This is an archival feature from Prog magazine (originally published in 2012), republished by Louder, arguing that Simple Minds — a band widely remembered for glossy 80s arena rock and their hit from The Breakfast Club — in fact harboured strong progressive-rock leanings beneath the surface. Emerging alongside synthpop and the New Romantics, the Scottish band drew early attention for their prominent use of keyboards, which the post-punk music press regarded as suspiciously close to the prog establishment, and the piece sets out to make the case that they were, in truth, "very prog".

The article marshals its evidence through the band's collaborators and history: they toured with ex-Genesis singer Peter Gabriel in 1980 and later covered his song Biko, their first three albums were produced by John Leckie (who had worked on Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd records), and their fourth and fifth albums were handled by Gong's Steve Hillage. Hillage, interviewed here, recalls being drawn to them through a shared love of German psychedelic acts such as Neu!, Can and Kraftwerk, praising the "dark futuristic" blend of rock and trance he saw at a 1981 Glasgow gig. He also notes that keyboardist Mick MacNeil, rooted in traditional Scottish music, produced distinctive synth lines closer to Giorgio Moroder or Chic than to prog showmen like Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson, while the piece also points to later parallels between 1989's Belfast Child and David Gilmour-era Pink Floyd.