45

Don’t You (Forget About Me)
Simple Minds
1985

I was very late to the party on this one.  This song was too '80s for me, and I just wasn't a fan.  And The Breakfast Club wasn't my gateway to the song.  Let me break it down for y'all:  I was the oldest child, and we got one TV show Monday through Thursday that we could watch.  We always chose The Cosby Show (eeesh).  On the weekend, we did get to go to The Wherehouse to rent a movie or two on VHS.  First, there was no way that my parents were letting us watch an R-rated movie in 1985 (no comment about what they let my younger brothers watch in the '90s).  But second, it wouldn't have mattered if they let us watch R-rated movies because the only movies we ever rented were (1) the Police Academy movies, and (2) the Rocky movies.  That's it.  That's all we ever rented.  Unless you count the occasional offshoot from the Police Academy movies, like this, ahem, masterpiece.  (Wow, there's a rabbit hole I did not anticipate going down when I sat down to write this.)

Here's what changed it for me:  Pitch Perfect, one of the greatest movie trilogies the world has ever seen.  Don't believe me?  This, right here, is absolute pure gold and you should stop what you're doing and watch it right now.  Or watch it again for the 573rd time like I am as you read this.  But the original movie caused me to look at this song in a whole new light.  Maybe I just needed Anna Kendrick to sing it to unleash its greatness?  Whatever the case, the melody on this one grew on me and the drums were always excellent.  I'm sad to report that when I finally did get around to watching The Breakfast Club decades later it didn't really hold up, but at least I came to appreciate this song!

Other Songs Considered:
Uh, when I look on Apple Music at Simple Minds' "Top Songs," four of the first five songs and 6 of the first 10 (literally) are this song, in some kind of variety. Safe to say this band was one and done!