When Easy Minds first heard “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” — their No. 1 single that will function the theme tune and teenage anthem of the 1985 Brat Pack basic “The Breakfast Club” — it wasn’t precisely memorable to them.
“It sounded a little generic to us,” Jim Kerr, lead singer of the band, informed The Submit. “I’d be lying if I said we were jumping up and down.”
Whereas the Scottish band was taking part in “hard to get” for the soundtrack to the John Hughes film — which got here out 40 years in the past on Feb. 15, 1985 — they had been even wooed with a personal screening of a tough lower of the movie in London. But it surely was powerful for them to even grasp the essential premise of the film starring Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez and Anthony Michael Corridor.
“In the UK, we didn’t have that thing that you have in the States with detention, where you got to go in on a Saturday and all that stuff,” stated Kerr, 65. “But we got the gist of the different stereotypes — the jock and the preppy and the goth.”
Nonetheless, the choice wasn’t so easy of their minds.
“We were young, we were precious,” stated Kerr. “We were also scared like, ‘We’ve never done someone else’s song.’ We hadn’t f—king even played it.”
Having performed “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” tons of of occasions over the previous 4 many years, Easy Minds is eternally linked with the tune — written by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff — that soundtracked Nelson’s freeze-framed punch within the air on the finish of “The Breakfast Club” in addition to the enduring movie’s opening credit.
“It became a kind of zeitgeist movie, and the song itself has got attention from subsequent generations,” stated Kerr. “But back then, no one knew. We were all shocked by the kind of success that the song went on to get.”
Easy Minds was first approached with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” as a option to break the band in America after that they had success in Europe and different worldwide markets.
However, Kerr stated, “The catch was, they said they’ve got a song. And we were like, ‘Hang on a minute. We do our own songs.’ And they were saying, ‘Yeah, but this song is written for the script and all.’ ”
Though “they were very keen to get us,” Kerr stated, Easy Minds declined the tune, which led to it being provided to Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry. “Sunglasses at Night” singer Corey Hart was additionally amongst these thought of to file the tune for “The Breakfast Club” soundtrack.
“It looked like we weren’t going to do it,” stated Kerr of the “Plan B” eventualities. “But they also wanted us because it was an A&M [Films] movie. They wanted an A&M [Records] band. They wanted it all in house. But we were dragging our feet. ”
After the tune’s demo and the non-public screening of the film failed to steer them, although, it was a extra private contact that lastly did the trick.
“The real thing that made us jump, when we eventually jumped, was actually talking to John Hughes himself, who I spoke to on the phone, and Keith Forsey, who wrote and produced the track,” stated Kerr. “Keith came to London, and he’s just one of these personality guys, and we’re a bit like that. We like the guy. Why don’t we give this a go? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Recording the tune, Kerr stated, Easy Minds put its personal stamp on it.
“Simple Minds were a really strong live band,” he stated. “And as soon as the band started to play, what you got was bringing the whole Simple Minds thing to it. Suddenly it sounded anthemic. Suddenly it was full of life. And suddenly it felt like Simple Minds.”
And though Easy Minds didn’t write “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” Kerr added his personal memorable second to the combination.
“The lyric had been written for the movie, so they wanted to keep that,” stated Kerr. “But as we were playing and getting a sound … we thought, ‘Oh, that would be great if we could have some kind of a chant at the end.’ And I said to Keith, ‘Look, let me think about this a couple of days, and I’ll come in with something. [For now], I’m just gonna do whatever comes into my mind.’ I just did that ‘la la la’ thing, but by the end of it everyone was saying, ‘No, you’re not gonna do anything [else]. That’s it.’ It was done in a few hours.”
Kerr attended the Los Angeles premiere of “The Breakfast Club” on Feb. 7, 1985.
“All the kids were there — Anthony Michael Hall, Molly [Ringwald],” he recalled. “They were shy. You know, we were all a bit shy. I was young, but they were younger than me … And then afterwards, we went to eat at Spago, which was a big deal then in the ‘80s in LA.”
After “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” went No. 1 — turning into Easy Minds one and solely chart-topper within the US — Kerr obtained a telegram whereas engaged on the lyrics for Easy Minds’ album “Once Upon a Time” in Good, France.
“I don’t drink, but I thought, ‘No. 1 on the Billboard charts? I gotta go and have a glass of champagne,’” he stated. “So I go down to the bar in the hotel, and I say to the bar man, ‘What’s the best champagne you’ve got?’ Everyone who came in the bar … I gave them a glass of champagne. I think they thought I was nuts.”
And that buzz from the success of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” continued at Dwell Assist in July 1985, when Easy Minds carried out the tune in Philadelphia.
“That was something,” stated Kerr. “And the big thing was, then we got to show we’re a real band. We’re not a video band, which was a king of stigma. We got to show that we’re a real live band.”
The success of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” paved the best way for one more Easy Minds hit, “Alive and Kicking,” from the group’s “Once Upon a Time” album, later in 1985. And “Don’t You” has been added to a brand new fortieth anniversary digital version of the LP.
There’s additionally a brand new documentary on the band, “Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible” that even encompasses a sure “Breakfast Club” star — Ringwald — with whom the group has maintained a particular relationship through the years.
“She’s just great,” stated Kerr. “We see her from time to time. She’s always been a supporter. She herself recorded a version of the song on an album [2013’s ‘Except Sometimes’]. She did a kind of jazzy version. It was nice.”
With unique members and childhood associates Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill nonetheless being the spine of Easy Minds, the group will launch a North American tour in Might. They’ll little doubt play their new single “Your Name in Lights” — and, after all, “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”
“There’d be a riot if we didn’t,” stated Kerr.
