When Simple Minds first heard “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” — their No. 1 single that would serve as the theme song and teenage anthem of the 1985 Brat Pack classic “The Breakfast Club” — it wasn’t exactly memorable to them.
“It sounded a little generic to us,” Jim Kerr, lead singer of the band, told The Post. “I’d be lying if I said we were jumping up and down.”
While the Scottish band was playing “hard to get” for the soundtrack to the John Hughes movie — which came out 40 years ago on Feb. 15, 1985 — they were even wooed with a private screening of a rough cut of the film in London. But it was tough for them to even grasp the basic premise of the movie starring Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez and Anthony Michael Hall.
“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,” said Kerr, 65. “But we got the gist of the different stereotypes — the jock and the preppy and the goth.”
Still, the decision wasn’t so simple in their minds.
“We were young, we were precious,” said Kerr. “We were also scared like, ‘We’ve never done someone else’s song.’ We hadn’t f—king even played it.”
Having played “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” hundreds of times over the past four decades, Simple Minds is forever linked with the song — written by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff — that soundtracked Nelson’s freeze-framed punch in the air at the end of “The Breakfast Club” as well as the iconic film’s opening credits.
“It became a kind of zeitgeist movie, and the song itself has got attention from subsequent generations,” said Kerr. “But back then, no one knew. We were all shocked by the kind of success that the song went on to get.”
Simple Minds was first approached with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” as a way to break the band in America after they had success in Europe and other international markets.
But, Kerr said, “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.’ ”
Although “they were very keen to get us,” Kerr said, Simple Minds declined the song, which led to it being offered to Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry. “Sunglasses at Night” singer Corey Hart was also among those considered to record the tune for “The Breakfast Club” soundtrack.
“It looked like we weren’t going to do it,” said Kerr of the “Plan B” scenarios. “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 song’s demo and the private screening of the movie failed to persuade them, though, it was a more personal touch that finally 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,” said 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 song, Kerr said, Simple Minds put its own stamp on it.
“Simple Minds were a really strong live band,” he said. “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 although Simple Minds didn’t write “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” Kerr added his own memorable moment to the mix.
“The lyric had been written for the movie, so they wanted to keep that,” said 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 — becoming Simple Minds one and only chart-topper in the US — Kerr received a telegram while working on the lyrics for Simple Minds’ album “Once Upon a Time” in Nice, France.
“I don’t drink, but I thought, ‘No. 1 on the Billboard charts? I gotta go and have a glass of champagne,’” he said. “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 Live Aid in July 1985, when Simple Minds performed the song in Philadelphia.
“That was something,” said 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 way for another Simple 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 new 40th anniversary digital edition of the LP.
There’s also a new documentary on the band, “Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible” that even features a certain “Breakfast Club” star — Ringwald — with whom the group has maintained a special relationship over the years.
“She’s just great,” said 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 original members and childhood friends Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill still being the backbone of Simple Minds, the group will launch a North American tour in May. They’ll no doubt play their new single “Your Name in Lights” — and, of course, “Don’t You (Forget About Me).”
“There’d be a riot if we didn’t,” said Kerr.
