I like both these bands. No doubt you have heard of U2, but perhaps not Simple Minds?

If you’ve seen The Breakfast Club movie, then you’ve heard their number one hit song, “Don’t You Forget About Me”–yeah, that’s them.

What is interesting to me about these bands is that they both followed similar trajectories until the mid to late eighties, but then U2 launched into world-wide fame while Simple Minds went the other way, becoming now an unknown band to most people in the U.S.

U2 hails from Ireland, Simple Minds from Scotland. They have had the same producer work on different albums; both broke through with hits in the United States in the 80s: Simple Minds with “Don’t You Forget About Me” and then their album, Once Upon a Time, U2 with The Joshua Tree.

But after that point, Simple Minds never reached the top of the charts in the States again, even though in Europe they received more acclaim for later albums. U2, on the other hand, followed up with the somewhat quirky album/movie Rattle and Hum and then changed gears with Achtung Baby, hitting it big again with an album that went to the top of the charts.

After that point, U2’s success seemed sealed. Their next albums, Zooropa and Pop, were a bit weird, though I liked many songs on Zooropa, but in spite of that, they came back with All That You Can’t Leave Behind, winning over a new generation of young people. How to Dismantle was good enough to continue their success; its hit songs were okay by U2 standards but are better than many other bands’ best ones.

Simple Minds has come out with just as many albums in that time, if not more, but they always seem to fall flat. There was a critical point where they could have launched into U2-like stardom, but they failed to do so. Maybe it’s because they didn’t have the Edge and Bono? Maybe it’s because their band didn’t stay together as one unit like U2 always has?

I think U2 managed to do what few bands have ever been able to: Make good music that speaks to people’s hearts, and do so song after song, album after album, decade after decade. They were almost suffocated by their own seriousness/pomp/success many times, but somehow they escaped from it and came out with another surprisingly good album after critics had finally written them off.

Any other U2 fans out there? I’d be interested to hear why you like them (or don’t like them) and when you began listening to their music.

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