Simple Minds: An 80’s Icon

An Old Band Still Kicking

Jackson Jenkins, Assistant Editor • October 18, 2023

Street Fighting Years album cover, 1989

There were many different bands during the 80’s. But many didn’t reach the success that Simple Minds did during this time. Their hit song “Don’t You Forget About Me” is in one of the biggest hits in the 80’s Breakfast Club further cementing their influence in pop culture.

Simple Minds started out as a punk band in 1977. Just as that band released their first single the band disbanded and Guitarist Jim Kerr and Bassist Charlie Burchill started the band we know today as Simple Minds. They later got with the manager Bruce Findlay where on his independent label they released Life in a Day which can be best described as an energetic concoction of synthesizers and punk guitar.

Now with more experience in the music making scene they were now in they released The American on their newly joined label Virgin. They then broke through to the wider public with their first UK Top 10 album New Gold Dream (81,82,83,84). This album includes the bass driven single Glittering Prize which has over driven electric guitar riffs and dreamy cloud-like synths. They added new drummer Mel Gaynor and had guest musician Herbie Hancock, a big time jazz musician, on Hunter and the Hunted.

By 1985 the group had recorded the hit Don’t You (Forget About Me) which was recorded for the movie Breakfast Club which was a box office hit and helped pave the road for the rest of their career. During the 90’s, the band wound down releasing only a few albums. Kerr is quoted as saying, “We hadn’t stopped between 1977 and 1989, then, as a new generation emerged – The Stone Roses, Blur, Oasis – it was time for us to wind down a little. There was no desire to make music and, to be honest, I wasn’t sure where we fitted in anymore.” Though even the feeling of being out of place didn’t stop the band from making more music as they released the album Black & White 050505 in May 5th, 2005.

Story continues below advertisement

Still to this day they make music with their newest album, Direction of the Heart, being released just last year in 2022. Many bands such as Manic Street Preachers and Moby have stated Simple Minds as an influence. The impact they’ve caused on the pop scene is still felt to this day.

Donate to The Tumbleweed

Your donation will support the student journalists of Grantsville High School. Your contribution will allow us to purchase equipment and cover our annual website hosting costs.

About the Contributor

Jackson Jenkins, Newspaper Assistant Editor

This life of a musician is fulfilling, it is what makes him as a person, it is the reason he gets out of bed, music is the reason he feels content, music is the reason he is the person he is now. Jackson jenkins is a senior at Grantsville High School, he is a part of the school marching band as well as his own band with some of the school faculty. He is a very accomplished musician and has the instruments to prove it. Jackson shreds, his live for guitar and the sharp feeling that he gets when he plays it comes back to when he was a little kid playing at the school of rock, a school specifically for the most gifted musicians, he plays his heart to the floor every day, and he doesn't stop because he feels there would be somethings missing The goals that he has for his music are nothing short of challenging, Jackson has been shredding every day for the past 8 years for at least an hour. He says he gets caught up in the moment of playing the guitar so much that it is usually more than an hour. When he is playing music he says it is like he's speaking another language, he feels like he is creating something new and better than he has before every time he plays. The sense of accomplishment he feels every time he even puts a finger on his guitar that is always kept nice and clean for the next time he wants to make the music language that he is creating.