iPod song of the week – Simple Minds
When you saw this title, did you think “oh, it’s going to be ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)?'” That’s the only song most people know by Simple Minds and it’s no wonder. It was their biggest hit, part of a monster soundtrack, and is one of those songs that define the 80’s for a lot of people. But SM didn’t write that song and their history before they hit it big in the US is rich and way better than that after. Much like Cheap Trick, they had to wait till someone else wrote them a bland number that sounded like everything else before they could reach that peak. And just like Cheap Trick, there were a lot of folks who kind of liked the old version of the band better, even if you couldn’t begrudge them their success. One of those people was me.
The early 80’s Simple Minds played a darker, more synthy type of groove. I joked about Jim Kerr, the lead singer here, but I was really talking about the video. New Gold Dream was one of the favorite songs of my childhood and is on my iPod along with several other SM numbers (including the one in the video I linked to). But I’m not choosing New Gold Dream but a different song. See, as you know, the purpose of this exercise is to remind you of a song you forgot. Well, Becca forgets songs too and I totally forgot about this one until it happened to be mentioned last week on a music industry forum that I read. Oh yeah! I love that song! How could I forget? So I got it from iTunes Plus and now it’s one of my favorite running songs. You don’t even need your own energy; the thrust of the song just propels you forward. And of course, I also couldn’t help but notice that the title fits in perfectly with my theme of last week.
Napster:
Simple Minds – I Travel
Streaming audio available on the iPod Song of the Week page.
