The band went on to play a summer of concerts in Glasgow. The band played support to rising punk stars Generation X in Edinburgh two weeks later. Johnny & The Self-Abusers played their first gig on Easter Monday, 1977 at the Dourne Castle pub in Glasgow. In common with the early punk bands, various members took on stage names-Milarky became 'Johnnie Plague', Kerr became 'Pripton Weird', MacNeil chose 'Sid Syphilis' and Burchill chose 'Charlie Argue'. Kerr and Burchill also doubled on keyboards and violin respectively. With Milarky established as singer, guitarist and saxophonist, the line-up was completed by his friend Alan McNeil as third guitarist. After joining Johnny & The Self-Abusers, they brought in two of their school friends, Brian McGee on drums and Tony Donald on bass (all four had previously played together in the schoolboy band Biba-Rom!). Kerr and Burchill had known each other since the age of eight. At Cairnduff’s suggestion, Milarky teamed up with two musicians he had never worked with before – budding singer and lyricist Jim Kerr and guitarist Charlie Burchill. The band was conceived by would-be Glasgow scenemaker Alan Cairnduff, although he left the job of organising the band to his friend John Milarky. The roots of Simple Minds are in the short-lived punk band Johnny & The Self-Abusers, founded on the South Side of Glasgow in 1977. Former members include bass guitarist Derek Forbes, keyboardists Mick MacNeil and Andy Gillespie, drummers Brian McGee and Mel Gaynor (who first joined the band in 1982).

The other current band members are Ged Grimes (bass guitar), Sarah Brown (vocals), Gordy Goudie (guitar), Cherisse Osei (drums) and Catherine AD (vocals, keyboards, guitar). The core of the band is the two remaining founding members, Jim Kerr (vocals, songwriting) and Charlie Burchill (guitars, keyboards after 1990, other instruments, songwriting). In 2016, they received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. Their other more prominent hits include 'Alive and Kicking' (UK #7, US #3, Canada #3) and 'Belfast Child' (UK #1). The band scored a string of hit singles, becoming best known internationally for their 1985 hit 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' (UK #7, US #1, Canada #1), from the soundtrack of the film The Breakfast Club.

Despite various personnel changes, they continue to record and tour.

They formed in Glasgow in 1977 and became the most commercially successful Scottish band of the 1980s.They achieved five UK Albums chart number one albums during their career and have sold an estimated 60 million albums.

Simple minds singles discography