Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Andy McCluskey laughs at the memory of The Song that changed the fortunes of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. "We were nervous when 'If You Leave' came out, because we were on the same label as Simple Minds and people were saying it would do for us what '(Don't You) Forget About Me' did for them.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
They Need Your Love So Bad!
by
Jon Young
Andy McCluskey laughs at the memory of The Song that changed the fortunes of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. "We were nervous when 'If You Leave' came out, because we were on the same label as Simple Minds and people were saying it would do for us what '(Don't You) Forget About Me' did for them. We didn't wanna hear that! We didn't even wanna think it!"
However, the parallel held up. Just as Jim Kerr's boys made their commercial breakthrough with a song from John Hughes's The Breakfast Club, OMD (as we'll call them from here on) came up winners last summer with a tune created for another Hughes flick, Pretty In Pink. And like Simple Minds, OMD aren't 100 percent crazy about their hit.
"It's not totally an OMD song," observes cheerful Paul Humphreys, who shares command of the band with McCluskey. "We would never have writ ten it that way without the specifications of the movie." Pressed, he admits he finds the tune "simplistic."