“When I listen to it now, it’s obviously a brilliant, well-crafted pop song. I’m embarrassed we dissed it so much.”
– Guitarist Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds) talking about Don’t You (Forget About Me)
This song which almost noone wanted including initially the Scottish rock band Simple Minds itself became the group’s biggest international hit. The song Don’t You (Forget About Me) was written and composed by the record producer Keith Forsey and the guitarist Steve Schiff for the film The Breakfast Club. Simple Minds were offered a private screening of The Breakfast Club in an effort to change their minds, but they still declined. Their lead vocalist, Jim Kerr, said later: “We couldn’t give a toss about teenage American schoolkids“.
Don’t You (Forget About Me) was originally offered to The Fixx, Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol they all declined (Idol did however record his own version years later). Forsey then asked Simple Minds, who as aforementioned initially refused but eventually agreed per suggestion of their label, A&M. It’s said that the band rearranged and recorded the song in three hours and “promptly forgot about it,” considering it just another song they recorded for somebody. They felt they should only record their own material. But in the wiki reference below: Kerr’s wife, the songwriter Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, liked the song and urged him to record it.
Simple Minds, known for their new wave and post-punk style and Don’t You (Forget About Me) would go on to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (and No. 7 on the UK chart), making it Simple Minds‘ biggest hit (in the U.S.) to date. I heard it at the gym recently and thought I should really have it in my music library project although I was never taken with it in my youth. To me it now evokes a Smiths-esque charm with its teasing vocal delivery and playfulness which hooks me right in. It speaks about the desire to be remembered and the anxiety that comes with potentially fading from someone’s thoughts and affections.
[Refrain]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh, woah
[Verse 1]
Won’t you come see about me?
I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Tell me your troubles and doubts
Giving me everything inside and out and
Love’s strange, so real in the dark
Think of the tender things that we were working on
Slow change may pull us apart
When the light gets into your heart, baby
[Chorus]
Don’t you forget about me
Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t
Don’t you forget about me
[Post-Chorus]
Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down
Will you recognize me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down
[Refrain]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Ooh, whoa
[Verse 2]
Don’t you try and pretend
It’s my feeling we’ll win in the end
I won’t harm you or touch your defenses
Vanity, insecurity, ah
Don’t you forget about me
I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it, baby
Goin’ to take you apart
I’ll put us back together at heart, baby
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
As you walk on by
Will you call my name?
References:
1. Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
They dissed this song? It’s always been one of my favorites. 1985 was a great year.
Amazing back story about this song, isn’t it?
It may well be that the movie turned them off.
Bryan Ferry rued having turned it down 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.”
I meant to ask you why you think ‘1985 was a great year’.
I was 25 in 1985, I had a job dancing at a strip club & I did over 400 private parties that year ~ I worked all the time. I always loved music & I always loved to dance. I’ve been a musician since I was a child, I come from a family of musicians. I’ve sung in bands & always wanted to be on stage. I know it sounds corny, but I always knew that’s where I belonged.
In addition to dancing, I was going to college & working at the public library. My life was balanced between the performance/extrovert side of me & the studious/nerd side.
I still dance, of course but I can’t imagine anyone wanting to see my 65-year-old body! But I always thought that there was something kinda stupid about watching a girl take off her clothes while she dances ~ or walks around or does acrobatics on the pole ~ very few strippers actually dance. I was always a dancer first ~ I would have kept my clothes on.
BTW I only got into dancing because I couldn’t find another job. I thought it was a temporary thing. I danced for 7 years & then quit & went into rehab. Drinking & drugging is an occupational hazard for most dancers.
I remember you once telling me about your vocation as a dancer at a strip club. Doing over 400 parties in a given year must put you into Guinness Book record territory and having danced for a whole 7 years! Also, I wasn’t aware you were a musician and had a family heritage so steeped in music. Your dual and paradoxical life between exploring your extrovert side alongside your more demure and introvert pursuits is interesting to say the least. One thing I regret is not exploring more my exhibitionist side such as dancing. When I dance in the routines at the gym I love it and feel free. I see what you mean about the occupational hazards regarding your vocation and I’m glad you sought rehab which is something I have had to do on occasion through AA specifically.
It would have been a good fit for Bryan Ferry. I can hear his voice singing it.
I was thinking exactly the same. I could just imagine him singing this and it also being a big hit.
Great song!
Great pick, Matt, I’ve always loved “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” Simple Minds also have a bunch of other songs I dig like “Waterfront”, “Alive and Kicking” and “Belfast Child.” They were quite popular in Germany while I was still living there. I even got to see them once, in Stuttgart, in the late ’80s. I recall Jim Kerr as being a pretty compelling frontman.
I don’t know why I didn’t warm to the song from the outset. The same with the Smiths. Only a girlfriend nearby got me into The Smiths and I’ve been an avid fan ever since. Those other songs by Simple Minds you mentioned I will take a listen to. It doesn’t surprise me they were popular in your former ‘neck of the woods’. I’m impressed that you saw them and thought so highly of Jim Kerr. That’s a neat recollection to have in this post. Thanks as always for sharing.
This was in my high school days! I graduated that year…1985. It reminds me of The Breakfast Club. Very good song and as you know I don’t say that a lot about 80s songs lol.
AA is a great tool.
Not to age myself but that was my prom song! Interesting info!
Man, you are so old! Just kidding.
😆 wicked old!