Don't You (Forget About Me)

"Don't You (Forget About Me)" is a song performed by the Scottish rock band Simple Minds. It was written and composed by producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff, a guitarist and songwriter from the Nina Hagen band. Forsey and Schiff wrote it for Simple Minds, and offered it to several acts before Simple Minds agreed to record it. The song was used in the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club.

"Don't You (Forget About Me)"
Standard non-US artwork
Single by Simple Minds
from the album The Breakfast Club (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
B-side"A Brass Band in African Chimes"
Released20 February 1985 (US)
8 April 1985 (UK)
RecordedNovember 1984[1]
Genre
Length4:20
6:32 (extended version)
LabelVirgin
A&M (US)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Keith Forsey
Simple Minds singles chronology
"Up on the Catwalk"
(1984)		 "Don't You (Forget About Me)"
(1985)		 "Alive and Kicking"
(1985)
Audio sample
"Don't You (Forget About Me)"
  • file
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Music video
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" on YouTube

Recording

The song was written and composed by the producer Keith Forsey and the guitarist Steve Schiff while they were scoring the 1985 film The Breakfast Club. Both were Simple Minds fans and wrote the song with the band in mind. Forsey played a demo for the band's label, A&M Records, which invited him to meet the band backstage after one of their "Tour du Monde" shows in the U.S. However, A&M did not notify Simple Minds that Forsey would appear, and the band declined the offer of the song despite Forsey's enthusiasm for them.[3]

Forsey offered "Don't You (Forget About Me)" to Bryan Ferry, who declined as he was working on his album Boys and Girls. Ferry said later: "It was just bad timing ... Keith Forsey sent me a demo of the song and it sounded like a hit to me. Simple Minds did a great version of it."[4] Billy Idol, whom Forsey was producing at the time, also declined.[3][lower-alpha 1] The record company suggested Corey Hart, who had a hit at the time with "Sunglasses at Night", but Forsey did not think Hart would be the right singer for the song.[5] Fixx lead singer Cy Curnin also passed.

According to the frontman Jim Kerr, Simple Minds was reluctant to record the song as they felt they should only record their own material. "We are Simple Minds—we don't do songs that sound like Simple Minds. We are Simple Minds. We do our own songs," he recalled to the BBC in 2018. The band also were frustrated that their attempts to find success in the US market had not found significant radio airplay, and did not see how recording the song would change this.[3]

The band relented after persuasion from A&M and from Chrissie Hynde, Kerr's wife at the time, and after receiving a phone call from Forsey in which he reiterated his admiration for the band.[6] According to one account, the band "rearranged and recorded 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' in three hours in the north London studio and promptly forgot about it,"[7] believing that it would be a throwaway song on the soundtrack to a forgettable movie.[3]

In the process of recording, Simple Minds added parts such as Kerr's "la lala" vocal fills. They resumed work on Once Upon a Time, their next album. However, some of the band members had realised they had recorded something with commercial potential.[3]

Music video

The music video, filmed inside Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, was directed by Daniel Kleinman.[8] It takes place in a darkened room with a chandelier, a rocking horse, a jukebox, and television sets displaying scenes from The Breakfast Club. The room gets increasingly cluttered with random objects as the video progresses until the last minute. The video was published on YouTube on 3 December 2010; as of July 2021, it had been viewed more than 200 million times.[9]

Release and reception

Continuing the rock direction recently taken on Sparkle in the Rain, but also reflecting their melodic synthpop past, the song caught the band at their commercial peak, and propelled by the success of The Breakfast Club, became a number-one hit in the US in May 1985[10] and in Canada in June 1985. It is also the band's only number-one hit on the US Top Rock Tracks chart, staying atop that chart for three weeks. While only reaching number seven in the UK, it stayed on the charts from 1985 to 1987, one of the longest timespans for any single in the history of the chart.

The song did not appear on the band's subsequent album Once Upon a Time, but it did appear on the 1992 greatest hits compilation Glittering Prize 81/92. It soon became a fixture of the band's live sets – with an extended audience participation section during its inclusion on the 2015 tour to promote the band's Big Music album.[11]

Two versions were created for release. A short version, 4:23 in duration, appeared on the single and the original motion-picture soundtrack album of The Breakfast Club. A longer version, 6:32 in duration, was released as a 12-inch single. This version contains longer breakdowns and drum fills, a second appearance of the bridge, and a longer ending.

John Leland from Spin wrote, "'Don't You Forget About Me,' a romantic and melancholy dance track, therefore cuts ice both in the living room and on the dance floor."[12]

Track listing

7″: Virgin/VS749 (UK), 7″: A&M Records/AM-2703 (US)
  1. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" – 4:20
  2. "A Brass Band in Africa" – 5:10

12″: Virgin/VS749-12 (UK), 12″: A&M Records/SP-12125 (US)
  1. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" – 6:32
  2. "A Brass Band in African Chimes" – 9:22

12″: Virgin/VSX 1250 (Canada)
  1. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (extended version) – 6:32
  2. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" – 4:20
  3. "A Brass Band in Africa" – 5:10

1988 3″ CD: Virgin/CDT2 (UK)
  1. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" – 4:20
  2. "A Brass Band in African Chimes" – 9:22

1988 CD: A&M Records/75021 2375 2 (US)
  1. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (live) – 9:02
  2. "Bass Line" – 4:37
  3. "The American" – 3:33

1990 CD: Virgin/THEME10 (UK)
  1. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" – 6:35
  2. "Up on the Catwalk" (extended version) – 7:36
  3. "A Brass Band in African Chimes" – 9:24

Personnel

Charts and certifications

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[52] Platinum 100,000^
Italy (FIMI)[53] Platinum 70,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[54] Platinum 1,000,000

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover version
  • In 2001 Billy Idol, who refused the song in 1985 before it was offered again to Simple Minds, recorded a version of the song for his 'Greatest Hits' album. It was released as a single in Germany but failed to chart.

See also

Notes
  1. Billy Idol later recorded a version for his 2001 compilation album Greatest Hits.

References
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  2. Sun, Michael (14 November 2018). "From Sixteen Candles to Love, Simon: how teen soundtracks have evolved". Double J. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  3. "Don't You (Forget About Me)". SimpleMinds.org. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  4. "Bryan Ferry: 'I did a lot of whistling on my paper round as a lad'". Tthe Guardian. 28 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  5. "Keith Forsey". Moderndrummer.com. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  6. Simpson, Dave (15 November 2016). "Simple Minds: how we made 'Don't You (Forget About Me)'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2016.
  7. "A History of Simple Minds". Glasgow-barrowland.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  8. Davies, Alan (23 April 2020). "Movie The Breakfast Club's links to Knebworth House". The Comet. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  9. "Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) [Official Video]". YouTube. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  10. "Simple Minds Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  11. Simpson, Dave (April 2015). "Simple Minds review – still the edgy futurists, beneath the stadium style". The Guardian (2). Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  12. Leland, John (June 1985). "Singles". Spin. Vol. 1, no. 2. p. 37. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
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