Petty made some amazing videos, too
Late rock icon left his mark on MTV scene
Tom Petty, who died Monday at 66, wasn't the most likely music video star. Skeletal and toothy with a hangdog look and a collection of top hats, he wasn't the aspirational rock god, driving around in a sports car surrounded by voluptuous, barely-dressed women.
But it didn't matter. Even though he burst onto the MTV scene at a relatively late age, he still managed to connect with a younger generation of rabid video fans who readily consumed the wacky, inventive and occasionally controversial videos that Petty and his band produced. You can see why: The videos were funny and strange, packed with so many stunning details you could watch them again and again without seeing everything. He rarely took the easy route of cobbling together concert footage.
He was "much more interested in storytelling than band performance videos," said Keir McFarlane, the director of "Mary Jane's Last Dance." "His music videos were already mini movies with full blown characters and complex story lines."
Here's a look back at some of his most memorable. “Don’t Come Around Here No
• More”(1985)
The "Alice in Wonderland "themed video marked the first time the band received a nomination for an MTV Video Music Award. The psychedelic spectacle was up for five, including video of the year, and won one, for best special effects.
The effects were certainly special – but also controversial. Starring Wish Foley as Alice, the video became a target for Tipper Gore and her Parents Music Resource Center, because of what they deemed disturbing images. The video culminates with Alice lying on a table, her body made of cake, while Petty's Madhatter and the rest of his tea party slice her into tasty pieces. “Mary Jane's Last Dance"
• (1993)
If parents thought "Don't Come Around Here No More" was disturbing, then we can only imagine how they felt about the video for "Mary Jane's Last Dance," which won best male video at the MTV Video Music Awards. It starred Kim Basinger as a beautiful corpse, while Petty played a morgue worker who dresses her up and borrows her for an evening of dinner and dancing followed by a resurrection ritual.
It may have been macabre but it gave Petty the opportunity to flex some acting muscles, and he turned out to have a talent for dark comedy, especially in the scene when he props up his dead date and asks her if she wants to watch some television, only to have her tip over.
McFarlane, the director, was struck by how Petty portrayed the morgue attendant as someone truly in love; the video felt more profound and less creepy that way.
“Into the Great Wide Open” • (1991)
Basinger isn't the only big star to show up in one of Petty's videos. "Into the Great Wide Open" was an A-list heavy event, with Johnny Depp playing Eddie, the song's "rebel without a clue," plus Faye Dunaway as his manager and Gabrielle Anwar as his love interest.
In a wry twist, Petty plays himself as the storyteller – it was his circular glasses period – and also Eddie's "roadie named Bart."
Petty's videos tended to be experimental, with plenty of special effects, and even though this one had a straightforward narrative structure, the interludes with the Heartbreakers show the band miniaturized, playing on the desk where Petty sits singing the story.
The video lost out on the best male video award that year, but was renominated in 2009 for the category of best video that should have won a Moonman. It lost – again – this time to "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. “You Got Lucky” (1982) • The band got fairly experimental with this early video, which gave the guys their first taste of fame. It takes place in a dusty postapocalyptic hellscape inspired by "Mad Max," and the music starts when Petty presses play on a cassette player. In "I Want My MTV," Petty reminisced that Michael Jackson called to say what a great idea that opening was.
After the video came out, Petty realized the difference music videos make. Suddenly people of all ages were approaching him on the street, recognizing him from MTV.