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Another film I've never seen, and if you feel like making connections even further back, a song that Bryan Ferry apparently refused to record. In fact, even Simple Minds themselves reportedly turned it down at first, but were ultimately persuaded by their record company. And it seems to have been something of a decisive moment too: it gave them a US Number One single (and a long-running UK hit, despite its surprisingly low peak here) but at the expense of a certain amount of their reputation. To be sure, they'd already set off on the path of stadium rock, as can be heard on the very first Now! album with 'Waterfront', but recording an off-the-peg song for a film soundtrack seemed like the point of no return down that road. Of course, they made a fortune in the ensuing years, but when in later decades they tried to return to their art-rock origins, the genie wasn't going back into the bottle.
As for the record itself, I find again that listened to with a critical ear, it's not quite as bad as I thought, but I still wouldn't say it was actually good. The bombast that comes as standard with Jim Kerr seems particularly out of place with such light material, and he sounds utterly punchable by the closing la-la-la-la's. There are some mildly interesting bass parts, but all the rest sounds exactly what it is: part of the dressing for a mid-80s teen movie, and not really comprehensible without that context, or at least the memory of it.
Also appearing on: Now 1, 6, 7, 14, 15, 23, 30
Available on: EMI Presents 'The Great Big Scottish Songbook'
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