Tom Petty once revealed a career regret, and it became an '80s classic

There are so many questions as to why Tom Petty would reject a piece that became a hit in a short amount of time. The reason behind it is that the version that Petty listened to was not the one that ended up being sung by Don Henley. He heard a first draft that came from Campbell's experiments with the LinnDrum machine and the Oberheim synthesizer.

Campbell later recalled that the original chorus moved to a minor chord, prompting Petty to describe the demo as "too jazzy." Campbell understood the criticism: The chorus didn't lift the way he wanted it to, and the track wasn't right for the Heartbreakers' "Southern Accents."

Because Campbell wasn't ready to abandon the idea, he reworked it into a stronger, more powerful chorus. The producer, Jimmy Iovine (who was working with both Tom Petty and Don Henley), made the connection between them. Henley added the vocal melody and the lyrics and created the masterpiece.

When Petty eventually heard the finished version, he immediately recognized what had changed. Campbell later told Guitar Player that Petty's reaction was essentially, "Ohhh. You changed it."

Finally released in 1984, "The Boys of Summer" climbed into No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped Billboard's rock chart, while its atmospheric black-and-white video became an MTV fixture. The video went on to win Video of the Year at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards.

The song also picked up a Grammy: Henley won Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "The Boys of Summer." Campbell later recounted that when the two of them heard the song on the radio years later, Petty turned to him and admitted it was the one he wished he'd "had the presence of mind to not let... get away."

In the 80s, "The Boys of Summer" sounded so vaguely familiar that some listeners have associated it with another major songwriter of the era.

The song is sometimes mistaken for a Bruce Springsteen track, an understandable mix-up given its nostalgic storytelling, images of fading summer romance, and distinctly American sense of looking backward at something that's already disappeared.

Henley's vocal delivery and Campbell's ringing guitar also place it in the same broad heartland-rock landscape Springsteen helped define during the decade.