As a band on the ascent in the early 1980s, Scottish alternative rockers Simple Minds began cracking the North American market at college radio with singles including 1982’s shimmering “Promised You a Miracle” and the anthemic “Waterfront” from 1984 album “Sparkle in the Rain.”
Despite major success in Europe and elsewhere, mainstream acceptance in the U.S. remained elusive.
A&M Records made a rare admission. “They basically said, ‘We blew it,’” says singer Jim Kerr. “They told us, ‘Your band’s happening everywhere else. The next one, we’re here for you.’”
Simple Minds’ fortunes rocketed in 1985 with three major events that are commemorated on the Alive and Kicking Tour, which visits Chicago on Friday.
The first milestone was the February 1985 release of “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” on the soundtrack for director John Hughes’ film “The Breakfast Club.” Although the song was a No. 1 hit and became an emblematic song for the decade, the band was skeptical when approached with the opportunity.
“Everything sounded good until [the label] said, ‘We have the song,’” says Kerr. “We said, ‘Hang on a minute. We write our own songs.’ We were not so jumping up and down at the idea.”
The band’s mood improved upon meeting the creative team including Hughes and songwriter Keith Forsey.
“Our attitude became, ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained,’” says Kerr. “We gave it the Simple Minds treatment. By the end of that afternoon, it felt like we had lightning in a bottle.”
“If you’re going to do something as long as we’ve done this, nothing goes on the up and the up and the up. That’s just life itself. Some records turned out exactly as you wanted. Others slipped through your fingers, and didn’t quite get what you had in your mind.” — Simple Minds’ Jim Kerr
In July 1985, the band performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia. The three-song set at JFK Stadium reached an unprecedented global audience via television.
The chiming sound of Charlie Burchill’s guitar during opening song “Ghost Dancing” was echoed two years later by U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name.” In his book “60 Songs That Saved My Life,” Bono wrote that without Simple Minds, “I don’t believe there would have been an ‘Unforgettable Fire’ or a ‘Joshua Tree.’”
Kerr is magnanimous toward his Irish friends in U2.
“Everyone was rubbing off onto each other,” he says. “Being Irish and Scottish, we got on like a house on fire as people. Not only did we share the Celtic blood, we shared a lot of the same idealism, and we had that big sound. The Waterboys had some of it as well. Big Country, too.”
Fall 1985 saw the release of the band’s seventh studio album “Once Upon a Time,” which scaled the charts with the stirring “All the Things She Said” and soulful “Sanctify Yourself.” The album’s euphoric No. 3 single “Alive and Kicking” gives the band’s current tour its name and has encapsulated Simple Minds’ essence for 40 years.
“I’ve always felt thankful as a writer that the music I got to work with had good, strong melodic content and came with a certain uplift,” says Kerr. “There was something feel-good about it, even when we were trying to be dark and dangerous back in the art-rock days. I like the fact that our thing not only makes me feel good, but you can feel the vibe in the audience. It’s spiraling upwards.”
Simple Minds are halfway through their 20th album, following 2022’s “Direction of the Heart.” Kerr expresses the band’s enthusiasm for new music, even if fortunes don’t match the success attained 40 years ago.
“If you’re going to do something as long as we’ve done this, nothing goes on the up and the up and the up,” says Kerr. “That’s just life itself. Some records turned out exactly as you wanted. Others slipped through your fingers and didn’t quite get what you had in your mind. I dare say John Lennon or Pablo Picasso would’ve told you the same thing.”
Kerr remains thankful for his almost-lifelong friendship with Burchill. The two met as boys whose families had just moved to the same street in Glasgow. “Charlie and I are the best of pals,” says Kerr. “We’re still able to have a good scrap, a good screaming match, but it’s because we’re still passionate.”
“He’s very much a musician,” says Kerr. “You go around to Charlie’s for breakfast, and before he’s even finished with his first cup of coffee, the guitar’s on his lap. Before I have my first cup of coffee, I’m up in the hills. I’m hiking, I’m strategizing.”
The pair’s differences feed a common goal. “Not only do we want to entertain people, we want to transcend,” says Kerr. “The music makes us believe there’s something better, and we try to put that across.”