Puppy waited till his bones had all grew

He went to get neutered and he got a tattoo

He met a girl who had a spay tattoo too

The pasture was wide open

Into the great wide open

Under the skies of blue

Into the great wide open

A derp and doofus who love their crew

Jebus, I’m gonna have to watch Midnight Mass again, aren’t I?

We sure do a fuckton of damage to each other in the name of our particular God, don’t we?

And there’s this.

250 posts!

Michelle Alter

Tom Petty & The Heartbreaker... Into The Great Wide Open

"A Rebel Without a Clue": The Tragedy of Johnny Depp and the Cautionary Tale of "Into the Great Wide Open"

“And now, I’d like to tell you about Eddie and his adventures in the great wide open.”

"A rebel without a clue," Tom Petty sings as he reaches the end of the chorus to his 1991 song, "Into the Great Wide Open." The rebel referenced in Petty's story is that of one Eddie Rebel, a bright-eyed kid who moves to Hollywood, CA, meets a girl, gets a tattoo, and slowly works his way into the high life as a famous musician. In the music video for the song, which reveals more of Eddie's story than the lyrics themselves could do within a four and a half minute song, shows that the good times don't last for ol' Eddie, as the song's final verse has Eddie's A&R man say "I don't hear a single," his chart position slowly going from #1 all the way down to #97, and getting dropped from his record label by the end of the video. Over the course of the song's video, we see Eddie Rebel transform from a boy with a dream, a boy who always "played from the heart," to a narcissistic asshole who gets into nasty fights with his girl, shuns the agent who helped him get to the top, acts like a complete jackass when accepting awards, and becomes an overall unlikable prick who lashes out like a prima donna when the music video he's making isn't going the way he wants. All in all, it's a wild ride and a video with a lot packed into only six and a half minutes. Tom Petty made a lot of great videos during the golden age of MTV. This one still stands as the best one he ever made.

Petty's story is the age-old cautionary tale of the corruption and downfall that can come with becoming a rich and successful celebrity, especially one who isn't prepared for everything that comes with such great success and adoration. The age-old lesson of once you hit the top, the only way left to go is down. The character of Eddie Rebel in the video is a role that the video's star, a young Johnny Depp, embodied incredibly well... so well that his real life has gone on to completely mirror and imitate Petty's art, more so than any role Depp has ever played.

Over the last two months, all eyes have been on Johnny Depp as he has entered into court with a high stakes defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard. Depp is no stranger to lawsuits and media frenzies at this stage in his career. The man is arguably more known for his controversies and battles in his personal life than for any of his films. The fresh-faced and bright movie star who once graced movie screens as delightfully quirky and loveable characters such as Captain Jack Sparrow, Ed Wood, and even the Mad Hatter, is now only seen televised in a courtroom, at arguably the lowest point in his personal life, for all the world to see and speculate on. As of this writing, the trial itself has just reached its conclusion. Depp won the suit, but it wasn’t a complete victory, as both were found liable in defamation of the other. With the media whirlwind that has been the battle of Depp and Heard, one comment has sprouted up quite a bit in the wake of Depp and his film career...

“His role in [insert thing] hits different now.“

The lines between the real Johnny Depp and the character on the screen blur together now more than they ever have previously. Petty's "Into the Great Wide Open" was written as a cautionary tale, but now in 2022 Petty may as well be credited with predicting Depp's future. If any role of Depp's hits differently now or is in need of a closer look in light of recent events, it's him as Eddie Rebel in "Into the Great Wide Open."

"The future was wide open.” For Petty, he was obviously singing purely from experience: he had been making records, both with and without his band, the Heartbreakers, since 1976. Like Eddie Rebel, Petty had moved out to California with the hopes of making it big in music, which of course he did. By the time "Into the Great Wide Open" was made, Petty had enjoyed a healthy career and a steady stream of success. Ever since the Damn the Torpedoes album made him and the Heartbreakers superstars in 1979, he had rarely experienced many (if any) certifiable career failures. Whether as a solo artist, as leader of the Heartbreakers, or as a member of the Traveling Wilburys, the story of Tom Petty is one with very few low career points, unlike Johnny Depp's. Aside from the legal battles Petty had with record companies regarding publishing rights and a terrible contract he signed at the start of his career, Tom Petty and Johnny Depp have led almost completely different lives. Tom was a man who remained a superstar with very few controversies to speak of, Depp is a disgraced actor who is still currently neck deep in them. But in 1991, Tom and Johnny were pretty much one in the same. Petty was still enjoying great success as a musician, Johnny was a blossoming television and movie star after 21 Jump Street (the 80s series, not the movie) had been a hit and Edward Scissorhands had been a success the year before. "The sky was the limit," Petty's floating vocals croon right before that fantastic Wilburys-tinged guitar riff ends the second and fourth verse. Both men had a lot of art left to make and all the success and freedom needed to make it happen. The future was wide open indeed.

Johnny Depp playing a rebellious young rockstar in Petty's music video isn't out of place, nor was it all that strange to see at the time, considering Depp had played rock n' roll heartthrob Cry-Baby in John Waters' musical film of the same name, just a year before this video was made. But Cry-Baby remains adored and loved by the end of the movie, while Eddie ends the video dropped and forgotten by his record label and pissing off a group of bikers who may or may not be ready to beat the shit out of him after doing the old "knocking down the line of motorcycles over like a set of dominos" trick. Hell, Depp himself sure isn't universally adored right now either, where even just mentioning his name on Twitter will spell disaster depending on what you say and who sees it.

But what truly makes Petty's video feel prophetic is in the way that the things that happen to Eddie Rebel mirror real life experiences Johnny Depp has lived through in his own career. The first sight of Eddie Rebel's downfall is during the making of a music video, where Eddie proceeds to get angry at the director to the point of yelling, jumping up onto the crane, and trying to pull him down. This mirrors events in Depp's real life due to allegations that Depp allegedly attacked a crew member when on the set of his film Labyrinth back in 2018. Depp allegedly tried to punch someone in the ribs, then yelled, "I'll give you $100,000 to punch me right now!" Another similar event happened in 2017, when Depp allegedly punched location manager Gregg "Rocky Brooks" on the set of the film City of Lies.

Next, Eddie Rebel is shown accepting music awards. He is stumbling and obviously drunk. He blows a raspberry at the camera to show he doesn't take it seriously at all. He holds up two awards like he just won a championship belt while a crowd's mixture of applause and boos can be heard in the background.

Like Eddie Rebel, Depp also has at least one event in his life that mirrors this behavior: his embarrassing appearance at the Hollywood Film Awards in Los Angeles in November of 2014. Depp appeared on stage to present an award to Shep Gordon, the subject of the documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon. As soon as the applause ends, Depp is stumbling and looks like he's barely able to stand up, the tell-tale signs that he is once again as drunk as the sea captain he brought to life on the silver screen. He fusses around with the microphone, blurts out a few words that had to be censored out, then spends the rest of the time trying to read the teleprompter while also fighting with both his posture and the slurring of his words. The presentation is that weird combination of hilarious and sad. Depp looks and sounds like the obnoxious guy at the bar who should've been cut off three drinks ago. The antics are funny for only a brief time before the second-hand embarrassment takes over. Depp's presentation at the event is only about a minute and a half long but it feels like an eternity. In the timeline of Depp's wild antics throughout his career, this would be little more than a footnote when compared to other events. In recent days, Depp’s drinking habits have been examined with extreme closeness, both by the people inside the courtroom and by strangers on social media who have been following the case before it even properly began. Regardless of which side is telling the truth, none of what has been coming out sounds pretty at all. It all sounds like a complete and utter nightmare.

The last key moments in the video, as well as the portion of the video everyone would immediately say "hits different" now is the scene where Eddie Rebel is shown being in a nasty fight with his girlfriend (played by Gabrielle Anwar) at his mansion. There is no dialogue in the video so it's unknown what exactly they're fighting about, but the couple is yelling at each other and Eddie's girl is shown throwing his awards at him in a pool. The camera then fades to Eddie Rebel driving away with his roadie named Bart (played by Petty himself, in one of his four different appearances) to get away from it all. The final punch to Eddie is Bart holding up a paper to him with the headline that reads, "Eddie axed." Eddie has been dropped from his record label and the dream is over.

A domestic battle with a significant other where harsh words and things get thrown at somebody, combined with the news that sponsorships and company endorsements have given the ax to the once-bright superstar has become so true to Johnny Depp's life that Petty's video has truly transcended fiction and become reality. At the time of this writing, Depp has still been axed from involvement with several things (though Dior has remained on the side of ol’ Johnny). The biggest drops came from the Warner Bros. and the Fantastic Beasts franchise (an entity that has been drowned in controversy, with or without Depp being present) and from Disney. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter that Depp won his case against Amber Heard, as the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film (as well as other projects) will still most likely not have him back as the chaotically charming sea captain or anything else. His stock is tainted. The damage from everything that has happened is already done.

Adding insult to injury–or, rather, more fuel to the "hits different" fire–is how Petty sings the verses dressed as a downplayed version of the Mad Hatter costume he wore in the 1985 video for "Don't Come Around Here No More." Depp of course is no stranger to this kind of quirky imagery, as he played the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland several years after this video was made. Petty's vocal performance in the song as well as his role as storyteller in the video is perfect for a cautionary tale. Petty sings in this calm and wise manner, all while watching Eddie’s story from the comfort of a large fairy tale book. He's seen this story played out, possibly many times with different people over the course of his career, and is relating it with a video performance that's a combination of slight apathy and genuine pity. The lyrics sympathize with Eddie. You chase your dreams and if you're lucky, you get everything you want. But it may just come with a price that's too much to afford. The video does not sympathize with Eddie. Petty-as-storyteller looks almost bored telling the story, as if he's told it a thousand times and knows he will have to tell it a thousand more.

The most fascinating thing about the video to "Into the Great Wide Open" is how Johnny Depp didn't just play a role in a Tom Petty video, he's lived the role in that Tom Petty video. Depp's appearance in this video might just be his best and most important role, due to how much it's become connected to his own life. One can only wonder what Petty's thoughts on it all would've been had he lived to see the hot water and media frenzy Depp currently finds himself in.

In 1991, Tom Petty was already a rock legend and continuing a successful career and Johnny Depp was a blossoming movie star who would eventually make the big time with What's Eating Gilbert Grape two years after "Into the Great Wide Open." It's 2022 now. Petty has been dead for five years now and Depp is a still-disgraced actor with a long list of controversies and legal battles that seem never ending. The trial with his ex-wife has been just another one of those battles. But this time, it’s one where everyone gets to see what happens and will continue speculating about it long after it's over. It’s a media circus and a complete spectacle in the truest sense.

“The future was wide open,” emphasis on was. Depp’s golden years have passed him by, being nothing more than a memory now. All that’s left are the destroyed remains of the glamorous movie-star life he once enjoyed and headlines and articles that have very few good things to report, this one included. It’s a shame. Depp’s story, as well as Eddie Rebel’s story, are the same cautionary tale. Petty’s song was meant as a warning, but for Depp, it was unfortunately a prophecy. A sad rise and fall prophecy that feels like it was preventable. Johnny Depp and his character Eddie were both rebels without a clue. In the wake of all that has happened to Depp in recent days it only makes Petty’s greatest video all the more fascinating to watch. In the 2007 documentary Running Down a Dream, Petty himself revealed that the original cut of the video was a staggering eighteen minutes! One can only wonder what all happens in that cut...

The video for "Into the Great Wide Open" ends with Eddie Rebel returning to the shop where he got his tattoo. He sees another kid (a Pre-Friends Matt LeBlanc) just like him getting the same tattoo, an indication that Petty's cautionary tale isn't just reserved for Eddie, it's a cyclical one where many Eddie Rebels will fall into the same trap, living the same story Eddie did. To add insult to injury, the kid Eddie sees is dressed in the exact same clothes Eddie was wearing at the beginning of the video when he got his tattoo.

The video’s final insult comes from Petty-as-storyteller. In his deep, only slightly southern accent, he ends Eddie’s story with one last twist of the knife before the sound of the storybook closing is heard. One final malicious sentence that ends Eddie’s tragedy in the same way Depp’s tragedy will come to an end:

“And they all lived happily ever after”

The more I learn about Civil War politics, the more I'm convinced that Lincoln's most impressive and useful leadership trait was that he never let his pride get in the way of doing his job.

Other people in Lincoln's position would have come to Washington with something to prove. They'd have resented the insults and tried to disprove them. They'd have tried to seize power and credit, rejected help, spent a lot of time trying to reach a certain level of respect.

Lincoln's response to, "You're just a backwoods lawyer with no executive experience who makes too many dumb jokes," was pretty much always, "Yeah. And?" He had no interest in petty personal power plays. He had a country to run. There was a war on. It didn't matter what people thought of him so long as the job got done.

He was aware of his personal shortcomings and was always willing to accept advice and help from people who had more knowledge and experience in certain areas. He presided over a chaotic Cabinet full of abrasive personalities who thought they were better and smarter than him, but he kept working with them because they could get the job done. For example: Stanton was absolutely horrible to him when they were both working as lawyers. Just incredibly mean on a personal level. But when Lincoln needed someone to replace Cameron, he swallowed his pride and appointed Stanton as Secretary of War, where Stanton proceeded to be mean to everyone in the world, but he whipped that department into shape and kept it running efficiently through a very chaotic war. Pretty much no one except Lincoln would have been able to put up with that. He could put up with people who were personally difficult if they could do the job he needed them to do--which he was only able to do because his own ego didn't get in the way.

Lincoln's example is a prime demonstration of how humility isn't underrating yourself--it's being so secure in your own abilities and identity that you don't need to attack anyone or defend yourself to prove your worth. He knew his shortcomings, but he also knew his strengths. He was willing to give other people credit for successes and take blame upon himself for failures if it kept things running smoothly. He was secure enough in his own power that he could deal generously--but firmly--with people who tried to undermine him. In a city full of huge egos, in a profession that rewards puffed-up pride, that levelheaded humility is an extremely rare trait--which is what made it so impressive and effective.

❤️‍🔥Tig ol' Bitties❤️‍🔥

Louisa Khovanski