The aforementioned 16 Candles was made by the American John Hughes who, in the period 1984-1986, wrote or directed a trilogy of seminal teen flicks starring the 80's geek muse Molly Ringwald. Sadly for Molly she suffered the fatal - and kind of ironic - mistake of 'peaking in high school' [this powerfully derisive phrase will take on greater and greater weight - and provoke a little pathos - as you age and encounter more and more of the 'popular' and 'athletic' kids at the Safeway check out, enduring the same cruel indignities that befall the rest of us].On the subject of indignities... the soundtrack of the second in the Hughes triad, The Breakfast Club (1985), prominently features the saccharine Don't You Forget About Me, an absolutely dreadful and shameless attempt by Simple Minds to the grasp the elusive brass ring of US pop radio stardom via the silver screen. It worked spectacularly. The song was massive. However, fans of the pre-Breakfast Club Simple Minds who loved them for their 'originality' (or at least, as we invariably discovered retroactively, their unimpeachable good taste in conspicuous musical influences - Lou Reed, Kraftwerk, Neu!), ignored their entreaty with callous abandon and promptly forgot about them... with absolutely no deleterious effect on the band's considerable royalty cheques. Coincidentally, I graduated in the Class of 1985 and while I did see the Pretty in Pink in 1986, I never bought another Simple Minds album. I consider failure to separate one of the great plagues of the 20th century. Perhaps the only thing sadder than a middle aged man squeezing himself into his high school football jacket is a Harry Ainlay CHS '85 reunion playing Don't You Forget About Me as its last dance.
Twenty years on, while I remember both Hughes films and Simple Minds fondly, I mostly remember Molly Ringwald for having dated Adam Horowitz of The Beastie Boys and Dweezil Zappa, and Jim Kerr of Simple Minds for having married Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and subsequently serial rockgamist Patsy Kensit.
