Remembering John Hughes (1950-2009): 5 Memorable Musical Moments From His Classic Films

  The loss of John Hughes yesterday to a sudden, apparent heart attack (at only 59 years of age) comes as a great blow to anyone who ever enjoyed his movies.  His classics from the eighties mainly come to mind.  At his peak,, Hughes was a master at crafting characters who were funny, yet on some level universally relatable.  His characters were real.  Even if they involved ridiculous concepts, (like, say creating a woman with a computer program, as his teenage protagonists did in “Weird Science,”) his best movies were always explorations of the every day and what could be possible.  Hughes was a huge music fan and music was always a big part of his films.  Especially in his films about teenagers, music was used as a keen tool to set the scene. 
Here are five of my favorite musical John Hughes moments.
5. Pretty In Pink – The Psychedelic Furs - From “Pretty In Pink (1986) – Within a mere matter of moments, the scene is set.  The gritty images of the streets and railroad tracks are juxtaposed with images of a teenage Molly Ringwald getting ready for her day, making breakfast and waking up her disheveled father.  The reality of every day responsibility is combined with the glamour of her applying makeup and putting on a happy face.  In Hughes’ best films, the perfect ideal seems almost attainable but ever so slightly out reach.  The Psychedelic Furs’ hit serves quite well as the score for this opening scene.  Much like the scene itself, the song puts Richard Butler’s groggy warble over a bright backdrop, thus combining the gritty and the beautiful. 
4. Red River Rock – Silicon Teens – From "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" (1987) – This is quite possibly Hughes’ finest film.  What’s weird about that is that it doesn’t star teenagers at all.  Instead Steve Martin and the late (and greatly missed) John Candy deliver the best performances of their careers.  (Candy in particular should have received some sort of major award attention for his excellent performance.)  “Red River Rock” plays throughout the movie.  It’s mainly a dinky synth-pop version of “Red River Valley,” but upon hearing it, you can’t help but think of these two characters speeding down a highway in a burned-out, skeleton of a car.  The frantic pace of the track captures the essence of the main characters’ endless frustration as two perpetually re-routed business men just trying to make it home for Thanksgiving. 
3. “Miss Amanda Jones” – The March Violets – From “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) – Like "Pretty In Pink," Hughes didn’t direct this picture, but he wrote the screenplay.  A true music fan at heart, he named Lea Thompson’s character Amanda Jones after the Rolling Stones’ song.  The March Violets’ very eighties version of the song is used as her theme.    2. “Beat City” – The Flowerpot Men & “Twist and Shout" – The Beatles – Both from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” (1986) – The fact that this movie doesn’t seem to have a soundtrack available is alarming.  I can’t figure out which scene I like better. When Ferris (Matthew Broderick) takes over the parade, lip-synching to the Beatles’ cover of the Isley Brothers’ tune, it’s the most iconic part of the picture.  Hughes shows one teenager’s power to create pure pandemonium and yet at the same time, it’s a celebration of what it is to really live life to the fullest.  As the crowd screams along with John Lennon’s vocals, there’s a cathartic feeling in the air. 
  I’m also fond of the scene where Ferris and Cameron (Alan Ruck) pick Sloane (Mia Sara) up from school in Cameron’s father’s fancy car.  The way the scene is shot showing them speeding down the road, interspersed with quickly cut images of Chicago is an exhibition of pure mastery.  The fantastic song in the background is a rare gem by an eighties new-wave group, The Flowerpot Men.  (Not to be confused with the sixties singing group with the same name.)  The song is appropriately called “Beat City.”  For years (seriously!) I have looked for a copy of this song, but to no avail.    1. ”Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – Simple Minds – From “The Breakfast Club” (1985) – This is easily one of the most iconic theme-songs to a movie ever.  It sets the scene as the five main characters head into Saturday detention.  Images of lockers and the school library are unmistakably realistic.  Anthony Michael Hall’s voiceover (reading passages from the essay he will write for all of them later in the film) stands as a statement of the group’s collective defiance.  They don’t want to be put in little boxes, but somehow the world sees them merely as “a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, and a princess and  a criminal.”  Despite having a long career, this is the song for which Simple Minds are best known.  This is no doubt due to the indelible nature of this opening scene and for that matter, this movie as a whole.  Hughes continued to write and direct in recent years, (most often under the name Edmond Dantes) but he will always be remembered for his stack of incredible eighties work.  Rest in peace, Mr. Hughes.  The fine work you left behind will touch generations to come!    Your keen grasp of pop culture and humanity created something that was both of its time and timeless.  You will be missed!