Simple Minds – Don’t you (forget about me)
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The story of “Don’t you (forget about me)” reminds us once again that when fate is targeting you, you cannot stand against success. Simple Minds were certainly a known group and already had many albums behind them, including for example “New gold dream” and “Upon the catwalk”, and hits like “Someone Somewhere in Summertime” or “Glittering Prize”. From the early post punk they had earned an important place in the British and European new wave scene.
At the same time, the production of the movie “The breakfast club” gave the task of creating a soundtrack to a couple of musicians, Nina Hagen’s guitarist and a producer that we would later find in the Psychedelic Furs. They proposed the song to Brian Ferry and Billy Idol, before going to Jim Kerr and Simple Minds. They however refused as well: the song sounded too commercial and far from the new wave’s standards. Moreover, Jim Kerr was determined that Simple Minds should not play songs written by others.
Luckily, Jim’s wife at that time, Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, singer of “Don’t get me wrong”, convinced Jim to give the producers a second chance. Jim Kerr agreed, and also agreed to record the song, although he was not convinced at all. Simple Minds recorded the song in one afternoon, and then quickly moved on to new projects, closing this waste of time. Moreover, the song did not seem complete, and Jim had to fill some sections where nobody knew what to say with “la la la la”. It seemed to be a song made to be quickly forgotten, despite the title.
In late February 1985, when the song was released, things went differently. The movie was a success, mainly in the United States, and it drove the song to an even greater success, bringing Simple Minds to the highlight of the charts from all over the world. Indeed, in the UK the song remained in the charts for almost two years! And in fact, it became forever the signature song of Simple Minds, and was not forgotten at all!
Still, Simple Minds continued to feel it as something alien, they never loved it, and they didn’t even want to include it in their next album, “Once upon a time”, which certainly benefited from the success of this song, although it was probably the best album ever produced by Simple Minds.
The video is funny, with the room getting more and more filled with objects as time goes on. Unlike what usually happens in soundtracks, the video of “Don’t you” does not contain real frames of the movie; however, the TVs piled up in the room where Jim Kerr dances are showing scenes from the movie.
#quotefromthe80s
Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down
#SimpleMinds #DontYou #DontYouForgetAboutMe #JimKerr
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