When Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers reconvened to record a new album in 1984, they were coming off the relatively disappointing Long After Dark from two years earlier. That album had produced two Top 40 hits with "You Got Lucky" and "Change Of Heart" but wasn't as big a seller as previous efforts.

Perhaps to shake things up a bit and alter their trademark '60s-styled British rock sound, the group enlisted Dave Stewart, who had risen to fame during the period as one-half of the Eurythmics, to produce Southern Accents which was released in 1985. The results were most striking on "Don't Come Around Here No More," which surprised long-time fans of Petty and the band when it was issued as the lead single in March.

With Stewart adding sitar, the song's mood was ominous and evocative. The psychedelic vibes of the song were underscored by a surrealistic video which was a take-off on the story of Alice In Wonderland (and proved to be the one of the most original and popular videos the format had ever seen).

Despite the song's departure from the Heartbreakers' traditional sound, it was an immediate smash and rocketed up the charts. It peaked at #2 on the album rock charts and became another Top 40 hit on the pop charts. "Don't Come Around Here No More" would evetually peak at #13 in June and Southern Accents would be a Top Ten, platinum-selling smash.

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