Simple Minds

[Dayna]

http://thequietus.com/articles/08040-si ... erview-5x5

I put this up here in case anyone might be interested. Their song was played all the time, and I knew I liked it. Now lately I seem hooked on them for some reason. It started with the one song that was very popular here, Don't You(Foregt About Me.)

It began as an earworm, that I don't know where it came from. But I just started to notice the way the lead singers, Jim Kerr's voice sounded along with the bass guitar. Then I found a video and listened to that. I've tried a couple others that are pretty good.

This link is for an article about them. I know it might not change what you think of them, that they're an 80s band.

Maybe all I'm really enjoying is the guitar playing, especially the bass, and Jim Kerr's voice. Some people are comparing them to U2, but they have their own style.

[AndyM]

I like some Simple Minds tracks from the early part of their career, 'Glittering Prize' especially -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucw0twciNGk

Later on, they seemed all about sounding big and important, and I lost interest.

[Dayna]

The only two songs I ever knew by them were Don't you(Forget About Me) and Alive and Kicking.


This was on both of those. Now I'm going and finding their other music I never heard before, and I do notice some of it is a different style, more like a punk sound than the ones I had heard before, but I like some of them, so far.

Hunter and The Hunted is good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIFqMtqNPpA

Love Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP5C1okt9d4

Sanctify Yourself; I have heard this one before, but just now appreciating it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izZ90y6fT6c

Don't You(Forget About me)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsKyM5KSw6c

I just put this one here because I like to watch him. I think he was kind of cute and I hope someone else can see what I see in the music though.

[kas]

For me, Simple Minds are and were very much a band of the 1980's. The Glittering Price video took me directly back to my first summer in Britain, 1983. I remember I was bombarded with that song and others sounding just like that (those synth sounds define the whole era). So much so that I still have difficulties in taking it in as just a good pop song, which it is.

They did fall into the Big and Important trap in very much the same way as U2 did. Failing to make it ever bigger may have been a blessing for them in the end (it might have been a healthy experience for U2 as well had it happened to them). I think I saw or read a fresh Jim Kerr interview, where Kerr laughed at their blown up notions of importance during their stadium days.

My own Simple Minds favourite back then was "Someone Somewhere In the Summertime":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBlKYbFWZ-o

Much of their early material (pre-big time) was more interesting than the mucic they made after the success. Although it shows they were heavily into Talking Heads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6MwzSaBBQY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP5C1okt9d4

Thanks for that link for the Quietus, Dayna! A publication I wasn't aware of with plenty of stuff that interests me. And the interview was a good read with the morning coffee.

[Dayna]

Oh well, it's ok. I understand. I've also heard Jim Kerr never wanted to do the sound track to Breakfast Club.I've never seen that movie.

They were kind of coerced into doing the song, and it just got popular on it's own.

If I could talk to him myself, I would just tell him I appreciate this one not only that has been a good 80s pop song, but I've begun to see the talent of how he uses his voice in all his music, and how it sounds with the bass. I've discovered both older and newer music through it, and enjoy both the punk rythms, and more New Wave styles. I know there is synthesiser in it, but they knew how to use it to go along with their guitars and his wonderful singing. Not like music these days, or even 80s when it was all they used at times.


I like New Gold Dream a lot, and it's more like their Punk songs, in a way.

[Dayna]

I learned that Jim Kerr was married to Chrissy Hynde but it didn't last.

I can't explain why I seem almost obsessed with this music all of a sudden!

It would be nice to find a way to send a message to him and tell him what I think.

[Hugh Weldon]

I took an interest in Simple Minds for a few months in 1979 (there was a girl involved...) I had the first album and even saw them live on their first tour.

The early period is very glam influenced new wave à la Magazine and others, quite perky though I couldn't really listen to it for too long now. The later stadium stuff was bigger but not much better. There was a struggle between them and Echo and the Bunnymen to become the next U2 and they came second.

Don't know if this grabs you Dayna:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILhTufh715A

[Dayna]

Yeah! I kind of like that. I like it a lot. It sort of sounds like the way Devo went too. They started out as a good punk band, and went more New Wave.
He really put a lot of emotion into that, even in the live videos. Didn't he? Then I saw the video of it, and something about Jim is very attractive too. I guess there are some songs from later years, I like of theirs and I love hearing more of this too. I've heard people say they were like U2. I liked U2 for a while when they first got popular, but lost interest since then. I can't explain why. Maybe it's some of the reasons you guys don't like them.
I like New Gold Dream. It's got kind of a polyrhthm with guitars
I'd like to find more of the punk music from Simple Minds.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzNNl9D5z-c

[AndyM]

The early period is very glam influenced new wave à la Magazine and others, quite perky though I couldn't really listen to it for too long now. The later stadium stuff was bigger but not much better. There was a struggle between them and Echo and the Bunnymen to become the next U2 and they came second.

That's interesting, Hugh, as my reading of this particular and somewhat unsavoury dynamic is that U2 ripped of both the Bunnymen and Simple Minds, turning their theft into global triumph. Simple Minds especially have reason to feel hard done by, as the hideous vocalising of Bonio (as we call him in our house) is so blatantly a Jim Kerr 'tribute'.

[AndyM]

The early period is very glam influenced new wave à la Magazine and others, quite perky though I couldn't really listen to it for too long now. The later stadium stuff was bigger but not much better. There was a struggle between them and Echo and the Bunnymen to become the next U2 and they came second.

That's interesting, Hugh, as my reading of this particular and somewhat unsavoury dynamic is that U2 ripped off both the Bunnymen and Simple Minds, turning their theft into global triumph. Simple Minds especially have reason to feel hard done by, as the hideous vocalising of Bonio (as we call him in our house) is so blatantly a Jim Kerr 'tribute'.

[Dayna]

So you think Bono might have been the one to rip Jim Kerr off? It kind of makes me curious. It's strange that U2 got so huge over here, but Simple Minds seemed to dissapear after their two big hits. They haven't even done a tour here. I actually like Simple MInds better than U2.

Oh man, I don't know what I'm saying. but Bono has been so huge here but they're not as good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... QdhDw-hE8s

This is the live version of Don't You. If anyone wants to here it. I love his voice, the bass and other guitars together. It led me to check out their other stuff, old and new really. I do love how in the video, he got the crowd to sing for him, and he just stood there listening and had a look, as if he was just in heaven.

I think Jim Kerr has much more range in his voice. I love the poweful haunting sound he sometimes has, and they're music has quite a nicer rhythm thatn most of the 80s bands ever had. Does anything I've said make sense?

I'd kind of like to say these things if I can find a way to. Not that I'm trying to sound like an expert, or anything.

[AndyM]

In my view Jim Kerr is a far better singer than Bono.

And in the UK, Simple Minds were well-established (if not mega-successful) well before U2. So I think it looks different from a British perspective.

Another angle is that Simple Minds saw themselves as a European band, whereas U2 leaned towards America, which is one reason American audiences embraced them so eagerly.

[Dayna]

Yea! I think so. Jim's voice is stuck in my head! LOL


How can I find some place to write him? I've looked on the internet. I could write these things on Facebook, but you never can tell if they read anything on there.

[AndyM]

He must have a manager, which you could probably find out with a bit of internet digging.

[Dayna]

Thanks. I'll try it.