Once Upon A Time: 40 years on

It was an interesting, and potentially pivotal time, for the rising stars of Scottish rock music.

The four years leading up to the release of Once Upon A Time, Simple Minds eighth studio album, had seen a massive commercial boom for them, but also witnessed a few seismic changes to the band.

You could go all the way back to 1981, when founding drummer Brian McGee broke up the original dynamic when he quit the group after recording what would become the fourth and fifth records, Sons & Fascination and Sister Feelings Call (distinct albums, but ultimately released at the same time). The arduous nature of touring that bands had to go through back then, in order to have any chance of success, had seemingly taken its toll on McGee. In the first four years of their existence, the band had managed the five albums, and numerous tours to clubs and bars in all corners of the world, but an elusive breakthrough single had failed to materialise – sometimes that was due to the fickle public and poor radio play, and sometimes because of record company failures (see Arista’s abysmal performance for the release of I Travel in 1980).

They then burned through three drummers to make album number six, New Gold Dream – although in the end, that turned out to be an immaculate record and one of the best in that era (and yes, still my favourite LP of all time). They emerged from that period with a new drummer at the helm in Mel Gaynor, a man who could wield rock power with the sensitivity of a jazz/funk player – ideal for New Gold Dream (and perhaps an influence on future direction?). They also had themselves a number two UK album and two Top 20 hit singles (Promised You A Miracle and Glittering Prize).

All was good, New Gold Dream was followed by the more expansive sound of Sparkle In The Rain, with its big and catchy songs like Waterfront and Up On The Catwalk. Clubs and small theatres were turning into bigger theatres and appearances much higher up the bill at European festivals.

Changes for good?

Then, two massive occurrences across late 1984 and into 1985 changed things forever. 

By late 1984, they were starting to work on the early sessions for the next album (what would be Once Upon A Time) when they were approached to play a song for a US film, The Breakfast Club. The problem was that the song wasn’t written by the band; Don’t You (Forget About Me) was brought to them by producer Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff. They declined several times, it was then offered to Bryan Ferry, who was vaguely interested but didn’t have time, and it came back around – they eventually decided to run with it – quite the decision as it happens, hitting the top spot in the US (and 7 in the UK) and selling countless copies (and has now passed the one billion streams on Spotify).

Don't You (Forget About Me) (official music video)

But then, as the success from Don’t You was still wafting around the globe, big news emerged. Founding bassist Derek Forbes, whose expansive and wondrous playing was a key hallmark of their sound up to that point (almost the lead on some songs), was fired. Versions vary of what actually happened – was it down to the tiredness of the constant togetherness over eight years, or was it perhaps the clash of the two biggest personalities in the band? This latter reason seems the most likely, and whether or not anyone else liked it, Jim Kerr was the de facto band leader and when he said Forbes had to go, he went - a ruthless decision? Quite probably. Failure to turn up to rehearsals was cited as the official reason, with Kerr saying it was 'painful but essential' for the band to continue to grow.

The portents were not good for the next album – how would the band recover from this?

Firstly, they brought in John Giblin on bass, who owned their rehearsal space (Barwell Court in Surrey) and had worked with the likes of Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. He did the honourable thing and made sure he got the seal of approval from Forbes before he accepted the role.

May to September 1985

Giblin, Burchill, Kerr, McNeill, Gaynor

If Sparkle In The Rain had been something of a segue from the atmospheric early work, as exemplified by New Gold Dream, the decision to work on this next record with American producer Jimmy Iovine, demonstrated that they definitely did want to progress to the bigger sounds! He had worked with The Boss and Stevie Nicks and favoured a brasher guitar sound (Charlie Burchill’s playing tended to augment and complement the keyboards) – he also wanted Kerr to be more energetic in his vocal delivery. As Adam Sweeting says in his book, Simple Minds, “the material on the album had been stripped of many of Simple Minds’ earlier subtleties.”

Once Upon A Time (audio only)

Kerr would admit that their previous organic methodology of producing a record had fallen by the wayside, but was unapologetic. “I admit that Once Upon A Time was less organic in terms of us knowing we’d love to make a very upfront, thoroughly modern, good sounding rock record. One that sounds good on CD, radio, in skating-rinks and discos.”

Alive & Kicking (official music video)

Kerr told Sweeting why they had chosen Iovine. “He’s kind of urban and also the great thing for me is he’s just not musical at all, which I could relate to, not being able to play a note on anything. But his instinct, I think, is great - knowing what the band is capable of, judging people’s performances, knowing when that is better or when this could be better.” For his part, Iovine was already a fan and only too happy to work with the group, loving their confidence and feeling like “it was a good time to work with them. I was really excited for them… I enjoyed working with them so much and they let me in so much. When a production arrangement really works is when the artist lets you in. An artist should never pick a producer unless they trust him.”

Sanctify Yourself (Live at Wembley, Mandela 70th concert, 1988)

Iovine also ensured that there was some backing singer royalty in the mix, with Robin Clark adding her immense presence to several tracks. She was married to Carlos Alomar, Bowie’s long standing guitarist, and had sung on Young Americans in 1975.

Reviews of the LP were generally fair to middling, with many not enjoying the move away from the earlier atmospherics, and into the more bombastic world that they felt U2 were already inhabiting. Armand White in Spin, called it “punchy pop” like Bono, but then referring to its “displaying good-time intentions in the same dumb, obvious way.”

Simple Minds at the Philadelphia end of Live Aid, 1985

There were four singles from it, all of which helped to consolidate their growing commercial position. Alive and Kicking came first with its big build and anthemic chorus (and iconic video shot in the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York), making the Top 10 both in the UK and US. Sanctify Yourself, which Kerr said was born from a love of gospel music and Sly & The Family Stone, made it to number 10 in the UK and 14 in the US. All The Things She Said also made both Top 20s, and interestingly has lines using quotes from wives of Polish political prisoners. Ghost Dancing (given a first run out during their Live Aid performance that summer) fared a little less well however, made the Top 20 UK, but didn’t trouble the Billboard chart.

All The Things She Said (official music video)

The album itself, which came out on 21 October, hit top spot in the UK and the Netherlands, and was Top 10 in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It shifted a very impressive two million units around the world in its first two months alone.

It’s fair to say that this record, and the subsequent large-scale tour, was a turning off point for many of their long-standing fans, who couldn’t, or didn’t want to, understand this new, brasher, louder and way less subtle Simple Minds, or as Sweeting charmingly called it, full of “self-congratulation and flatulence.” People were somewhat critical of Kerr’s transformation from the shy performer stalking the stage, to the brash rock star. Kerr, as ever, was unrepentant, “I grew. You can sit and say, well, you grew down or you grew up or you grew f**kin’ sideways, but I grew and I changed. So that’s tough luck if you can’t grasp that.”

For me, it’s an important album. While by no means my favourite (the five albums preceding it would be my Top 5), it was my first Simple Minds record, my gateway to those earlier gems. I was 12 or 13 when I saw Ghost Dancing on Top Of The Pops, and while it is easy to criticise its lack of subtlety now, back then it floored me - the guitar thrashed away at 100 mph and the drums crashed away - it was sweaty and exciting (especially in the live Ahoy video that accompanied it). And for all the brashness of that, Oh Jungleland and Sanctify Yourself, there was the measured pop-rock of Alive & Kicking and All The Things She Said - and a few hints of the old subtleties on tracks like Come A Long Way and I Wish You Were Here.

So, while the album itself is probably only a 6.5 or 7 out of 10 for me purely on its musical merits, it's a 10 out of 10 for hooking me in and allowing me into their world.