"Into the Great Wide Open"
Single by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
from the album Into the Great Wide Open
B-side"Makin' Some Noise"
ReleasedSeptember 9, 1991 (1991-09-09)[1]
GenreRock
Length
  • 3:45
  • 6:41 (music video version)
LabelMCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Tom Petty
  • Jeff Lynne
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers singles chronology
"Learning to Fly"
(1991)		 "Into the Great Wide Open"
(1991)		 "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
(1993)
Music video
"Into the Great Wide Open" on YouTube

"Into the Great Wide Open" is a song by American rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, included as the third track on their eighth studio album, Into the Great Wide Open (1991). Released as a single in September 1991, the song reached number four on the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart but stalled at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. Internationally, the song peaked at number 23 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart and found moderate success in Belgium and Germany.

Music video

The music video for the single, directed by Julien Temple,[2] stars Johnny Depp as the protagonist, Eddie Rebel, as well as Gabrielle Anwar as Eddie's girlfriend and Faye Dunaway as his manager, and features cameos by Terence Trent D'Arby, Chynna Phillips, and Matt LeBlanc. The video was shot during the filming of Arizona Dream, in which both Depp and Dunaway starred, which was on hiatus as its director Emir Kusturica had suffered a nervous breakdown. The song was extended in order to include more of the 18 minutes of footage Temple had created.

Fresh out of high school, Eddie catches a bus to Hollywood and meets a girl (Anwar) who has a tattoo to match his: a heart impaled with a stiletto knife. They move into a motel-style apartment building. Eddie works as a doorman while his girlfriend teaches him to play guitar. Their landlady (Dunaway) turns out to be a cross between a fairy godmother and a svengali, managing his increasing success as a rock star.

Success quickly goes to Eddie's head. Things come to a peak when he excludes his manager from a red carpet event. Infuriated, she waves her magic wand (in the form of a cigarette holder) and breaks the spell, with disastrous results. Vanity Flaire magazine reports that Eddie's girlfriend is pregnant. He appears drunk and belligerent at an awards ceremony, then acts up during a music video shoot. Eddie's career quickly fizzles, his girlfriend leaves him, and the heart in his tattoo fades away. The story closes with Eddie returning to the tattoo parlor, where he finds a newcomer (LeBlanc) getting the same tattoo from a new artist (Depp). Tom Petty then closes the video with the classic fairy tale ending, sardonically, that "they all lived happily ever after".

Petty took the line "a rebel without a clue" from the 1989 single "I'll Be You" by Minneapolis rock band the Replacements, with whom he toured. The term was coined by Jim Steinman, who wrote "Rebel Without a Clue" for Bonnie Tyler on her 1986 release Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire.

Petty himself appears in the video playing multiple roles, including the narrator, the tattoo artist, Eddie's roadie Bart and a reporter. The other members of the Heartbreakers are also given cameos throughout the video. Lead guitarist Mike Campbell helps present the award to Eddie toward the end of the video, keyboardist Benmont Tench portrays Eddie's record producer, bassist Howie Epstein portrays a motorcycle dealer, and drummer Stan Lynch portrays the doorman who refuses to let Eddie's manager into the red carpet event. Petty's manager Tony Dimitriades is also given a cameo as the record label A&R man who signs Eddie into a recording contract.

Petty later commented that it was "one of the only times I've ever felt fulfilled by a video. I even had people coming to me wanting to make it into a movie."[3]

Track listings

Charts

Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[10] 112
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[11] 48
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[12] 23
Germany (Official German Charts)[13] 54
US Billboard Hot 100[14] 92
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[15] 4

References

  1. ↑ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. September 7, 1991. p. 21.
  2. ↑ "Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Into the Great Wide Open". mvdbase.com. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Tom Petty's 50 Greatest Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  4. ↑ Into the Great Wide Open (US 7-inch single vinyl disc). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. MCA Records. 1991. MCAS7-54131.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. ↑ Into the Great Wide Open (US cassette single sleeve). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. MCA Records. 1991. MCASC 54131.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ↑ Into the Great Wide Open (UK CD single disc notes). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. MCA Records. 1991. MCSTD 1570.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ Into the Great Wide Open (European 7-inch single vinyl disc). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. MCA Records. 1991. MCS 17830.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  8. ↑ Into the Great Wide Open (European 12-inch single sleeve). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. MCA Records. 1991. MCT 17831.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  9. ↑ Into the Great Wide Open (European CD single disc notes). Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. MCA Records. 1991. MCD 17831.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ↑ "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing September 30, 1991". Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Into The Great Wide Open" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  12. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 1660." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Into The Great Wide Open" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
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