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In 1985 Bryan Ferry, Chrissie Hynde and Billy Idol all rejected a song, unaware it would be streamed over 1,000,000,000 times
Producer Keith Forsey and songwriter Steve Schiff wrote ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’ for the film The Breakfast Club, initially hoping Simple Minds would record it. After the band declined, Forsey approached Bryan Ferry, Billy Idol, Cy Curnin and Chrissie Hynde, but none agreed; Simple Minds eventually recorded it after turning Forsey down six times.
The song became Simple Minds’ biggest hit, reaching number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the top ten in several other countries. It has since been streamed more than one billion times on Spotify. Singer Jim Kerr said the band only came round to recording it after finding an arrangement that felt like their own, and recalled that the ending’s “la-la-las” were improvised.
In short
- Several singers declined the song before Simple Minds recorded it.
- It became Simple Minds’ biggest hit.
- Spotify streams have passed one billion.