Synopsis
Simple Minds perform in a shadowy, cluttered room that gradually fills with odd furniture, household objects and visual distractions. Jim Kerr sings amid chandeliers, television screens, a jukebox and a rocking horse, while footage from The Breakfast Club appears on the monitors. The surreal setting gives the song a theatrical, slightly dreamlike quality, connecting the band to the film without recreating its high-school story. By the finale, the room has become an eccentric collection of objects surrounding the increasingly animated performance.
Factoids & Trivia
- The video was filmed inside Knebworth House in Hertfordshire, England, rather than in the United States, where The Breakfast Club is set.
- The cluttered room was built around the idea of a space gradually filling with the objects a person accumulates throughout life.
- The production used props gathered from a junk shop, contributing to the deliberately eccentric and somewhat camp visual style.
- Television screens showing scenes from The Breakfast Club were added because the film connection was considered important to the video's promotion.
- The video was made during the Christmas holiday period after the concept had gone through approvals involving both the band and the film production.
- Simple Minds initially rejected the song because it was not written by the band and did not seem to fit their artistic identity. It became their biggest American hit and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1985.
- The track was written by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff for The Breakfast Club. Simple Minds performed it in both the film's opening and closing credits, helping make the song inseparable from the movie's legacy.