Songfacts®:

• "'Into The Great Wide Open' had a lot of dark humor," Tom Petty told Mojo in 2009.
  
  The song tells the story of a guy named Eddie who moves to Los Angeles, meets a girl and becomes a rock star. On their journey, there is struggle, but always possibility, as the future is wide open. Eddie plays from the heart, and it pays off with a record deal and a hit. But once he's achieved his dream, the sky is no longer the limit, as his A&R man spouts that industry cliché, "I don't hear a single."
  
  Petty, who knows a thing or two about record company machinations, leaves it to the listener to decide what happens next. There's a good chance it doesn't go so well for Eddie.
• In the music video, Johnny Depp stars as Eddie. It was directed by Julien Temple and also features Faye Dunaway as Eddie's manager, Gabrielle Anwar as his girlfriend, and appearances by Matt LeBlanc, Terence Trent D'Arby and Chynna Phillips. As in many of his videos, Tom Petty opens the book to reveal the story. In this one, Petty also plays the roadie Bart, the tattoo artist, and the reporter.
  
  In the video, Eddie becomes a boorish narcissist, and his career tanks. Dropped by his label, he goes into the same tattoo parlor where he started, and sees himself inking up a newcomer (LeBlanc).
• This was the first music video in which Johnny Depp starred. He was a big deal at the time (it was after Edward Scissorhands but before What's Eating Gilbert Grape), and Petty remarked, "I never met so many women in my life as when we had Johnny Depp in this video."
  
  Depp later featured in videos for Lemonheads ("It's A Shame About Ray"), Johnny Cash ("God's Gonna Cut You Down") and Alice Cooper ("I'll Bite Your Face Off"). He also played guitar on songs by a number of high-profile artists, including Oasis ("Fade In-Out"), Patti Smith ("Banga") and Paul McCartney ("My Valentine").
• The song was used in the 2013 Family Guy episode "12 And A Half Angry Men."
• According to the book Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements, Petty got the line "rebel without a clue" from the Replacements song "I'll Be You," which goes:
  
  A dream too tired to come true
  Left a rebel without a clue
  
  Petty and the Heartbreakers toured with the Replacements in 1989, about a year before recording "Into The Great Wide Open." Petty started out energized by the young band and enthusiastically studied Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg's stage presence. He even gave Westerberg a gift: the hat he wore in the video for "I Won't Back Down." Westerberg promptly took the hat and sold it for drugs, which sums up their relationship.
  
  Annoyed by the indifference of the Petty fanbase (Petty was the tour headliner), Westerberg and the Replacements took their usual approach of intentionally playing poorly and antagonizing the crowd. Petty didn't understand or respect this approach, but to the Replacements' frustration, he wouldn't fire them. The Replacements increased their antics, trying to get booted, but Petty never obliged. Afterwards, Petty joked about paying for so much "broken furniture," before adding, "it was worth it."