The Guardian ran a piece this week ranking the best songs in teen movies (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/mar/15/the-best-songs-from-teen-movies-ranked). Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds came top as used in the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. Famously not written by the band the song was passed around a few acts, each one rejecting it (including Billy Idol). Even Simple Minds weren’t convinced and only relented when Jim Kerr’s then wife, Chrissie Hynde, thought they should reconsider.

For a while John Hughes specialised in tapping into the mid-80s teen mindset and had a knack for giving a leg-up to British acts in the US (see also Psychedelic Furs in Pretty in Pink, The Dream Academy and..er..Sigue Sigue Sputnik in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Flesh For Lulu in Some Kind of Wonderful).

While considering The Guardian’s list I remembered that during the opening credits of The Breakfast Club some of the lyrics from Bowie’s Changes appear on screen: ‘And these children that you spit on/As they try to change their worlds/Are immune to your consultations/They’re quite aware of what they’re going through’. As good a summation of what the film is about as any film guide.

Bowie’s music is also » Continue Reading.