Classic Interview: Jim Kerr on Simple Minds, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” and ’80s Success

One song. One movie. One raised fist in the air.

Few moments connect ’80s music and movies quite like Simple Minds' “Don't You (Forget About Me)” playing over the final scene of The Breakfast Club.

In this classic Stuck in the ’80s interview, we talk with Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr about the Scottish band's journey from post-punk beginnings to international stardom and the song that became an unofficial anthem for an entire generation.

Jim Kerr and Simple Minds Before The Breakfast Club

Simple Minds formed in Glasgow in the late 1970s, with Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill at the heart of the band.

By the early ’80s, they had developed a growing following in Europe with albums including Sons and Fascination, New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84) and Sparkle in the Rain.

Songs such as “Promised You a Miracle” and “Waterfront” established Simple Minds as a major band in the U.K.

American superstardom, however, would arrive courtesy of a high-school detention.

“Don't You (Forget About Me)”

Written for the soundtrack to John Hughes' The Breakfast Club, “Don't You (Forget About Me)” wasn't actually written by Simple Minds.

In fact, the band initially resisted recording it.

Good thing they changed their minds.

The song reached No. 1 in the United States in 1985, while its appearance at the end of The Breakfast Club permanently linked Simple Minds with one of the decade's defining teen movies.

Even today, it's difficult to hear the song without picturing Judd Nelson's John Bender walking across a football field and raising his fist into the air.

“Alive and Kicking” and Once Upon a Time

Simple Minds proved their American breakthrough wasn't a one-song fluke with 1985's Once Upon a Time.

“Alive and Kicking” became another major U.S. hit, followed by songs including “Sanctify Yourself” and “All the Things She Said.”

By the middle of the decade, Simple Minds had grown from an experimental Scottish post-punk band into an arena-filling rock act.

In our Jim Kerr interview, the Simple Minds singer looks back on that evolution, the band's ’80s success and the strange journey of a song they didn't write — and initially didn't want to record — becoming the track millions of people associate with them most.

More than four decades later, we haven't forgotten.

Apparently the song worked.

Join Us on The ’80s Cruise

Want to spend a week surrounded by ’80s music, stars and fellow fans? Join Stuck in the ’80s aboard The ’80s Cruise for trivia, live events, podcasts and plenty of other decade-inspired fun at sea.

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