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The Latest Breaking News from Charlie Burchill

Jim Kerr credits 'gesture music' for Simple Minds longevity

Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr thinks anthems such as Don't You (Forget About Me) are responsible for the band's enduring appeal.

BANG Premier

“Obviously sounded like it should’ve been on there, but I guess we were a bit arrogant and stupid”: Charlie Burchill on his one regret from Simple Minds’ 1985 smash-hit album, Once Upon A Time

Eight tracks, all killer, no filler, but why did the Scottish rockers leave their biggest hit out?

MusicRadar

“Did the the label put pressure on us? Big time. I wish they had won, looking back. We often ask ourselves ‘what were we thinking?’” Simple Minds guitarist Charlie Burchill on the regrets and rewards of making their ’80s classic, Once Upon A Time

Riding high on The Breakfast Club success of Don't You (Forget About Me), Scottish rockers Simple Minds got into the studio with Jimmy Iovine and made one of the great albums of the '80s

Guitar World

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“They explained about this movie called The Breakfast Club. They apparently had a song for us. We said: ‘No chance!’”: How Simple Minds went from punk to stadium rock, via an 80s Brat Pack classic

The epic story of Simple Minds, the Scottish rock band who conquered the world

Louder

“Bowie comes in wearing a black jumpsuit, holding a can of Heineken and a big bit of cheese”: Simple Minds on the night David Bowie and Iggy Pop invaded their studio

The pair roped in the Scottish rockers for some football-style chanting when they found themselves working in the studio next door

Louder

"We were just looking for a hit. And we heard the beginnings of a new kind of sound": Inspired by Australian pubs and riding a wave of optimism, Simple Minds made the album that sent them soaring

As the 80s dawned, Simple Minds were in crisis. But, believing that life was without limits, they recorded the album New Gold Dream and the dream became reality

Louder

‘Don’t say: what if we did this reggae style?’ The huge yet humble lives of unofficial band members

From Manic Street Preachers to Simple Minds, few bands are complete without their full-time touring players. They discuss the peaks and practicalities of life on the sidelines

The Guardian - UK

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"We’re thinking, why would we do someone else’s song? Why can’t you take one of our songs?": How Simple Minds' Don't You (Forget About Me) eventually became the perfect meeting of worlds – but two other stars turned it down first

They didn't want to record Keith Forsey's song, but it became a US No. 1 for the Glasgow band via The Breakfast Club and fan John Hughes

MusicRadar

Simple Minds review – stadium tour polishes 80s hitmakers’ gold dream

Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill preside over an energetic set thrills fans of their chart reign and their post-punk era

The Guardian - UK

Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible review – a straightforward portrait of unpretentious rockers

From their punk origins to their stadium-level success in the Live Aid and Breakfast Club era, this music doc finds the Glasgow band still sweetly and likably down to earth

The Guardian - UK

"Hardcore fans always talk to us about the first five albums, the cooler, blurrier, druggy art school ones that no-one bought": why Simple Minds tired of cult status and went for broke

There's a new Simple Minds documentary coming, and it helps explain where things went right and wrong for the Glasgow band

Louder

“My playing was a response to whoever said, ‘Bass should be felt and not heard’. To me, bass should be like warfare!” Derek Forbes, founder member of Simple Minds, on his five best basslines

Derek Forbes was Simple Minds’ bassist from 1978 to 1985. Here he explains how he was inspired by Andy Fraser and Stanley Clarke, why he prefers Precision to Jazz, and the influence of magic mushrooms...

Guitar World

‘A nuclear reactor of music’: the story of Simple Minds’ classic album Empires and Dance

Before their 80s megastardom, the band minted a strange vision of European culture and tension that still resonates. They – and superfan James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers – reflect on its power

The Guardian - UK

Jim Kerr and Simple Minds still a class act 45 years on

'Those first visits over to play in Ireland were genuinely some of the most magical nights for us – ever'

Irish Mirror

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