THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

897-Simple Minds-Don’t You (Forget About Me.)

1985-Number 7 single.

Best Bit-At 3.43. The moment you have sung all the lyrics, but it’s so good, you can’t stop yourself from improvising.

Simple Minds were formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1977. At the time of writing the group remain active, with the two constants being Jim Kerr, and Charlie Burchill. Kerr and Burchill, had known each other since the age of eight, and just prior to forming Simple Minds, they had both been members of the short lived ‘Punk Rock’ outfit ‘Johnny & The Self-Abusers,’ but that group folded after bad reviews in the music press, for their debut single, ‘Saints and Sinners.’ The first line up of Simple Minds comprised Kerr and Burchill, and four others who had been in ‘Johnny & The Self-Abusers,’ in total there have been 23 different members come and go over the years, Simple Minds chose their stage name from lyrics in the song ‘Jean Jeanie,’ by David Bowie, (1948-2016) and made their very first live performance at Glasgow’s ‘Satellite City,’ on 17th January, 1978.

Simple Minds were the best selling Scottish act of the 1980’s, and have sold over 65 million records worldwide. Their discography includes 21 studio Albums released between 1979-2022, and 68 singles issued within the same time period, there are also 10 official compilation Albums, and 11 live Albums available. In the UK, three of their studio Albums have made Number 1, while 24 of their singles have made the top 40, with ‘Belfast Child,’ reaching Number 1 in 1989. In America their only charting Album was ‘Once Upon a Time,’ (Billboard Number 10) from 1985, which was released around the same time as ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me,’) which went all the way to Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In total Simple Minds have achieved five top 40 hit singles on Billboard.

‘Don’t You (Forget About Me’) was written by Keith Forsey, and Steve Schiff, with the production being by Forsey, for the 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film ‘The Breakfast Club,’ which would become one of the most critically acclaimed films of the 1980’s, although the films soundtrack, was given the thumbs down, with only ”Don’t You (Forget About Me’) receiving praise. Keith Forsey was heavily involved in the ‘Disco’ scene of the mid to late 1970’s, and became the go to drummer for Giorgio Moroder, (see also best songs 78 and 11) Albums he played on include ‘Bad Girls’ for Donna Summer,’ and ‘”No. 1 in Heaven,’ for Sparks, both issued in 1979. Other career highlights for Forsey include, producing Billy Idol’s (see also best songs 945) first two solo studio Albums, and co-writing ‘Flashdance… What a Feeling,’ with Giorgio Moroder, and Irene Cara, (1959-2022) for the 1983 movie ‘Flashdance.

‘Don’t You (Forget About Me’) was the gem that nobody wanted. Both Forsey and Steve Schiff were big fans of Simple Minds, and had written the song with them in mind, but initially Simple Minds declined the song, with Jim Kerr explaining,’We were young, we were a bit brattish, we were insecure. We were loving what we were doing and thinking, ‘Hang on a minute, you want us in ’cause you love us because we write these songs, but you want us to do your song?’ We weren’t even willing to listen initially. We were like, ‘No, we don’t do other people’s songs. End of story.’ And of course, later on it was explained, but the song was written to the script and every time they tried to make it more amenable, it sounded worse, because they would say, ‘It sounds really like Simple Minds,’ and we would be infuriated. ‘How dare you rip us off, and then try and sell us on an idea!’

With Simple Minds initially turning down the song, it was next offered to Bryan Ferry, (see also best songs 721-316 and 57) who due to other work commitments had to turn it down. It was then offered to Billy Idol, but he was not interested. Eventually after a lot of persuasion from their record label, and Kerr’s wife Chrissie Hynde, Simple Minds recorded it, believing it would be a throwaway song, on a soundtrack, to a forgettable movie. The rest of course is history, as ‘The Breakfast Club,’ would go on to become one of the most popular films of the 1980’s. The song played out over the films end credits, and broke Simple Minds in America, and as of 2018 ”Don’t You (Forget About Me’) was the 485th best selling single of all time in America on Billboard.

‘Won’t you come see about me? I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby. Tell me your troubles and doubts, giving everything inside and out and love’s strange, so real in the dark. Think of the tender things that we were working on.’