As someone growing up in the '80's (the 1980's, smart ass), it was impossible to avoid a John Hughes movie. More importantly, it was impossible to ignore the elements that made a John Hughes movie a JOHN HUGHES movie:
1. Moody, often troubled teenagers (usually played by adults), being held down by the man (usually played by much older adults - i.e. their parents, authority figures)
2. A Chicago suburban setting (usually a school)
and 3. A kick-@$$ soundtrack, made up of bands that you hadn't even heard - and you liked it that way (or at least I did).
Based on that criteria, therefore, the following titles apply:
Hughes directed, wrote, and/or produced dozens of other movies in his career until his death in 2009, but it was these movies listed above that stick with me the most to this day. This isn't a movie blog (Eureka! ANOTHER great idea to steal!), so I'll get to the point: all of these movies' soundtracks were amazing.
I'm certainly not the first person to post about this, and I'm sure I won't be the last, because these soundtracks (and even the movies themselves) still ring true today. For the '90's kids, watch any episode of "Beverly Hills 90210" (but not the first season, that really sucked) and for Gen Y, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but MTV's "Skins" is a John Hughes film festival on acid.
But here's the difference: the music in these movies (and maybe the acting and plotline) actually made you CARE about the characters, and if you learned about the Psychadelic Furs (Pretty in Pink), Oingo Boingo (Weird Science) or even that new, hip foursome the Beatles (Ferris Beuller), then - double rainbow, man! (see what I did there?)
Take a look (or better yet, a listen) to these songs:
Sixteen Candles:
"If You Were Here" by the Thompson Twins
"Rebel Yell" by Billy Idol
"Happy Birthday" by Altered Images
"Young Americans" by David Bowie
"Turning Japanese" by the Vapors
"True" by Spandau Ballet
The Breakfast Club:
"Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds
Weird Science:
"Eighties" by Killing Joke
"Weird Science" by Oingo Boingo
"Tenderness" by General Public
Pretty in Pink:
"If You Leave" by OMD
"Pretty In Pink" by The Psychedelic Furs
(The song that inspired the movie. Molly Ringwald first told Hughes about the song and it stuck with him.)
Some Kind of Wonderful:
"I Go Crazy" by Flesh for Lulu
"Turn to the Sky" by March Violets
"Can't Help Falling in Love With You" by Lick the Tins
Ferris Beuller's Day Off: (note: The soundtrack was never released. John Hughes felt that it didn't work together as a compilation)
"Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Smiths
"Danke Schoen" by Wayne Newton
"Bad" by Big Audio Dynamite"Love Missile F1-11" by Sigue Sigue Sputnik
(Additional note: in the early '90's, I found a person who compiled the entire soundtrack themselves - a pretty amazing feat considering the internet was like, 4 sites and a lot of porn. I still own that CD to this day and often listen to it within mere hours of seeing Ferris on TBS or E! - it seems to be on like once a month). I know, I'm SO cool!
If you haven't seen these movies, by all means, go to your Netflix queue right now and add them in - I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how they still hold up, and the music is still as kick ass as anything Lady Gaga is doing - and was usually done with little to no radio airplay or MTV. Pay particular attention to the soundtracks, and specifically how Hughes used it to help tell his story.
So go ahead, release your inner Duckie, don't be a neo-maxi-zoom dweebie and commandeer your own Von Steuben Day Parade float (these things will all make sense after you see the movies, I promise).
I quote, "You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms, and the most convenient definitons. But what we found is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal."
Translation: it doesn't matter when you were born, music that makes you FEEL something is just good music, period.
Thanks for the great soundtrack to my youth, John Hughes.
Sources/For More Information, check out:
PureBoredom (http://derekjohnson.blogspot.com/)
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hughes_(filmmaker)
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