INXS, New Order, the Smiths and Echo & the Bunnymen all either broke into the mainstream or solidified their status with appearances on the record. OMD went from fringe electronic artists to heavyweights on the pop charts with the romantic “If You Leave.” The Psychedelic Furs song already existed, with the film’s title inspired by the song, but appearances by other up and coming artists would make the album a smash. Pretty in Pink was arguably the best soundtrack album of the ’80s, a compilation that truly embraced and celebrated the emerging alternative and college radio format. But Hughes’ biggest and bestselling soundtrack was yet to come.

Weird Science would bring back the idea of soundtrack as mixtape, fronted by the returning Oingo Boingo’s title track, and rounded out by OMD and the debut of General Public. Later, those tracks would serve as a major inspiration for M83 and his album, Saturdays=Youth. However, other than a few extra pop tracks, the rest of the album and soundtrack was disappointingly filled with incidental instrumental tracks. Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me” was one of the biggest hits of 1985, mostly due to the effect of The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club continued Hughes’ success with the teen market in both film and music. His first famous teen comedy romp was Sixteen Candles, in which he combined archival music such as the “Peter Gunn Theme,” “The Love Theme from The Godfather” and the themes from The Twilight Zone and Dragnet with new tracks from the Thompson Twins, Wham!, Billy Idol, Oingo Boingo and Spandau Ballet. Back when I was in junior high and high school, some of my favorite records were the eclectic, hip and cutting edge soundtracks from the films of John Hughes.

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