Sink the ‘Pink’
Appearing twice in last week’s Chronicle alone, the soundtrack to John Hughes’ 1986 rich-boy/ poor-girl/spazz love triangle Pretty in Pink is the hot rock-critic reference point. Everybody knows the album introduced U.S. high school and college students to the soaring violins of OMD‘s synth-pop gem “If You Leave,” as well as the natty dressing-gown rock of the Psychedelic Furs (headed for the Mercury in September) and Echo & the Bunnymen. So besides New Order and the Smiths, what else is on there?
SUZANNE VEGA “Left of Center”
Vega may or may not play it at Antone’s next weekend, but this skittish ode to bohemia doubles as a catchy manifesto for Molly Ringwald‘s Andie.
JESSE JOHNSON “Get to Know Ya”
Prince was too big a star by 1986, so the filmmakers settled for this not-half-bad knockoff by then-unknown (and still-unknown) Johnson.
INXS “Do Wot You Do”
Not as jubilant as Lost Boys offering “Good Times” but a worthwhile sampling of the Aussies’ lithe funk-rock before ’87’s Kick made them huge.
BELOUIS SOME “Round, Round”
Guitar-heavy club track tragically overshadowed by Dead or Alive‘s concurrent exploration of similar subject matter on “You Spin Me ‘Round.”
DANNY HUTTON HITTERS “Wouldn’t It Be Good”
The slightest of the soundtrack’s 10 songs as a guitar/keyboard mash-up vaguely reminiscent of Dan Hartman‘s “I Can Dream About You.”
This article appears in July 25 • 2003.