- Potential sales of CD singles were also tested in America at the same time. A&M chose a selection of their artists,
including Sting with An Englishman In New York, Squeeze with Footprints,
Suzanne Vega with Luka and OMD with Dreaming, and released trial 3" CD singles.
- And the hugely successful Don't You (Forget About Me) was chosen for Simple Minds.
- It featured the live version of Don't You (Forget About Me)
recorded at Rotterdam, the Sparkle In The Rain B-side Bass Line
and the single edit of The American. It was a canny policy as those who wanted to purchase
the "original" version of Don't You (Forget About Me) were directed to The Breakfast Club
soundtrack album - also on A&M.
- The 3" CD was sold as a "longbox." This notorious format packaged a normal sized CD in an oversized picture box to
bulk out its size, make it more appealing, and to persuade the purchaser that they were getting more for their buck.
In the case of the 3" CD, it was presented as both the sleeve and CD shrinkwrapped to a double-sided picture card. Tearing the
plastic from the card would rip the image from the backing card which was intended to be thrown away.
- It isn't known if this trial was a success. The next album, Street Fighting Years,
was received poorly in America, and its lone single This Is Your Land, wasn’t
issued on commercial CD. By the time Real Life was released, the 5" CD single
had become the standard and the Western 3" CD single was defunct.
- Therefore this 3" CD of Don't You (Forget About Me) was Simple Minds'
only release in America on this format.
- It was reissued late in 1991, this time on the standard 5" CD format.
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