“What Are You Afraid Of?”: Tom Petty Was “Elated” To Have This 2002 Track Banned From the Radio

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By the time Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their eleventh studio album in 2002, they had been in the music industry for decades. Why Tom Petty Was Happy To Have This Song Banned From the RadioWhen Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their 2002 album, The Last DJ, radio was still alive and well. “The Last DJ is a story about morals more than the music business,” Petty explained in a 2002 Rolling Stone article. “I was elated when my song was banned,” Petty told Rolling Stone. In 2002, to have a song banned that doesn’t have a dirty word, doesn’t advocate violence—it’s fascinating, you know.