Don't You Forget About Them

A basket case, a brain, a criminal, a jock, and a princess walk into a library.....

Okay, stop me if you've heard this one before. Don't want to pull a "Duckie" on you, after all.

Yeah, if you don't get the above references, then chances are you didn't spend your formative teenage years in the 1980s enjoying John Hughes' movies. The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. These were the movies that sustained me and so many others in the throes of teen angst during those cheesy, tacky times. Hughes also made family favorites such as Vacation and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

So I can be forgiven if I became misty-eyed at the highlight of the Oscars Sunday night - the gathering of the Hughes crowd to pay tribute to the late John Hughes. Except for a notable absence by Emilio Estevez, they were all there. Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer, Macauley Culkin (who was seen later in the Hughes film Home Alone), Ally Sheedy (always my favorite), and Michael Anthony Hall. It was as close to a Breakfast Club reunion as my generation will likely get.

What sweet memories it brought back; completely unexpected and such a wonderful surprise. I realized how much time has gone by, just as I do when I hear those wonderful songs from the movies and other music of the era. Sure, some of it was cheesy and synthetic and otherwise just very eighties-ish, but it holds a place in my heart always. I had to look for the video that I took my title from, the closing song of The Breakfast Club, "Don't Forget About Me", by Simple Minds, and you can see it here. If you really want to relive that time, you can check out the original trailer for the movie. And just because I want to keep up that Simple Minds vibe, enjoy another song that is among my favorites here. In the John Hughes tribute at the Oscars, "True" by Spandau Ballet was also played, and I fell in love with the song all over again here.

Of course, the eighties could be several blogs by themselves, but I will stop here in the interest of keeping the focus on Hughes and his incredible accomplishments and the music that is intertwined within. If you like, you can also see the Hughes tribute at the Oscars here.

All I ask is, don't you forget about them.