simple minded dream 79-80-81-82-83-84
October 25, 2008 11:33 AM   Subscribe

They got overshadowed by Bono in their interviews, their videos hardly rocked the zeitgeist, their lead singer looked way too much like the weird kid who played little Hitler in the Boys From Brazil, but for a while in the late 1970s and the early 1980s (before the release of a certain annoying movie), it was sometimes claimed that Simple Minds were the best band in the entire history of the Universe, if not the world ... and the groove goes on.
posted by philip-random (52 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
I forgot about them.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:46 AM on October 25, 2008 [9 favorites]


I tried...
posted by merocet at 11:49 AM on October 25, 2008


I'm sure we can all agree on this.
posted by jouke at 11:51 AM on October 25, 2008


No, no, no you guys, Sons and Fascination was awesome!

The rest of it I remain neutral on
posted by jokeefe at 11:55 AM on October 25, 2008


Theme for Great Cities! Wonderful stuff.

I blame my obssession with the American election for my lack of articulation. I'm basically aiming for coherence at this point.
posted by jokeefe at 11:59 AM on October 25, 2008


Oh man. In Trance as Mission. I think this album, actually, is one of those that I loved so much when I was 21 that any hope of being able to approach it with any sort of critical engagement in the present is a lost cause. Does it sound original? Where does it fit in with Joy Division and the New Romantics, as they were called? Who knows? But I listen to this, and all of a sudden I'm in my early twenties again, clinging on to songs like lifelines.
posted by jokeefe at 12:07 PM on October 25, 2008


Don't....don't....don't....don't.....
posted by porn in the woods at 12:07 PM on October 25, 2008


Great post. Sparkle in the Rain is my favourite of their albums.
posted by Huw at 12:19 PM on October 25, 2008


Breakfast. Club. Is. Cool.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:25 PM on October 25, 2008


The Breakfast Club? Annoying? ANNOYING!???

Dude, you are *such* a neo maxi zoom dweebie.
posted by miss lynnster at 12:31 PM on October 25, 2008


* high fives P.o.B. *
posted by miss lynnster at 12:32 PM on October 25, 2008


Are they still... alive and kicking?

Thanks! I'll be here all week!
posted by sourwookie at 12:36 PM on October 25, 2008


improbable reality nostalgia warp deployed and engaged
posted by humannaire at 12:36 PM on October 25, 2008


it was sometimes claimed that Simple Minds were the best band in the entire history of the Universe, if not the world ...

It's also been sometimes claimed that I have the most haunting, intriguing eyes in the entire history of the Universe, if not the world. Take my word for it!

... grumble breakfast club hater grumble ...
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:47 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


*Fist pump as I walk off the Football field with Miss Lynsters diamond earring in ear*
posted by P.o.B. at 12:58 PM on October 25, 2008


There are some times when I am grateful for the fact that I missed certain generational things. I have never seen The Breakfast Club, have only a vague idea what it's about, and I'm okay with that.
posted by jokeefe at 1:00 PM on October 25, 2008


May St. Elmo's fire strike you down!
posted by buzzman at 1:04 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


Your favorite movie sucks.
If you weren't a teenager or perhaps a teacher when Breakfast Club came out, it's a best a cultural curiosity, at worst "annoying".
16 Candles is better.
posted by philip-random at 1:08 PM on October 25, 2008


16 Candles is better.

No way ! Bueller better. Totally.

and the 'Minds royally suck.

/ 80's speak
posted by Webbster at 1:29 PM on October 25, 2008


The first side of New Gold Dream was mind-blowingly good to play VERY LOUD on headphones in the early Eighties. Probably one of the reasons I have tinnitus now. But I think I'll be boarding my iPod time machine tonight and setting the dials for my dormant Inner Teen...
posted by MinPin at 1:37 PM on October 25, 2008


huh...after Creem magazine captioned one of their photos of Jim Kerr dancing as "epileptic monkey squats", I just could never listen to them again.
posted by the bricabrac man at 1:42 PM on October 25, 2008


But we can all agree that The Boys From Brazil was an awesome movie.
posted by cazoo at 1:47 PM on October 25, 2008 [3 favorites]


It was sometimes claimed that 16 Candles was the best movie in the entire history of the Universe, if not the world.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:53 PM on October 25, 2008


it was sometimes claimed that Simple Minds were the best band in the entire history of the Universe, if not the world ...

You're confused. You start the pub argument by saying that about the Stone Roses.
posted by srboisvert at 2:28 PM on October 25, 2008 [2 favorites]


The only thing remotely interesting about Simple Minds is that Jim Kerr was married to Chrissie Hynde of the Prentenders for a while.
posted by hwestiii at 2:45 PM on October 25, 2008


There was also a joke in Melody Maker once that had God sending Jim Kerr back to earth as a Spaniard so his name was changed to "Juan". That was funny.
posted by merocet at 2:54 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


Yeah, but no. Simple Minds where, at best, a band you wished would go away. Some years later, they did. And I was cool with that - until this post UNLEASHED UPON THE UNIVERSE THE AWESOME meh I FEEL ABOUT SIMPLE MINDS ONCE MORE.
posted by Sparx at 2:59 PM on October 25, 2008


were, not where

That will teach me to post without wearing...

/taps microphone

Is this thing on?
posted by Sparx at 3:00 PM on October 25, 2008


Right on. It's always been tough to get people to even give their early stuff a listen if all they know is the later hits. To me they were much more interesting and experimental than the new-romantics bands they got lumped in with (Ultravox, OMD? Meh.) Not even close to being the best, but the SM hold up really well musically.
posted by jetsetsc at 3:06 PM on October 25, 2008


Simple Minds are the first band that comes to my, uh, simple mind whenever I utter the phrase "synth strings saturation syndrome."

I don't utter that very often, thankfully.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:24 PM on October 25, 2008


To me they were much more interesting and experimental than the new-romantics bands they got lumped in with (Ultravox, OMD? Meh.)

If you class OMD and Ultravox as New Romantic (or indeed, lacking in experimentation), you really need to re-set your standards in music. Go listen to Ultravox singles such as Hiroshima Mon Amour or Sleepwalk or indeed OMD albums such as Dazzle Ships or Navigation and then try again.
posted by panboi at 4:07 PM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


it was sometimes claimed that Simple Minds were the best band in the entire history of the Universe, if not the world ...

There's a guy on Bleecker Street who sometimes claims that the Warren Commission is monitoring his brainwaves. They're both wrong.
posted by jonmc at 5:06 PM on October 25, 2008


Go listen to Ultravox singles such as Hiroshima Mon Amour

Ultravox is alright, but I like Alcatrazz's song of the same name better.
posted by jonmc at 5:07 PM on October 25, 2008


it was sometimes claimed that Simple Minds were the best band in the entire history of the Universe,

If you check out the relevant link, you'll see that this bit of ridiculous hyperbole comes from a Scottish TV host.

Simple Minds were never my favorite band (even in the world) but there were about five years 1979-80-81-82-83-84-84 (which is a hell of a long time in pop music) where they were always a force to be reckoned with, particularly live where they could work a room on par with any of their contemporaries (including U2). This is something I'd pretty much forgotten about ... until stumbling into them again via YouTube, particularly that ten minute version of "The American" from Dortmund in 1984. Lyrics are kind of dumb but holy some-thing-or-other, they had the touch.
posted by philip-random at 5:44 PM on October 25, 2008


but there were about five years 1979-80-81-82-83-84-84 (which is a hell of a long time in pop music) where they were always a force to be reckoned with

Maybe in England. In the US, they're a band who had a brief vogue and a couple good singles (not that there's anything wrong with that, that's a few more good singles than most bands have in them), but to mistake them for any kind of pop culture milestone is silly.
posted by jonmc at 5:57 PM on October 25, 2008


I always rather liked this song. It came out about 4 years after their Breakfast-club-induced vogue, and sort of came and went because the rest of the world had moved on -- but I did hear it and thought, "oooh!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:33 PM on October 25, 2008


I'm 41, so BC fit right into my cultural framework, but the thing I found annoying about that movie and which I find annoying about any movie like it today is that the "ugly" girl who gets the makeover is clearly stunning to begin with, and needed the makeover like bacon needs better flavor.
posted by maxwelton at 6:40 PM on October 25, 2008 [2 favorites]


Gone; sadly not forgotten.
posted by mandal at 6:47 PM on October 25, 2008


Jay: You know that guy, too? That fuckin' guy. He made this flick "Sixteen Candles." Not bad. There's tits in it, but no bush, but Ebert over here don't give a shit about that kind of thing 'cause he's, like, all in love with this John Hughes guy. He goes out and rents, like, every one of his movies. Fuckin' "Breakfast Club," where all these stupid kids actually show up for detention. Fuckin' "Weird Science," where this chick wants to take her gear off and get down, but oh no, she don't 'cause it's a PG movie. And then, "Pretty in Pink," which I can't even watch with this tubby bitch anymore, 'cause every time we get to the part where the redhead hooks up with her dream guy, he starts sobbin' like a little bitch with a skinned knee and shit. And there's nothing worse than watchin' a fuckin' fat man weep.
posted by bwg at 7:18 PM on October 25, 2008 [2 favorites]


Mick MacNeil used to live across the road from me. He had a nice standard poodle. Chrissie Hynde visited once; she drove a Karmann Ghia.
posted by scruss at 8:26 PM on October 25, 2008


I've thought they are underappreciated these days. However - sometime in the mid-90's they had a sort of comeback album and proudly proclaimed their dumping of synthesizers. And that a slap in the face as far as I was concerned. And then years later I would hear their cover version of Love Will Tear Us Apart (wmv excerpt) where they made it dancey and happy-sounding. That shit was inexcusable.

But I still dig their early stuff.
posted by O9scar at 8:30 PM on October 25, 2008


...and now, after having to sit through an extremely uncomfortable 4 minutes of Saturday Night Live, I can state unequivically that Coldplay are the Simple Minds of the 21st century.
posted by the bricabrac man at 9:16 PM on October 25, 2008


For the love of ghod, don't ask John Giblin about his time in Simple Minds.

/I did.
//Wish I had not.
posted by OneOliveShort at 11:49 PM on October 25, 2008


There was also a joke in Melody Maker once that had God sending Jim Kerr back to earth as a Spaniard so his name was changed to "Juan". That was funny.

Double so, because the band grew out of a Glasgow punk group called Johnny and the Self-Abusers.

For me, for the most memorable Simple Minds songs, it was actually about the production and engineering of their mid-80's albums as much as it was about the songs, oddly. The huge, clean, mirror-gleam sound really did it for me, even as I was listening to stuff like Husker Du at the same time, which was almost a polar opposite in terms of production. That throbbing beginning of Waterfront, or the slowburn take-off in Alive and Kicking (which I can't divorce in my mind from the visuals in the video) -- at the time, I loved that shit, even though the musical circles I moved in were filled with people who just loathed it.

I liked some of their stuff, but I wasn't ever much of a fan.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:29 AM on October 26, 2008


The funny thing about Simple Minds' greatest hit, Don't You Forget About Me, is that, unlike (almost?) everything else they recorded, they didn't write it.

Even though I was quite a fan, back in the day, I always reckoned Jim Kerr's lyrics were sub-Doors standard - but the real attraction was always Mel Gaynor's drumming and the monster bass sound, so, yeah, seconding MinPin's comment - New Gold Dream sounds best cranked to 11.
posted by kcds at 5:15 AM on October 26, 2008


Love Song. Still funky. Great post, they were one of my favourite bands way way back in the mists of time, precisely because of what kcds is talking about. Also the Jim Kerr Dance remains a sekrit joke signal between my lifetime subscription friends and me.
posted by biscotti at 7:55 AM on October 26, 2008


Am I the only one who thought Jim Kerr came off so much better (as in understated & funny) than Bono in that interview? Maybe it was the accent, gets me every time. What a hoot to see them both so young.
posted by dabitch at 1:31 PM on October 26, 2008


Am I the only one who thought Jim Kerr came off so much better (as in understated & funny) than Bono in that interview ?

Well, he had a lot less to say. Him and pretty much all of humanity in comparison to Bono. Not that I ever gave it that much thought but Jim Kerr was always kind of an enigma to me. From the dance moves to the dodgy fashion sense to lyrics the like of "Sanctify Yourself" (which is what finally put me off them, I think). Maybe it's like my brother always said, "Well, they are called The Simple Minds."

... to mistake them for any kind of pop culture milestone is silly.

Either the records and performances still have something, or they don't. I happen to think they do (particularly for those five years 79-84 before they hit it BIG). Pop culture and pop history are constantly being rewritten. Look no further than the strange vogue that 70s prog-rock seems to have right now. This would have been inconceivable even ten years ago. I think what it gets down to is, if you're going to write off any artists entire body of work based on certain embarrassments from later in the career, then you're on a slippery slope. Look no further than the Beatles because nobody ever got it worse than Paul McCartney did with "Silly Love Songs".
posted by philip-random at 2:30 PM on October 26, 2008


Oh gawd, I despise Simple Minds in all their pompous, 'tic supporting, fake oirish glory.

And Jim Kerr is such a cock.
posted by the cuban at 4:32 PM on October 26, 2008


Pop culture and pop history are constantly being rewritten. Look no further than the strange vogue that 70s prog-rock seems to have right now.

I'm not really sure what that means; prog was immensely popular in its heyday, and is experiencing a very slight resurgence today. Any increase in popularity is surely due to an increase in accessibility via the internet, and that's true of just about every genre there is. It's still very much a niche. Save for the occasional Rush or Yes hit, you'd be hard pressed to find it anywhere on the radio.

Simple Minds' brand of generic new wave pap, on the other hand, is everywhere, although admittedly it's almost never Simple Minds, save for That Song from That Movie. There has been a huge surge of radio stations catering to 80's nostalgia. They play that stuff 24/7.

Coming at it as a child of the eighties with a full 80GB iPod and no nostalgic attachment to pop music from that era, I personally would choose Talk Talk or Tears For Fears or Psychedelic Furs--even Duran Duran--over Simple Minds any day of the week. Indeed, I would put Simple Minds near the bottom of my Early Eighties Top 100 list. But that's just me.

I guess maybe you had to be there?
posted by Sys Rq at 4:34 PM on October 26, 2008


Burhanistan: I love that metaphor but think I disagree...more like a useless shiny hollow shell. You can't make jewelery out of it, but if you skip it out into the waves it'll come back eventually and you can have a good time skipping it away again.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:04 PM on October 26, 2008


if you're going to write off any artists entire body of work based on certain embarrassments from later in the career, then you're on a slippery slope. Look no further than the Beatles because nobody ever got it worse than Paul McCartney did with "Silly Love Songs".

Whoah, hang the crap on here. Are you honestly comparing the transition from McCartney's Beatles songs to his Wings material with Simple Bleeding Minds, early years to late years? Simple Minds were a blip on the radar in all parts of their carreer. The Beatles were a bit more, uh, influential. A more accurate comparison might be Fine Young Cannibals, from Johnny Come Home to Drives Me Crazy - a band that started out promising that later became radio-friendly background noise.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:49 AM on October 27, 2008


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