A Back to School Soundtrack Curated by The Breakfast Club

It feels like just yesterday that school was out for summer. As the calendar flips from July to August, this time of year can create a nostalgic and reflective mood about what it’s like to go back to school.

At Feed.fm, thinking about back to school led us to the quintessential high school flick The Breakfast Club. The movie is hard to forget because it so perfectly captures something universal about the different cliques that American teenagers can find themselves circling.

In The Breakfast Club, we meet Brian (The Brain), Allison (The Basket Case), Andrew (The Athlete), Claire (The Princess), and John (The Criminal). As music lovers, we asked ourselves what music each of these archetypal characters was listening to as they went back to school in 1983, several months before that fateful day they met at the library. Then we fast-forwarded 30+ years and imagined their life’s soundtrack today.

Your guess is as good as ours in terms of what happened to each of them following detention and what became of their lives. However, we feel reasonably confident the following music would be found on their playlists…both then and now.

 

 

The Breakfast Club Characters

 

Check out the full YouTube playlist here:

Youtube Playlist

Brian (The Brain)
THEN

Believe It Or Not (Theme from America’s Greatest Hero)
Shake It Up by The Cars
Private Eyes by Hall & Oates
NOW
Saint Simon by The Shins
Below My Feet by Mumford & Sons
Ya Hey by Vampire Weekend

Allison (The Basket Case)
THEN

Switch by Siouxsie & the Banshees
1999 by Prince
Burning Down the House by Talking Heads
NOW
Rehab (Hot Chip Remix) by Amy Winehouse
The Girl You Lost to Cocaine by Sia
Hot Knife by Fiona Apple

Andrew (The Athlete)
THEN

The Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
I Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis & the News
Jump by Van Halen
NOW
Times Like These by Foo Fighters
Starlight by Muse
Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon

Claire (The Princess)
THEN

Rio by Duran Duran
Flashdance…What a Feeling (from Flashdance soundtrack)
Holiday by Madonna
NOW
All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem
Cheerleader by St Vincent
Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

John (The Criminal)
THEN

Sunshine of Your Love by Cream
Break on Through by The Doors
Rebel Yell by Billy Idol
NOW
Rusty Cage by Johnny Cash
No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age
Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes

Whether you’re preparing to go back to school or not, we hope you enjoy the remaining days of summer. And that you, like our fictitious friends from The Breakfast Club, have some sweet tunes to ease the transition to autumn…

Image Credits: Universal Pictures