The Dream Academy — “The Love Parade”

Entered Top 40: May 31, 1986
3 weeks 
Peaked at: 36

If Ferris Bueller had had a soundtrack album you might have heard more from The Dream Academy. If they’re known for anything in the US, it’s “Life in a Northern Town,” an airy hit that peaked at #7 in 1986, got used in commercials, and is one of the few “rock” songs to feature a cor anglais.

But The Dream Academy also had two songs used in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: “The Edge of Forever,” played near the end when Ferris and Sloane are having one of their few romantic moments in the film (by the way, Sloane, he’s NOT going to marry you, you dope); and an instrumental cover of The Smiths’ “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” that scores the wonderful Art Institute sequence:

I’ve come around to the “Ferris is a manipulative prick” thinking on this film. But these two minutes are just gorgeous.

John Hughes decided Ferris Bueller’s music selections weren’t cohesive enough to warrant a soundtrack album, so one didn’t exist until a very limited release in 2016. “The Edge of Forever” wasn’t released as a single, but enough DJs noted the Ferris connection to get it to #37 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock charts (then still a catch-all chart for AOR stations).

Someone might have dropped the ball on positioning a second single after “Life in a Northern Town.” The Dream Academy performed on a December 1985 Saturday Night Live episode, but instead of playing a second song as per usual, they shared the show with The Cult (who played “She Sells Sanctuary”). Which brings us to “The Love Parade,” which to me sounds exactly like Prefab Sprout. I don’t consider this a bad thing, but in a blind taste test I’d probably say this is something off Two Wheels Good (aka Steve McQueen for my imaginary UK readers).

The Dream Academy split up in 1991, and since then—perhaps not so surprising given the group’s effect in Ferris Bueller—all three members have gone independently into film and television scoring.