B-side "Between Two Worlds" Format 7" Length 3:38 | Released October 22, 1982 Recorded 1982 | |
Genre Heartland rock
new wave | ||
"You Got Lucky" is the first single from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' album Long After Dark. The song peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart, where it stayed for three weeks at the end of 1982. Unusual for a signature Tom Petty song, guitars give up the spotlight to allow synths to carry the song's main structure.
Contents
Music video
The look of the official video echoes the postapocalyptic feature film Mad Max 2, released in 1981. Both are set in a dusty, eclectic world of somewhat vintage electronics and mechanical devices in a gritty landscape.
The video begins with Tom Petty and Mike Campbell happening upon a black tent in the desert after riding in a hovercar (from the television series Logan's Run). They find a radio/cassette player and play the tape, which begins the music of "You Got Lucky". The other band members, Howie Epstein, Benmont Tench, and Stan Lynch, arrive in a motorcycle and sidecar.
Entering the tent, they turn on electricity for music studio equipment as well as a bank of television sets which feature Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' videos for "Here Comes My Girl" and "A Woman In Love (It's Not Me)". A clip from the Galactica 1980 episode "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I" plays on one of the televisions. Mike plays a guitar solo, Howie hits a jackpot on a slot machine, and Tom overturns an Astro Invader arcade video game before they all ride away, leaving only behind the cassette player.