Simple Minds has card #94 in the '91 MusiCards set, though only frontman Jim Kerr is featured in the photo. Anyone know the significance of the picture in the background? This card has a twin in the UK edition (which unlike the US counterpart, is gracious enough to at least name the other bandmembers on the back).
Wordmark/logo on the back in lue of a second photo; that's somewhat of a rarity in this set. Simple Minds are a bigger deal across the pond; While they might be thought of by some in the States as a one-hit wonder, they've had five #1 albums in the UK.
Around that time, I borrowed an old cassette of their 5th album, New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84), from my cousin and copied some songs off it. A couple years later I picked up a used greatest hits CD (Glittering Prize), and it got regular rotations from me as a teen and twenty-something.
The lineup may have changed a bit, with only Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill remaining as original members, but Simple Minds have done their best to make sure you don't forget about them, still alive and kicking all these years later. Their most recent studio album-- their 19th-- came out in 2022.
CUSTOM CORNER
When thinking of a band to pair up with Simple Minds, seems like the obvious choice is to go with Talking Heads, so let's do that. (Lou Reed, referenced on the card's back, would also have been a good one, but we'll save Lou for another day.)
Kind of surprising the Talking Heads didn't get a real MusiCard. They didn't formerly disband until December '91, but the writing was on the wall as the 80s came to a close and David Byrne wandered off to do other things.
But yeah, they were big in the 80s. My mom didn't listen to much "cool" music when I was growing up-- more into classical music with some "easy listening" adult contemporary on the side-- but I remember Talking Heads right along with the Beatles and Paul Simon filling the living room among my earliest exposure to music that got my attention. Little Creatures is probably the album we listened to the most together, often played on the stereo on a weekend afternoon while choring. Funny enough, I'd later come to find out that my favorite song on that album is her least favorite ("Television Man"). The 2CD collection Sand in the Vaseline also got a lot of play at home back then, as did the live album Stop Making Sense (where again, my favorite song was her least favorite ["Burning Down the House"]).
My aunt (the mom of the cousin I borrowed the Simple Minds tape from) was (still is?) also a big fan of the band. I remember one year for Christmas in my teenage years, I got her a live bootleg CD (Memories Can't Wait [Boston '79]), and I made sure to make myself a copy when I got a chance. And at least a couple times back then, I'd get her or my mom the latest David Byrne CD if I needed a gift idea. My best friend Doug thought they were a little weird at first-- resistant the first time I tried to play them while we hung out together-- but he came around.
But enough of my personal reminiscences-- to give a quick bio, Talking Heads got their start in New York City in 1975, with the band consisting of David Byrne (vocals and guitar), Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass) and Jerry Harrison (keyboards and guitar). With Byrne at the helm, the band's output evolved from a raw punkness in their early days to lush worldbeat soundscapes by the end.
Byrne has kept it up as a solo artist and has also done some notable collaborations with Brian Eno and more recently St. Vincent. The other 3 continued to work together for a while (Tina and Chris have been married since '77, btw), but interpersonal conflicts and bad blood prevented any substantial Talking Heads reunion. One tidbit from their Wikipedia page is that the band was offered $80 million earlier this year to do a reunion tour including a performance at Coachella, but they (he?) turned it down. As it stands, the band's only reemergence since the original run was in 2002 when they performed 3 songs at their own Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Ok, we'll wrap up the post here. Please let me know in the comments if you've got any thoughts to share regarding Simple Heads, Talking Minds, or whatever. :)
I never much cared about Simple Minds one way or the other. I guess if I had to pick a favorite by them it would be "Promised You A Miracle". Sometime maybe 10 years ago Singapore TV showed a Simple Minds concert on Chinese New Year--that's the biggest holiday of the year and everyone visits relatives, so I found myself watching the concert at my wife's grandmother's place. Oh, one thing people might not know is that "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was written to be sung by Billy Idol, but plans fell through and that's how Simple Minds ended up with it. That happens with soundtrack songs from time to time.
ReplyDeleteTalking Heads I like more, but I never saw them live. My favorite from them is probably "Don't Worry About The Government" and I like a lot of the Fear Of Music album. And of course "Genius Of Love" by spinoff band Tom Tom Club is great as well.
"Don't You" didn't do a lot for me, maybe because radio/MTV played the hell out of it. But I really liked "Alive and Kicking" and wore out "Once Upon a Time" in late '85/early '86. That got me to check out their earlier songs/LPs, which made me decide they were just OK for me.
ReplyDeleteI like the Talking Heads a lot. I did that "Match the Song title" blog post on their live album and I've gotten into all their late '70s to mid '80s stuff. I think I'm one of the few who liked "Naked".
man i listened to simple minds a lot in 1984 and 1985. new gold dream and sparkle in the rain were both gifted to me by one of my cousins and i had those cassettes in full rotation for a long time. these days, my simple minds library has been culled to glittering prize but i still listen to it fairly often.
ReplyDeleteit looks like the photo of jim kerr was taken at a nelson mandela concert. there's another photo of him and little steven in front of the same photo on getty images.
finally, not sure how but you made it through a simple minds post without mentioning chrissy hynde or patsy kensit. well done.
as for talking heads, stop making sense was big when i was in junior high and for some reason the school dance dj thought that burning down the house was a danceable tune.
The Breakfast Club is one of my favorite movies of all-time... so I'm pretty sure I've memorized Don't You (Forget About Me). Can't say I'm a huge Simple Minds fan though. I know that song and Alive and Kicking. Not even sure I own any of their albums. Talking Heads are another story. I really like their music... although they're one of those groups I have to be in the mood for.
ReplyDelete"Don't You" is one of those songs that, despite all of the radio play, I could just never get into. Not being a fan of that song, I never bothered to look into the rest of the bands catalog, and am not sure that I've ever heard anything else from them. I remember the card though, if only because the placement of the hole in his jeans provided great amusement to me and few of my non-card collecting friends.
ReplyDeleteDon't you is one of my favorite 80s songs.
ReplyDeleteMoe Moe Moe
why don't you like me
nobody likes me
Is my favorite David Byrne sing