just a bunch of button pushers." But I am not giving up my art. I make complete pieces of work, I like to think.

Do you think the concept of selling out has changed in the past decade because the borders between what's art and what's corporate aren't so clear anymore?
Selling out is a funny concept, because we are in a business that is all about selling. I have turned down a lot of money for things that would have made me feel cheesy. And I think I made some of those moves when I couldn't afford it. But I think I'd feel really bad seeing "American Girl" selling gas or Chevy trucks. The song means more to me than that.

But now there are some young groups coming up who really want to get a commercial because the radio has become a different animal where you can't really get airplay for a new group, or any group, really. So maybe they think that's their only road out. I am so glad I missed that and didn't have to make those decisions.

What label did you finally decide to put your record out on?
It's coming out on American. That's another reason why the record is taking so long. My contract was up, and a lot of labels were bidding against each other. I ended up staying with Warner, but then they gave me the choice to go with Reprise, Warner or American. And of course I went to American, because Rick [Rubin, who runs the label and has produced Petty] is an old friend, and I trust Rick.

The music business has changed so much. I know enough to protect myself, but that's about it. I don't really know how it works anymore. For the last four months, there have been more demands on my time than I can remember: the press, this [Bogdanovich] movie, the tour coming up, then a radio show [on XM], King of the Hill [where he's the voice of Lucky]. You have to fight to just get a few hours. It's gotten where everything has gotten so media-oriented.

It's almost like when you make a record, you got to be punished for it.

Between the Internet, satellite radio and satellite television, there are way too many media and promotional outlets now.
It's more than I am going to deal with, I'll tell you that. I am straight up. This is the last interview I am doing, because I have to live life. I can't spend every day fulfilling the needs of the label or the media in order to promote the record. I love the record and I really care about it, but there is a point where you start to not like yourself [laughs].

I have tried to explain this to the label. My mind is so delicate, and I am sure it comes from the life I have lived. But my mind is so delicate that I can't take being part of that. It's just like hanging around after a show to meet people. I can't do that. I don't even do interviews on the road.

So I am not the best star for promoting himself. I think that's the whole problem with our career. For someone of the stature that we are, we have never embraced the promotion machine. Maybe we should have.

If you'd embraced it, you may have been even bigger, but you'd be much less happy.
I say if things were any bigger, I couldn't deal with it. If I was more famous or more successful, it would be too much.

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