Happy Breakfast Club Day

It's March 24th, otherwise known as "Breakfast Club Day!" Let's take a look back at the iconic John Hughes film with some fun facts and a musical deep dive.

'Don't You (Forget About Me)' reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100

The film's soundtrack album peaked at No. 17 on the US Billboard 200 album chart.

The song was offered to many other musicians

The song was written for the film by Steve Schiff and pop musician Keith Forsey. Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music, Corey Hart ('Sunglasses at Night') and Billy Idol all turned down the single. Simple Minds initially declined as well, with lead singer Jim Kerr stating "we couldn't give a toss about teenage American schoolkids."

Chrissie Hynde urged Kerr to record the song

Hynde liked the tune and urged her then husband to record it. It was also offered to her band the Pretenders, but she thought it fit Simple Minds better.

Kerr added key elements to the song

Kerr added the "hey hey hey" to the introduction and the "la la la" to the ending with the intention to write new lyrics. Forsey insisted on keeping them.

John Hughes had ideas for a sequel film

Hughes considered a sequel to the film focusing on the teens reuniting in university detention, but it never saw the light of day. Hughes also stated he never wanted to work with Judd Nelson again.

Hughes wrote the screenplay in just two days

And the film was shot in sequence.

A lot of the film was improvised

Including John Bender's iconic fist pump at the end.

Ally Sheedy requested the David Bowie quote

The quote is pulled from Bowie's hit 'Changes'. Ally Sheedy suggested the quote to John Hughes, who liked the idea. Sheedy also suggested Claire eat sushi for lunch and it was also her idea to put Cap'n'Crunch cereal in the sandwich for extra crunch.

She also inspired this great song by Ezra Furman:

Cameos

John Hughes makes an uncredited cameo as Brian's father. Anthony Michael Hall's real sister and mother appear in the film as well.

Originally only Claire (Molly Ringwald) was supposed to dance

Molly Ringwald felt uncomfortable dancing by herself. John Hughes then had the entire cast dance, bringing us the now iconic scene. The cast agreed Sheedy was the best dancer.

That time Nickelodeon's "Victorious" did a parody episode

Because for real what the hell was even that?

The name of the film

"The film's title comes from the nickname invented by students and staff, for detention, at New Trier High School, the school attended by the son of one of John Hughes' friends. Thus, those who were sent to detention were designated members of "The Breakfast Club". "The Breakfast Club" at that school probably took its name in turn from the title of American radio's longest running network entertainment show, broadcast from Chicago, 1933 to 1968."

(Read more: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088847/trivia/).