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"Don't You (Forget About Me)" is a 1985 song performed by the band Simple Minds. The song is best known for being played during the opening and closing credits of the John Hughes film The Breakfast Club. It was written by producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff.
Forsey asked Cy Curnin from The Fixx, Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol to record the song, but all three declined; Idol later performed a cover of it on his 2001 compilation album Greatest Hits. Schiff then suggested Forsey ask Simple Minds who, after refusing as well, 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."
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. 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 to 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 appeared on the 1992 best-of Glittering Prize 81/92.
Two versions were created for release. A short version of 4:23 appeared on the single and the original motion picture soundtrack album of The Breakfast Club. A longer version of 6:32 was released on 12" single. This version contains longer breakdowns and drum fills, a second appearance of the bridge and a longer ending.
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