Best Music Scenes in John Hughes’ Movies

2. We Are Not Alone – The Breakfast Club (1985, Written/Directed by John Hughes)

Perhaps his most poignant work, and the one that you will most likely find on the “Top 10 All Time Movies” list of anyone born after 1970, the Breakfast Club showed Hughes could not only capture the comedic side of teenage life but also the angst, frustration and isolation. While certainly not a memorable song, the scene where the five detentionees smoke some grass and breakout in dance is one of the seminal moments in Hughes history.

Anthony Michael Hall is especially awesome as uber-geek Brian Johnson, hopping around, pretending to land a plane and fixing an imaginary shirt collar. Judd Nelson’s John Bender sits atop a statue and throws himself back and forth, showing his true headbanging nature. And perhaps most memorably, the three guys – Hall, Nelson and Emilio Estevez as Andrew the Jock – raising and lowering their fists in synch as they lurch back and forth across a table. The song is easy to forget but this scene will last forever. Obviously the Simple Minds Don’t You Forget About Me is tightly connected with this film, as is David Bowie’s Changes which is quoted at the opening. But in the actual course of the film, We Are Not Alone plays a much larger role.

3. I’m So Excited – National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983, Written by John Hughes)

Christie Brinkley. Red Ferrari. Nothing more needs to be said. While the Lindsey Buckingham tune Holiday Road serves as the anthem for the Griswold’s first (and by far best) adventure, Chevy Chase’s interaction with an absolutely smoking hot Brinkley is comic gold. The song, one of a series of cheesier Pointer Sister songs used in films (along with Neutron Dance in Beverly Hills Cop and Hot Together in Spaceballs and Stakeout), isn’t all that great on its own but fits perfectly as Clark tries to impress the unnamed beauty with his goofy haircut and metallic pea Family Truckster.

4. Try a Little Tenderness – Pretty in Pink (1986, Written by John Hughes)

Oh Duckie…you poor tortured soul. John Cryer’s awesomely weird character careens around a record store lip synching this classic with ferocious gusto. Serenading his unrequited love, Molly Ringwald’s Andie, Duckie goes through a range of emotions throughout the song. Pretty in Pink is one of Hughes’s more serious films, pitting Ringwald’s “wrong side of the tracks” girl with and against Andrew McCarthy’s richie-rich preppy Blane. The Orchestral Manuevers in the Dark track If You Leave also has a dynamite appearance in the film but Duckie is the heart of the flick and that scene, with him belting out Otis to the woman he loves.

5. Rebel Yell – Sixteen Candles (1984, Written/Directed by John Hughes)

The Geek and Carolyn, the prettiest and most popular girl in school, blast this ’80s classic on their joyride home from Jake’s big bash. Wasted and missing a large chunk of her hair, Carolyn proceeds to throw things from the car, snap pictures and crawl all over Anthony Michael Hall, who is behind the wheel of Jake’s Rolls Royce, a car with a “$5,000 grill” alone. Spandau Ballet’s True also is featured in a great scene where Molly Ringwald’s Samantha yearningly watches Jake dance with Carolyn but Rebel Yell is a better representative of the tone of the movie – fast and loose.

Honorable Mention: March Violet’s Miss Amanda Jones (Some Kind of Wonderful), Yello’s Oh Yeah (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Oingo Boingo’s Weird Science (Weird Science), Elvis Presley’s Mele Kalikimaka (Christmas Vacation), Kate Bush’s This Woman’s Work (She’s Having a Baby)