John Hughes: The Music and the Movies

Originally posted on the Tree.com Arts Channel

Few films are as quintessentially ‘80s as John Hughes films. The holy troika of Hughes–“Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club, and “Pretty In Pink”--are epics of ‘80s culture. No pop film conversation on the ‘80s is complete without a mention of the films of John Hughes. What is odd is how films that are so much a time capsule of ‘80s fashion, culture and music can be so universal, resonating with teens to this day.

The films in the Hughes canon are not just universally ‘80s. They’re universally teenage and universally high school. The fashions and the music may have changed, but the struggles of teenagers in high school are largely the same. Just as integral to these themes that still resonate is the music in the films. Hughes got that music is as much a part of the teenage landscape as angst and alienation.

I think it was through the music to his films that I first discovered John Hughes. I owned the “Pretty In Pink” soundtrack before I saw the film, and it changed my musical landscape and, in turn, my life. For the first time I heard bands like the Psychedelic Furs, New Order, The Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and INXS.

The soundtrack to “Sixteen Candles” featured Oingo Boingo, The Thompson Twins, Billy Idol, General Public, and the Stray Cats. “The Breakfast Club” soundtrack brought us Simple Minds’ unforgettable “Don’t You Forget About Me.” The soundtrack to the too-often overlooked “Some Kind of Wonderful” featured Flesh For Lulu, Stephen Duffy, and The Jesus and Mary Chain.*

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” continued the trend with bands like Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Yello, Big Audio Dynamite, General Public, and The English Beat. “Weird Science” emphasized its fringe nature with the likes of not only Oingo Boingo, but also Wall of Voodoo, Lords of the New Church, and Killing Joke.

Arguably, many of the bands got their biggest exposure due to inclusion on the soundtracks of John Hughes movies. Where else would my Mom have heard Sigue Sigue Sputnik? These songs were not only the music of the time, but music Hughes listened to himself. These were not mainstream artists, at least in most of the U.S. Hughes wrote his screenplays while listening to the music, and “Pretty In Pink” was inspired by the Psychedelic Furs song of the same name.

Hughes not only showed us what we should be listening to, but also captured how teenagers talked, what they had to say, what they struggled with. Everybody wants to be liked (“Some Kind of Wonderful”); everybody wants to be cool (“Weird Science”). We all come from different backgrounds (“Pretty In Pink”), but we need to find common ground (“Breakfast Club”). We all need some time to blow off some steam (“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”).

And we all need something to dance to.