Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Letting You Go

What this video is

Released in 1981 — the same year MTV launched — 'Letting You Go' arrives at the precise moment when the music video was being defined as a medium. Rather than embracing the new format uncritically, Tom Petty and director Jim Lenahan produced a self-aware, postmodern clip that interrogates the artifice of the form itself. The video's conceit — cameras encroaching on the band, forcing a reaction — reflects Petty's…

Why it matters

Represents the heartland rock and early American new wave moment on MTV, predating the polished, high-concept videos that would come to dominate. Its anti-spectacle, meta-performative approach distinguishes it from British synth-pop contemporaries dominating early MTV rotation, and anticipates the…

The director

Jim Lenahan received an honors degree in Theatrical Scenic Design from the University of Florida in 1973, then did production at Walt Disney World before Tom Petty invited him to California. He served as lighting director for every Petty tour since the…