Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Back when it wasn’t uncommon to see an actual music video on MTV, much less a video from someone who’s not exactly photogenic, it was impossible not to grin at Tom Petty‘s clips. There was “Into the Great Wide Open,” where miniature Heartbreakers and a relatively monstrous Petty narrated the story of rebel-without-a-clue Eddie as portrayed by Johnny Depp; “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” in which Petty was more animated than ever, literally and figuratively; and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” which featured Kim Basinger as the deceased title character. However, the apex was the Alice in Wonderland-inspired clip for “Don’t Come Around Here No More.” Mad Hatter Petty served up slices o’ Alice, whose body became a cake, save for her twitching head and wiggling extremities. Musically, Petty isn’t particularly groundbreaking, distilling the best parts of the past into supercatchy irresistible nuggets, but visually the band shines brighter than most boring rock performance clips ever did. On stage, though, Petty reminds that even without the special effects, the songs still provoke smiles.