The 10 Greatest Tom Petty Music Videos

While some artists weren’t too crazy about the age of MTV, Tom Petty fully embraced this new way of promoting songs. Petty himself once admitted that he was way ahead of them. He said, “We made videos before they were videos, we made them back in ’78.” Now let’s take a look at some of his best MVs.

10. For Real

Released posthumously in 2019, it’s a poignant autobiographical song that was recorded in August 2000. The video is a mix of photos and clips of Petty on stage and in the recording studio.

9. You and Me

Another posthumous release, this was directed by the late rocker’s daughter Aria. It features clips and photos submitted by fans.

8. Don’t Come Around Here No More

Petty was hands-down one of the most creative artists of all time and it showed in his music videos. This one’s pretty trippy and inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

7. I Won’t Back Down

This features George Harrison, Petty’s bandmate in Traveling Wilbury, and Ringo Starr.

6. Learning to Fly

It shows a little boy growing up and “learning to fly”. Petty was such a good storyteller.

5. Yer So Bad

About a woman who married a “yuppie”, the video shows the couple at their wedding with Petty as the photographer. It’s a pretty wild story that ends with the husband walking down the street while carrying a blow-up doll.

4. Free Fallin’

One of his best-known and most enduring songs, the video was directed by Julien Temple and it featured skateboarding even before it became mainstream.

3. Wilbury Twist

It’s a star-studded video that featured cameos from several celebrities like Woody Harrelson, Whoopi Goldberg, John Candy and Eric Idle, to name a few. It was filmed at the Wishire Ebell in Los Angeles.

2. Mary Jane’s Last Dance

Petty bagged the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video in 1994 for this. It featured Petty as a morgue assistant who brought home a beautiful dead woman. Speaking about how he chose who would play the role of the pretty lady, Petty recalled: “I said, “She’s got to look really good, or why would he keep her around after she’s dead?” I thought, “Kim Basinger would be good. I’d probably keep her for a day or two, let’s go see if she would do it.””

1. Into the Great Wide Open

It stars Johnny Depp as Eddie who moved to Los Angeles to become a rockstar. It also features Gabrielle Anwar, Faye Dunaway, Matt LeBlanc, Terence Trent D’Arby and Chynna Phillips.