Don't You (Forget About Me)

"Don't You (Forget About Me)"
Single by Simple Minds
from the album The Breakfast Club Soundtrack
B-side	"A Brass Band In African Chimes"
Released	20 February 1985 (US) 8 April 1985 (UK)
Format	12", 7"
Recorded	1984
Genre	New Wave
Length	4:19
Label	A&M
Writer(s)	Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff
Simple Minds singles chronology
"Up on the Catwalk" (1984) "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985) "Alive and Kicking" (1985)
Alternate release cover Virgin Records Music sample "Don't You (Forget About Me)"

"Don't You (Forget About Me)" is a song known for its being in the soundtrack to the film The Breakfast Club and performed by the band Simple Minds in 1985. The songwriters were producer Keith Forsey (who won an Oscar for "Flashdance... What a Feeling") and Steve Schiff (guitarist and songwriter from the Nina Hagen band).

Recording history

Forsey asked Cy Curnin from The Fixx, Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol to record the song, but all three declined; Idol would later perform a cover of it on his 2001 greatest hits compilation. Schiff then suggested Forsey ask the Scottish New Wave band Simple Minds, who initially refused as well, but then agreed under the encouragement of their label, A&M. According to one account, the band "rearranged and recorded 'Don’t You (Forget About Me)' in three hours in a north London studio and promptly forgot about it."^[1]

The track would become their most famous song and is considered one of the most defining and famous songs of the 1980s. Continuing the rock direction recently taken on Sparkle in the Rain but also glancing back at their melodic synthpop past, it caught the band at their commercial peak and, propelled by the success of The Breakfast Club, became a number-one hit in the U.S.^[2] and around the world. It is the band's only number-one hit on the U.S. Top Rock Tracks chart, staying atop for three weeks. While only reaching number seven in the UK, it stayed on the charts from 1985–1987, one of the longest time spans for any single in the history of the chart.

Despite its success, the band continued to dismiss the song, the most obvious slight being its absence from their subsequent album Once Upon a Time. It finally appeared on the 1992 best-of Glittering Prize 81/92.

Two versions were created for release; the edited version of 4:23 appeared on the 45 RPM single and the original motion picture soundtrack album of The Breakfast Club. However, the full and uncut version was released on a 12" single, which topped out at a total time length of 6:32. Most radio formats in the U.S. only programmed the 4:32 version, making it a rarity to hear the full version on radio. The compilation label UTV Records...a Universal Company... included the full version on their 2001 "Pure 80's Hits" Various Artists release. This version contains longer breakdowns and drum fills, a second appearance of the bridge, and a longer outro than the popular edited version.

John Leland from Spin wrote that "'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."^[3]

Chart performance

Country (1985)	Peak position
Dutch Top 40	1[4]
UK Singles Chart	7
Canada Music Chart	1
US Billboard Hot 100	1
US Billboard Top Rock Tracks	1
Hit Parade Italia	2
Ireland Singles Chart	3
New Zealand Singles Chart	3
German Singles Chart	4
Australian Singles Chart	6
Belgium Singles Chart	2
European Hot 100 Singles	2

Music video

The music video, directed by Daniel Kleinman, takes place on a dancing floor in a dark room with a chandelier, a rocking horse and Sony televisions, whose screens are displaying scenes from The Breakfast Club. Jim Kerr, the band's lead singer, dances in many scenes.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by numerous artists including:

• Another Class (1993) vocals by Peter Gast. This CD single contains 4 different versions of the song.
• Alternative metal band Life of Agony on their 1995 album Ugly.
• Billy Idol on his 2001 album Greatest Hits. Idol's version of the song was released as a promo single to promote the compilation album. The song did not chart in UK or US, but it made #47 on the Finnish Rumba Top 50 Chart, which consists of both radio airplay and singles sales.^[5]
• David Cook in 2011 to be played as contestants are eliminated on American Idol (season 10).
• Punk rock band Bouncing Souls on their 2002 album The Bad, the Worse, and the Out of Print.
• The Austrian metal band Darkwell on their 2004 album Metatron.
• Shoegaze/dream pop band Absinthe Blind on their 2004 album Winning Is Our Business and Business is Good.
• Punk pop band Rufio on the 2005 compilation album Punk Goes 80's.
• Power metal band Steel Prophet on their 2006 album Genesis.
• Punk pop band New Found Glory on their 2007 album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II.
• The German metal band Atrocity on their 2008 cover album Werk 80 II
• Christian Alternative Rock band Hawk Nelson.
• Alternative rock band Sprung Monkey covered the song for the 2001 teen parody film Not Another Teen Movie.
• The cast of Psych covered the song in promotional advertisements for their sixth season.
• Alternative rock band, Hole (band) recorded it for their album Nobody's Daughter but it did not make the cut.
• Scottish singer KT Tunstall has recorded a cover for the charity album Songs To Save A Life in aid of Samaritans. The 11-track album is available for download from October 3, 2011.

Sampling

• Hip hop group Soul Mafia sampled the song's chorus and added in their own lyrics for the verses for JCPenney.
• Hip hop artist Red Café sampled the song's beat using his own lyrics for the 2010 song.
• Hip hop artist Nicki Minaj sampled the song's beat for her song Blazin' on her 2010 album Pink Friday.

Live cover performances

• On his 1985 tour, "Weird Al" Yankovic performed a concert-only parody entitled "Don't You Forget About Meat".^[6]
• Yellowcard played a version of the song as a live twentieth anniversary tribute to The Breakfast Club at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.
• Death Cab For Cutie played a cover of the song during a tribute to John Hughes at the 2010 Critics' Choice Movie Awards.

Appearances in other media

Aside from its initial appearance in The Breakfast Club, the song has been featured in various media throughout the years.

Feature films

• The Breakfast Club (1985) (initial appearance)
• American Pie (1999)
• Not Another Teen Movie (2001)
• Along Came Polly (2004)
• The Business (2005)
• Accepted (2006) (David Schommer cover)
• Don't You Forget About Me, a 2009 documentary on the life of John Hughes
• Easy A (2010)

Television shows

• Eureka in the episode "Your Face or Mine". Zoey sings it at Carpe Diem's karaoke night.
• South Park in the episode "Asspen".
• Futurama in the episode "The Luck of the Fryrish" (The Breakfast Club soundtrack played some role in the episode).
• Ghost Whisperer in the episode "A Vicious Cycle".
• Family Guy in the episode "Let's Go to the Hop".
• American Dad! in the episode "Failure Is not a Factory-Installed Option".
• Lizzie McGuire in the episode "She Said, He Said, She Said".
• Scrubs in the episode "My Drama Queen".
• Corner Gas in the episode "Spin Cycle".
• One Tree Hill in the episodes "You Have Got to Be Kidding Me (Autopsy of the Devil's Brain)" and "Don't You Forget About Me".
• 30 Rock in the episode "Reunion"
• Tom Green did a sing-along karaoke to the song on one of his Live Internet shows.
• Community used the song as a recurring theme in the "Pilot" episode, also heard into the credits of the same episode.
• Everybody Hates Chris in the episode "Everybody Hates Bed Stuy"
• Greek in the episode "Camp Buy Me Love", during 80's Night at Dobler's.
• IFC's Greg the Bunny in the episode "Naturally Sewn Killers".
• The tenth season of American Idol as the farewell song (David Cook cover)
• MTV's The State in the sketch "Bologna Foot", as originally broadcasted.

Video games

• PlayStation 2's SingStar 80's.
• Karaoke Revolution Volume 3.
• The PlayStation Portable (PSP) game Brooktown High (the artist is labelled as "WaveGroup" instead of Simple Minds, so this is apparently a cover version by WaveGroup Sound).
• The soundtrack of the game Saint's Row 2.

Commercials and public service announcements

• A 1990s commercial for milk, paid for by a consortium of Scottish dairies.
• A commercial for the 2008 SpongeBob SquarePants TV movie WhoBob WhatPants?.
• The New Found Glory cover version was featured in a 2008 J. C. Penney Back-To-School television commercial.
• The official website for the search for Madeleine McCann released a video montage of the missing girl set to this song.
• A commercial for the fall 2011 season of Psych.

See also

• List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1985
• List of RPM number-one singles of 1985
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1985 (U.S.)
• List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States)

References

1. ^ "A History of Simple Minds". The Official Glasgow Barrowland & Barras Market Site. http://www.glasgow-barrowland.com/stories/simple_minds.html. Retrieved 15 September 2011. 
2. ^ "Hot 100". Billboard. 18 May 1985. http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/hot-100?chartDate=1985-05-18. Retrieved 15 September 2011. 
3. ^ Leland, John (June 1985). "Singles". Spin 1 (2): 37. http://books.google.com/books?id=16jp_aFRHdgC&pg=PA37#v=onepage&f=false. Retrieved 15 September 2011. 
4. ^ "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 22, 1985". http://www.radio538.nl/web/show/id=44685/chartid=5983. Retrieved 2008-03-01. 
5. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 163. ISBN 13-978-951-1-21053-5. 
6. ^ http://alsongs.com/index.cfm?view=alsong&songnumber=124

External links

• Allmusic: Keith Forsey

Preceded by "Crazy for You" by Madonna	Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 18, 1985	Succeeded by "Everything She Wants" by Wham!
Preceded by "Forever Man" by Eric Clapton	Billboard Top Rock Tracks number-one single April 20-May 4, 1985	Succeeded by "Trapped" by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Preceded by "Crazy for You" by Madonna	Canadian RPM number-one single June 1, 1985	Succeeded by "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears
Preceded by "We Are the World" by USA for Africa	Dutch Top 40 number-one single June 1, 1985 - June 15	Succeeded by "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen