| Simple Minds have secured a string of successful hit singles, the best known being its number one worldwide hit single "Don't You (Forget About Me)", from the soundtrack of the John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club.In addition, keyboard and synthesizer player Mick MacNeil was also recruited.The band's name was changed to Simple Minds, which was taken from a line in the David Bowie song "Jean Genie": "...AOR crossover potential not unlike that of The Cars.Indeed, during this period Simple Minds promoted themselves as a European band, not a Scottish or UK band.Many of the tracks on Empires and Dance are extremely minimal, and feature sequenced keyboards.The band's label, however, demonstrated little enthusiasm for such experimentation, and in 1981 Simple Minds switched from Arista to Virgin.The album impressed Peter Gabriel enough that he selected Simple Minds as the opening act on several European dates, which increased the band's visibility.With a slick, sophisticated sound thanks to producer Peter Walsh, Simple Minds were soon categorised as part of the New Romantic outgrowth of New Wave (along with Duran Duran and others), and the record generated a handful of charting singles including "Promised You a Miracle" and "Glittering Prize", which both hit the UK Top 20 and Australian Top 10, continuing the band's early success in that region.Despite the success of the album, some early Simple Minds fans criticized the band's more commercial orientation.While some tracks ("Promised You a Miracle", "Colours Fly and Catherine Wheel") continued the formula perfected on Sons and Fascination, other tracks ("Someone Somewhere in Summertime", "Glittering Prize") were undisguised pop.The formula that had defined Simple Minds' New Wave period had run its course, and the next record, Sparkle in the Rain, was a complete departure.U2 frontman Bono was quoted in the official Simple Minds biography The Race is the Prize as saying the "glorious noise" sound and feeling achieved on the Simple Minds album was one to which his band aspired.In 1984, Jim Kerr married Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders (who temporarily renamed herself Christine Kerr), and the band did an American tour in support of the Pretenders.Doubtless, many in the stadium crowds had no idea who Simple Minds were.UK and Europe, Simple Minds remained essentially unknown in the U.The movie The Breakfast Club changed all that.Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy and Emilio Estevez."Don't You (Forget About Me)".Ironically, the song wasn't even written by the band, but by Keith Forsey, who offered the song to Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry before Simple Minds agreed to record it.The band made it clear in interviews prior to the album's release that they would not include the song, believing that it would devalue the rest of the album, which they felt could stand on its own merits.Pet Shop Boys and Art of Noise.Because of Simple Minds powerful stage presence and lyrics that trafficked in Christian symbolism, the band was criticized by some in the music press as a lesser version of U2, despite the fact that both bands were now heading in different musical directions.Bono joined Simple Minds onstage at the Barrowlands in Glasgow in 1985 for a live version of "New Gold Dream."For Once Upon A Time and its subsequent world tour, the band also featured Robin Clark as an additional lead singer, and she was heavily featured in Simple Minds music videos at this time.Following the lead of other socially conscious bands, the Simple Minds tour promoted the work of Amnesty International.Inspired by Peter Gabriel, with whom they toured in the early 1980s, Simple Minds headlined a series of concerts throughout the US and Europe in 1988 with numerous other politically minded artists (including Gabriel) known as Freedomfest, designed to highlight the evils of apartheid in South Africa.After this lengthy period of touring, Simple Minds went back into the studio and recorded the politically charged album Street Fighting Years, which was released in 1989.UK (The single was also an expression by Simple Minds of their support for the campaign for the release of Beirut hostage, Brian Keenan.However, in the US, it was another story entirely.Lou Reed, the single failed to make a mark on the pop charts.As the 1990s progressed, Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill became the only active members of Simple Minds.Kerr grew his hair long once again, and the band released Good News from the Next World in 1995 to good reviews but weak sales, at least in the U.In the UK and Europe, however, the response was much more positive, with the album producing the two pop hits "She's a River" and "Hypnotised."Neapolis charted poorly and received mixed reviews.However, it is notable for being the only Simple Minds album released by Chrysalis Records, who refused to release the album in the U.As a further nod to Simple Minds' European musical heritage, the music video for "Glitterball," the album's leadoff single, was the first production of any kind to film at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.In 2000, Simple Minds next studio effort, Our Secrets Are The Same, originally slated for release in late 1999, became mired in lawsuits when EMI declined to release it, and became further compromised after it was leaked onto the internet.Simple Minds released the cover album Neon Lights in 2001, featuring the band's reinvention of songs from artists as varied as Patti Smith, Roxy Music and Kraftwerk.CD compilation "The Best Of Simple Minds" was released soon after.The 2000s: creative rebirth
Simple Minds forcefully countered that concern in 2002 with Cry.Simple Minds felt confident enough to mount a North American leg of their Floating World Tour (named after the instrumental track which closes Cry), their first in seven years.Simple Minds fans, many of whom brought their teenage children along with them.In a nod to the recent influence of trance and techno music, the band used those stylings to update their very early tracks, including "New Gold Dream," "The American," and "I Travel," the latter of which had not been performed live for several years.White 050505, released in 2005, was previewed on the band's official website for several weeks prior to its release, the band later toured throughout Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand to support the album during 2006.White 050505 generated some of the most positive reviews for a Simple Minds record in many years, and the first single, "Home," received airplay on alternative rock radio stations in the US, it did not make a significant impact on either side of the Atlantic, and has still not been officially released in North America to date.John Williams originally signed the band to Sanctuary Records.Discography
Please see the Simple Minds discography for listings.Official Website
Simple Minds interview
"Book of Brilliant Things"
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