The pride of Shermer, Illinois

My friend Neil recently invited me to be part of a holiday mixed CD/tape swap, the idea being that everyone makes up a themed mix and then gives a copy to everyone else. I arrived on my theme quickly, mainly since it's a CD I was planning on making up anyway. (The theme is supposed to be a secret, so if you're Neil, don't read any further. Just hit the "back" button on your browser. Or go here. It's a good read.)

Okay, the theme is "The Best of John Hughes", and it'll use the best songs from the soundtracks of the movies from his classic teen-movie period (1984-1987): Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Some Kind of Wonderful. The soundtracks to these films contained quite a bit of good new-wave music, much of which was "alternative" before there was such a thing as "alternative music" and much of which hasn't been beaten to death on '80s retro night playlists. Some of it's well-known, but that's just because it's good and I'm certainly not going to leave it off just because it's well-known.

I'm trying to include at least two songs per movie, which is tough with a couple of them. Ferris Bueller, for example, doesn't have as much much music as, say, Pretty in Pink, and what it does have doesn't always fit the mood (e.g., "Twist and Shout" or the Star Wars main title theme). I'm also limiting it to one song per artist, although I'm including two versions of one song, just because it's a really good one and I can't imagine leaving either version off. Here's the tentative playlist. I may juggle some of this around a bit, but this is probably what I'm going to go with:

1. Simple Minds - "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (The Breakfast Club soundtrack)
2. Psychedelic Furs - "Pretty in Pink" (Pretty in Pink soundtrack)
3. Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell" (from Sixteen Candles)
4. Echo and the Bunnymen - "Bring on the Dancing Horses" (Pretty in Pink soundtrack)
5. The Dream Academy - "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" (from Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
6. Spandau Ballet - "True" (from Sixteen Candles)
7. Thompson Twins - "If You Were Here" (Sixteen Candles soundtrack)
8. New Order - "Shellshock" (Pretty in Pink soundtrack)
9. Killing Joke - "Eighties" (Weird Science soundtrack)
10. Wang Chung - "Fire in the Twilight" (The Breakfast Club soundtrack)
11. The Vapors - "Turning Japanese" (from Sixteen Candles)
12. The Specials - "Little Bitch" (from Sixteen Candles)
13. The March Violets - "Miss Amanda Jones" (Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack)
14. The Jesus and Mary Chain - "The Hardest Walk" (Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack)
15. Altered Images - "Happy Birthday" (from Sixteen Candles)
16. General Public - "Tenderness" (from Weird Science)
17. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark - "If You Leave" (Pretty in Pink soundtrack)
18. Lick The Tins - "Can't Help Falling in Love" (Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack)
19. The Smiths - "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" (Pretty in Pink soundtrack)
(ten seconds of silence)
20. Yello - "Oh Yeah" (from Ferris Bueller's Day Off)