John Hughes’ ’80s movie soundtracks collected in new box set

The soundtracks of the films of John Hughes are the stuff of legend and nostalgia, from the closing credits in The Breakfast Club set to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” to the iconic (but until fairly recently unreleased) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off soundtrack. This year, the collected soundtracks of John Hughes’ famed film canon are being collected into a box set. Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes collects songs from the soundtracks to films released between 1983 and 1989, including Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Planes, Trains And Automobiles, She’s Having A Baby, The Great Outdoors, and Uncle Buck. Some of the tracks include Oingo Boingo’s “Weird Science,” Thompson Twins’ “If You Were Here,” Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work,” and of course, “Pretty in Pink.” There will be several different versions of the soundtrack, including a 2xLP version featuring 25 songs, a limited edition 6xLP red vinyl version with 73 songs, and a 4xCD version with 74 songs, featuring a bonus 7-inch and a cassette. It’s out November 11 via Demon Music Group/Edsel.

John Hughes’ son James Hughes says in a press release, “It serves as a reminder not just to the musicians [John Hughes] championed in the 1980s, but to how intensely his search for music expanded beyond this era. Until his final days, he was still collecting outrageous amounts of music from around the world, galaxies removed from the New Romantic and new wave sounds that, to many, still define him.”

Check out the tracklist for the 6xLP version below.

Life Moves Pretty Fast: The John Hughes Mixtapes tracklist:

Side A
1. Kajagoogoo – Kajagoogoo (Instrumental)
2. Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)
3. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – If You Leave
4. Oingo Boingo – Weird Science
5. Furniture – Brilliant Mind
6. Dave Wakeling – She’s Having A Baby

Side B
1. The Flowerpot Men – Beat City
2. The Psychedelic Furs – Pretty In Pink
3. Flesh For Lulu – I Go Crazy
4. Dr. Calculus – Full Of Love
5. Lick The Tins – Can’t Help Falling In Love
6. Steve Earle & The Dukes – Six Days On The Road (Album Version)

Side C
1. Kirsty MacColl – You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby (Soundtrack Version)
2. Suzanne Vega & Joe Jackson – Left Of Center
3. Pete Shelley – Do Anything (Soundtrack Version)
4. Carmel – It’s All In The Game
5. The Dream Academy – Power To Believe (Instrumental)
6. Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work

Side D
1. The Beat – March Of The Swivelheads (Rotating Heads – Dub Version)
2. Nick Heyward – When It Started To Begin
3. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – Tesla Girls
4. Big Audio Dynamite – BAD
5. Killing Joke – Eighties
6. The Specials – Little Bitch

Side E
1. Gene Loves Jezebel – Desire (Come and Get It) (US Club Mix)
2. Flesh For Lulu – Slide From The 1989 Movie
3. Love And Rockets – Haunted When The Minutes Drag
4. Sigue Sigue Sputnik – Love Missile F1-11 (Ultraviolence Mix)
5. Lords Of The New Church – Method To My Madness

Side F
1. The Jesus And Mary Chain – The Hardest Walk (Single Version)
From The 1987 Movie
2. Echo & The Bunnymen – Bring On The Dancing Horses
3. General Public – Tenderness
4. The Blue Room – I’m Afraid
5. Belouis Some – Round, Round
6. Thompson Twins – If You Were Here
7. The Dream Academy – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (Instrumental) 3.07

Side G
1. Yello – Oh Yeah
2. Book Of Love – Modigliani (Lost In Your Eyes) 3. Otis Redding – Try A Little Tenderness
4. Patti Smith – Gloria: In Excelsis Deo
5. Westworld – Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo
6. Divinyls – Ring Me Up
7. Topper Headon – Drummin’ Man

Side H
1. Billy Idol – Catch My Fall
2. The Association – Cherish
3. Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Music For A Found Harmonium
4. Zapp – Radio People
5. The Blue Room – Cry Like This

“This Woman’s Work” is featured on our list of the Best Kate Bush Songs.