Soundtrack, Part 3
By Mitch Berg
My first couple of days in the Cities, I was staying on a friend’s couch in Burnsville, working through my list of job leads (which was short) and going through the want ads to try to find some kind of income.
Which left a little time for watching that new toy I’d found, MTV.
And I’m fairly sure this was the first song I ever saw:
It was Simple Minds’s followup to “Don’t You Forget About Me”, their megahit from earlier in the year.
And it was peak SImple Minds; arty, ingenious, pretentious, memorable, full of Jim Kerr’s preening, roiling with Charlie Burchill’s insidious guitar and Mel Gayhor’s sublime drumming.
I heard it on the overhead at happy hour the other day – for maybe the second time since 1990. And it transported my brain back to that living room in Burnsville.
But rather than waiting for a phone call that never came, iti promped me to write…
…well, this entire series.
October 5th, 2023 at 6:41 am
Loved the song and backup vocalist Robin Clark knocked it out of the park.
October 5th, 2023 at 10:33 am
As a lover of various music genres, Simple Minds was decent but never drew me in. Unlike you though Mitch, I really cannot stand thrashing punk. I like melody, structure, atmosphere, musical chops, unique while familiar in some way when listening, discovering. I write, perform music myself and appreciate just about anyone that does their genre, style well…but punk? No likey very much. But que sera sera!
October 5th, 2023 at 3:44 pm
I donno, there is something visceral about punk and the Ramones in particular. Distilling everything to bare bones and then cranking amp to 11 just plain works, at least for me. Also, once you get past the loudness and distortion, Iggy Pop was quite accomplished musically on all fronts, could not tell that but looking at him though, lol.