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Monday, January 18

Death Cab for Cutie Cover Simple Minds for John Hughes Tribute

Death Cab for Cutie Cover Simple Minds for John Hughes Tribute

On Friday night at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, Death Cab for Cutie performed a cover of Simple Minds' Breakfast Club classic "Don't You (Forget About Me)" as part of a tribute to the late filmmaker John Hughes. The band's version contained no synthesizers, and they played in front of a screen showing iconic scenes from Hughes films (Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, etc.). Paul McCartney was seen nodding along approvingly.

On Death Cab's website, bassist Nick Harmer wrote of Hughes, "His films were important waypoints for us to use as we navigated the uncertain waters of growing up and even now still give us so much perspective, insight and laughter about those uncomfortable years."

Watch it below, via VH1:

 

Thursday, August 6

John Hughes R.I.P.

A musical tribute John Hughes R.I.P.

Variety reports that film director John Hughes died this morning at the age of 59. Hughes was on a visit to New York when he suffered a heart attack while on a morning walk. Hughes directed The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Weird Science. He also wrote and produced Pretty in Pink and Some Kind of Wonderful, as well as many, many others.

This isn't, strictly speaking, a music news story, but Hughes' 1980s movies are jammed with iconic music moments: Judd Nelson's fist hitting the sky to the sound of the Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)", Duckie wailing "Try a Little Tenderness" to Andie Walsh, Ferris Bueller singing "Twist and Shout" from a Chicago parade float. Music from the Psychedelic Furs, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and the Smiths showed up in his movies. The Pretty in Pink soundtrack is one of the best new wave compilations in history. (Hughes' son John Hughes III also runs the Chicago-based indie label Hefty and records music as Slicker.)

Hughes' movies did as much to define and embody that particular cultural era as any other body of work, and they've left an indelible stamp on several generations. (For instance, just try reading an interview with M83 that doesn't make reference to Hughes.)

EDIT: If you read one tribute to Hughes today, make it this from We'll Know When We Get There's Alison Byrne Fields, a former penpal of the reclusive director.

Below, we've compiled a few of our favorite music moments from John Hughes films. Enjoy.

 

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