Remembering When a Tom Petty Single Embraced the Era of Big Production and Even Bigger Videos in 1985

Tom Petty didn’t generally think in terms of singles. Petty was more about the body of work, ensuring that every song that he recorded, including album cuts and B-sides, received similar amounts of care and diligence.

But in 1985, he worked overtime to get a single just right. That not only included taking extensive time with it in the studio but also encompassed the most ornate video of his career.

Eurythmic Eureka

Coming off four straight successful albums to start his recording career, Tom Petty easily could have kept the status quo for album No. 5. But he began to feel a certain amount of stagnation settling into his approach with The Heartbreakers. That’s why he wanted to shake things up a little.

His first thought was to make the new LP a concept album loosely related to living in the American South. But that plan started to lose some steam once Petty met Dave Stewart. The British musician known for his work with Eurythmics hit LA and met up with Petty. They became fast friends. In between bouts of hitting the town, they carved out some time to record.

It was Stewart who started the process of creating “Don’t Come Around Here No More”. He came up with a few chord changes to light the fire. From there, the two men spent weeks perfecting the song. Petty knew it was a departure from what he’d done before, which was part of the draw.

A Sitar Situation

“Don’t Come Around Here No More” didn’t really fit in with the concept album that Petty was supposed to be creating. But he was so excited about its unique nature that he insisted upon seeing it through. Unlike his usual approach, he earmarked the song as a single right from the jump.

He and Stewart added all manner of embellishments, from the programmed, stammering drumbeat that engirdles the track to the coral sitar part that made it more exotic than anything he’d released to that point. Although some of the Heartbreakers were skeptical, Petty felt the otherness of it all was just what he needed, as he explained to Paul Zollo in the book Conversations With Tom Petty:

“You know, it wasn’t something that we were going to do a lot. But it was just anything to get out of what we’d been doing. I desperately wanted to find a new page. (Laughs.) To get somewhere we hadn’t been. And that helped, in that sense.”

Hatter Hysteria

Considering that “Don’t Come Around Here No More” was slated to be released in 1985, Petty knew that, if he really wanted it to make a mark as a single, he’d have to make a video that didn’t skimp on the production value. Dave Stewart started this process as well, telling Petty he envisioned himself in the video playing sitar while sitting on a mushroom.

From there, Petty and company concocted an elaborate, Alice In Wonderland-inspired tale, one where the singer portrays a somewhat sinister Mad Hatter. The video ends in a somewhat grisly fashion. But it was right up MTV’s alley.

“Don’t Come Around Here No More” served its purpose, landing at No. 13 on the pop charts, Petty’s second-biggest hit to that point. The song also gave Southern Accents a boost, even if it wasn’t indicative of Petty’s original vision for the album. And it remains unique in his catalog as a moment in time where TP went all-in for pop music glory, albeit in a slightly askew fashion.

Photo by Gary Gershoff/Getty Images

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