History Trivia / SimpleMinds

* BlackSheepHit: "[[Film/TheBreakfastClub Don't You (Forget About Me)]]".

* FollowTheLeader: Jim Kerr stated that they changed direction for "Real To Real Cacophony" because they heard Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures and thought it was miles better than what they were doing (which, on "Life In A Day", was Stranglers influenced synth-punk music). The album also shows the strong influence of Magazine.

** Their songs "Special View", "Garden Of Hate", "New Warm Skin", "Film Theme Dub" and "Celebrate" (Extended) have never appeared on CD due to being from the Creator/AristaRecords period (The ''Themes'' Box which collects nearly all their singles, starts with the Virgin period).
*** The fandom rejoiced when all the Arista tracks appeared on the ''X5'' box set in addition to a previously unreleased version of "In Every Heaven".

* NotChristianRock: Jim grew up a Christian and has never been shy of having Christian themed lyrics. Overt examples are "7 Deadly Sins" which looks like a sermon, "Glittering Prize" which reads like a hymn, and that a cross appears on the cover of New Gold Dream. The song "This Fear Of Gods" deals with the subject of religion in Eastern Europe, and "New Warm Skin" implies that the person committing the plastic surgery is playing god. "Sanctify Yourself" is intentionally done in the style of gospel music. "Seeing Out The Angel" deals with angels. The instrumental "Someone Up There Likes You" is pretty self-explanatory (and might reveal why Jim didn't feel he could write lyrics for it). There are numerous other examples. However, the band has always talked about a diverse range of subjects and has no interest in being pigeonholed as a Christian band. Jim has said that they feel the religious aspects add to the mystical quality of their music.

** For the longest time, the band disliked "Don't You (Forget About Me)". In fact in the original recording Jim Kerr intentionally slurred his vocal in parts because he hated some of the lyrics ("I'll be alone, dancin' you know it baby" for instance). Jim has come to appreciate the song since then, mainly because he loves the crowd reaction it gets and because he has since rerecorded the song to his liking (For instance the Special Mix by Hu-Mate which appears on Live And Rare).

** "Kaleidoscope" and "Here Comes the Fool" were both recorded for 1979's "Real To Real Cacophony" and left off, without being used as B-Sides in its era. This recording "Kaleidoscope" was released in 1980 as one of the B-Sides of to "I Travel", as a bonus track on the 1982 compilation "Celebration", and then finally reunited with "Real To Real Cacophony" on the second disc of the X5 box set. "Here Comes The Fool" was attempted again both in a 1979 Radio Session and for "Empires And Dance", but the band felt it failed to capture its live energy in studio (also the Radio Session is hampered by distortion that would have prevented it from working on vinyl), so did not release it. A 1979 live version recorded by the BBC was eventually released on Silver Box in 2004.
** "League of Nations" and "Sound in 70 Cities" were cut from the original CD release of Sons And Fascination / Sister Feelings Call for space reasons, though reinstated on the remaster.
** "Saturday Girl" left off "Street Fighting Years" and "Good Night" left off "Real Life" were both tracks with full lyrics omitted for being too similar to other tracks on already long albums that still had to fit on vinyl. In an odd decision, the vinyl version of "Street Fighting Years" omitted the last track "When Spirits Rise", yet reprised all three tracks from the Ballad Of The Streets EP (including the cover of Music/PeterGabriel's well-known "Biko").
** "Bittersweet" and "Liaison" are a subversion; they were liked and played live by the band, but only included on Big Music's deluxe edition as the group wanted to make the deluxe worth buying for fans (The previous LP Graffiti Soul's CoverAlbum Searching For The Lost Boys disc is largely regarded as inessential and didn't sell as well as the group intended).

** Their songs "Special View", "Garden Of Hate", "New Warm Skin", "Film Theme Dub" and "Celebrate" (Extended) have never appeared on CD due to being from the Creator/AristaRecords period (The Themes Box which collects nearly all their singles, starts with the Virgin period).
*** The fandom rejoiced when all the Arista tracks appeared on the X5 box set in addition to a previously unreleased version of In Every Heaven.

** Sparkle In The Rain was originally quite an ambitious album, with sprawling demos (some of which leaked), and was to have had a side-long suite entitled A Brass Band In Africa. Whilst ultimately the album was made with shorter, more commercial songs, A Brass Band In Africa wasn't forgotten. You can piece most of the suite back together from Shake Off The Ghosts, A Brass Band In African Chimes and a hidden track from the end of the Speed Your Love To Me extended mix. However, there are a few sections of material that are still missing. Sadly this was overlooked for the Super Deluxe Edition of the album, largely because Virgin's vaults were so badly organised. Also, the extended mixes of Up On The Catwalk and Speed Your Love To Me are noted for not being your typical extended mixes - they are much more intricate and feature additional parts compared to the album versions. They could easily be the ones that would have been on the original album before it was trimmed down.

** For the longest time, the band disliked "Don't You (Forget About Me)". In fact in the original recording Jim Kerr intentionally slurred his vocal in parts because he hated some of the lyrics ("I'll be around, dancin' you know it baby" for instance). Jim has come to appreciate the song since then, mainly because he loves the crowd reaction it gets and because he has since rerecorded the song to his liking (For instance the Special Mix by Hu-Mate which appears on Live And Rare).

* BlackSheepHit: "Don't You (Forget About Me)".

** "Kaleidoscope" and "Here Comes The Fool" were both recorded for 1979's "Real To Real Cacophony" and left off, without being used as B-Sides in its era. This recording "Kaleidoscope" was released in 1980 as one of the B-Sides of to "I Travel", as a bonus track on the 1982 compilation "Celebration", and then finally reunited with "Real To Real Cacophony" on the second disc of the X5 box set. "Here Comes The Fool" was attempted again both in a 1979 Radio Session and for "Empires And Dance", but the band felt it failed to capture its live energy in studio (also the Radio Session is hampered by distortion that would have prevented it from working on vinyl), so did not release it. A 1979 live version recorded by the BBC was eventually released on Silver Box in 2004.
** "League Of Nations" and "Sound In 70 Cities" were cut from the original CD release of Sons And Fascination / Sister Feelings Call for space reasons, though reinstated on the remaster.

* CreatorBacklash: For the longest time, the band disliked "Don't You (Forget About Me)". In fact in the original recording Jim Kerr intentionally slurred his vocal in parts because he hated some of the lyrics ("I'll be around, dancin' you know it baby" for instance). Jim has come to appreciate the song since then, mainly because he loves the crowd reaction it gets and because he has since rerecorded the song to his liking (For instance the Special Mix by Hu-Mate which appears on Live And Rare).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Sparkle In The Rain was originally quite an ambitious album, with sprawling demos (some of which leaked), and was to have had a side-long suite entitled A Brass Band In Africa. Whilst ultimately the album was made with shorter, more commercial songs, A Brass Band In Africa wasn't forgotten. You can piece most of the suite back together from Shake Off The Ghosts, A Brass Band In African Chimes and a hidden track from the end of the Speed Your Love To Me extended mix. However, there are a few sections of material that are still missing. Sadly this was overlooked for the Super Deluxe Edition of the album, largely because Virgin's vaults were so badly organised. Also, the extended mixes of Up On The Catwalk and Speed Your Love To Me are noted for not being your typical extended mixes - they are much more intricate and feature additional parts compared to the album versions. They could easily be the ones that would have been on the original album before it was trimmed down.

** "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was originally pitched to Cy Curnin (of The Fixx), Music/BillyIdol, and [[Music/RoxyMusic Bryan Ferry]], all of whom turned it down. Billy Idol would later record a CoverVersion for a GreatestHitsAlbum.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Many reviewers of the band's Celebrate compilation thought that the Patti Smith cover "Dancing Barefoot" was a new track, such was the failure of its parent 2001 CoverAlbum "Neon Lights". It was actually a single at the time, and whilst not a hit, Celebrate was designed to be a complete singles collection (it misses out a few non-album ones however).
* ThrowItIn: The BigRockEnding filled with [[{{Scatting}} La-la-la-la]] of "Don't You (Forget About Me)" came from improvising a coda for the song.

** Their songs "Special View", "Garden Of Hate", "New Warm Skin", "Film Theme Dub" and "Celebrate" (Extended) have never appeared on CD due to being from the Arista period (The Themes Box which collects nearly all their singles, starts with the Virgin period).

** Simple Minds have never been fond of their debut album, ''Life in a Day'', because they felt it didn't really capture their sound, coupled with how poorly it charted, they recorded the ''Real To Real Cacophony'' album very soon after as a way to make up for it. It was even less successful.

* CreatorBreakdown: The song Street Fighting Years was written about the murder of one of Jim's close friends. He was so upset and angry by it that he could not convey all the emotions he felt into words, and so effectively had writer's block for a short time. He decided the lyrics should convey each of the emotions musically, as they would have occurred to the protagonist of the song. The sad and epic mood of this song was unusual by Jim's standards, and helped influence the rest of the album of the same name.

* CreatorBacklash: For the longest time, the band disliked "Don't You Forget About Me." In fact in the original recording Jim Kerr intentionally slurred his vocal in parts because he hated some of the lyrics ("I'll be around, dancin' you know it baby" for instance). Jim has come to appreciate the song since then, mainly because he loves the crowd reaction it gets and because he has since rerecorded the song to his liking (For instance the Special Mix by Hu-Mate which appears on Live And Rare).

* CreatorBacklash: Jim Kerr never hides he doesn't like the band's BlackSheepHit that much.

** They still have very bittersweet feelings about their first album ''Life In A Day''.

** The band originally weren't fond of their song "Glittering Prize," but it grew on them over the years.
** They still have very bittersweet feelings about their first album "Life In A Day."

* HitlessHitAlbum: ''Graffiti Soul''.