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Simple Minds treatment, and it was only for an afternoon. By the end of that afternoon, it felt like we had lightning in a bottle.
IE: Like you say, Simple Minds’ imprint went onto the song. The sound bridges Sparkle in the Rain and Once Upon a Time. The song didn’ t change Simple Minds. JK: That’ s absolutely right. Charlie’ s guitar, Mel [ Gaynor ]’ s drums, the breakdown, it was all classic Simple Minds.
IE: I wasn’ t alone as a kid who came to Simple Minds through that door. Did it rankle the band that the door was opened for so many people by someone else’ s song? JK: Maybe it should have rankled, but it didn’ t. I think there was a kind of awkwardness, even a feeling of guilt.“ Hey, we only spent a few hours on this.” But actually, we gave it the Simple Minds thing that we had developed over many years. That’ s what you’ re hearing on the record. It all just felt so unlikely at the time, but success on any scale has to be appreciated. We also knew we had“ Alive and Kicking” up our sleeves and“ All the Things She Said.”
Although [“ Don’ t You( Forget About Me)”] was obviously a great success when it came out, it wasn’ t even remotely the success that it is now with the benefit of time. It was a big pop hit, but it wasn’ t a touchstone as it is now. I think it’ s
Simple Minds, 1998
14 illinoisentertainer. com july 2025 of band that we have.
IE: 1985 was so significant for Simple Minds. You were gaining ground incrementally at the cult level through Sparkle in the Rain in this country, and then you exploded in 1985 with three significant touchstones. As a small-town kid, I hadn’ t heard the same music that kids from Chicago knew, but absolutely no one missed“ Don’ t You( Forget About Me).” Live Aid followed, and then Once Upon a Time arrived. It must have been a whirlwind. What was the feeling of that time? JK: There was definitely a feeling of,“ Is this really happening?” There was no hint the year previous. Sparkle did well everywhere but didn’ t get the promotional treatment in America. The record company came to us and said a thing that record companies never say. They were a cool company, A & M. Talking about themselves, they basically said,“ We blew it. Your band’ s happening everywhere else. We should have gotten behind you. Guaranteed, the next one, we’ re here for you.” We said,“ Great, because we’ re going to come anyway. We want to work with Jimmy Iovine. We want to work with Bob Clearmountain. We’ ll work together, and we’ ll try to be closer.”
Then out of nowhere in the months leading up to [ the album ], they said,“ This thing [ The Breakfast Club soundtrack ] has come up. We think it’ d be a good bridge while we’ re waiting for the record.” We said,“ Okay, tell us about it.” Everything sounded good until they said,“ We have the song.” We said,“ Hang on a minute. We write our own songs.” And they said,“ We really think this is the song. MTV is going to love it,” and blah, blah blah.
They played [“ Don’ t You( Forget About Me)”] for us. You can actually hear Keith [ Forsey ]’ s demo online. It is the song. It sounded pretty good, but it felt a bit generic. We were not so jumping up and down at the idea. However, once we actually spoke to the people involved … we got [ The Breakfast Club director ] John Hughes’ enthusiasm. Keith came over to the UK, and we loved him. Our attitude became,“ Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Why don’ t we go in for an afternoon and see what happens?” And what we did was their song, but our record. We gave it the
right to say it’ s one of the zeitgeist songs – arguably in the top 10 of the‘ 80s, wouldn’ t you say?
IE: I think it’ s emblematic of the era even ahead of songs like“ Billie Jean” or“ Every Breath You Take.” JK: If anyone said to me,“ Hang on a minute, what about The Police and Dire Straits and U2 and all that?” Those are absolutely touchstones. But the thing [“ Don’ t You( Forget About Me)”] has is The Breakfast Club. It has Molly Ringwald. The same thing applies, doesn’ t it? Kids go to school, and you’ ve got the jock, you’ ve got the preppy, you’ ve got the goth. None of that changes, does it? Subsequent generations have found a way to use it.
IE: I’ ll ask this question since you mentioned U2, with the understanding that they’ re your actual friends. Your song“ Big Sleep” from 1982 sounds to me like a direct influence on“ One Foot in Heaven” from The Edge’ s 1986 soundtrack for Captive.“ Ghost Dancing” predates“ Where the Streets Have No Name” from U2’ s The Joshua Tree. In the‘ 80s, there were comparisons between your bands. Since U2 had a larger foothold in this country, the narrative often got spun, suggesting that you were influenced by them rather than the other way around. Could you talk about that? JK: U2 were very inspirational, apart from being great. Their attitude, their desire, and their ambition was inspiring. Meeting them and seeing their determination and their work ethic was