Why Jim Kerr Wants John Hughes' Head On A Stick!

Jim Kerr, lead singer for the pop group Simple Minds, has been seeking revenge on film Director/ Producer John Hughes since 1985. That’s the year the Breakfast Club was released and that’s pretty much the year Simple Minds promising career went into the proverbial shitter.

Simple Minds was a very good group, back in the day. They were an experimental art band with some progressive and electronic leanings, and released a string of critically acclaimed albums from 1979 (Reel To Real Cacophony) through 1984’s brilliant Sparkle In The Rain. They were neck and neck with U2 to be the next “Biggest Band In The World”.

Musically speaking Simple Minds was far and above the better band at that point, but they made a critical error in judgment by agreeing to lend a song to John Hughes for a little movie he was working on at the time called The Breakfast Club.

“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” was a HUMONGOUS hit for the band, propeled the movie to box office bliss, and it wasn’t even an original composition! Written specifically for the movie, Bryan Ferry (of Roxy Music fame) was offered the song but quickly, and wisely, rejected it. Jim Kerr almost did as well, calling the lyrics ‘formulaic’ and ‘juvenile’.

But he didn’t, it became a smash (#1), and it ruined their bright future, not to mention alienating them from their old fan base (myself included). In the short term, they actually WERE huge, but with the teenie-bopper set, who are usually on to the next new thing within a week! Simple Minds poster goes down, A Flock Of Seagulls poster goes up!
And of course we all know what became of U2. Bono and the boys steered clear of anything Hughes related (as far as I know…tell me if you know different) and went on to actually BECOME the biggest band in the world.

There were others, too, who as soon as they lent their songs to a John Hughes film were immediately relegated to the “Where Are They Now Files”.

From the Pretty In Pink soundtrack: Psychedelic Furs, O.M.D., Echo and the Bunnymen, and even New Order (albeit in a less dramatic way).

From Ferris Bueler’s Day Off: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Dream Academy, General Public, and to a lesser extent, Big Audio Dynamite (second album died in the States).

From Sixteen Candles: Madness, Stray Cats, Adam Ant, Altered Images, Nick Heyward, Spandeau Ballet, Billy Idol, Thompson Twins.

All bands poised for global success but cut short in their prime by little old producer/ director/ dream smasher John Hughes!

AND, I didn’t even get into the actors: poor Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Andrew McCarthy and Jennifer Grey! I even think he had something to do with the oh so early and suspicious demise of the wonderful and talented John Candy (appeared in FOUR Hughes films: Vacation/ Planes, Trains and Automobiles/ Uncle Buck and The Great Outdoors!).

OK, the John Candy thing may be pushing it, but the guy is evil incarnate, man!

The fact remains, though, that a lot (not all--Spandeau Ballet were NEVER going to rule the world!) of the afore mentioned bands were great talents and after involvement in a Hughes film they simply...vanished. Or seemed to, anyway.

Although Jim Kerr and SImple Minds continue to put out albums even today, you won't hear about it unless you make a real effort to search them out. And if you do find one and download it to your ipod chances are you'll hit the 'delete' button the next day. 'Cause they, like all the other poor bastard bands who have succumbed to the Hughes curse out there, have never been able to regain that spark, that pre-1984 spark, that made them so promising.

Damn you, John Hughes.

Damn you to Hell!!!