“Don’t You (Forget About Me)” was built to be an anthem. Or maybe it was rebuilt to be an anthem.

In 1984, songwriter Keith Forsey and director John Hughes pitched Simple Minds on recording Forsey’s “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” for “The Breakfast Club.” The Scottish band already had their own catalog of songs, thundering tracks meant to explode in concert — see “Waterfront,” “Glittering Prize,” “New Gold Dream.”

“Back then, you had to write your own songs to be taken seriously, and we did write our own songs,” Simple Minds frontman Jim Kerr told the Boston Herald. “When we heard the demo of (“Don’t You”) we thought it was pretty good if generic, not the kind of lyrics we would be writing at that time. So there was a hesitancy.”

After learning more about the film, the band agreed to do the song. But it wouldn’t be like the demo. Kerr and crew transformed it, added their own drama: breakdowns, crescendos, and that cry of “La, la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la…”

“It was almost as if we did a live version… we Simple Mind-afied it,” Kerr said.

Simple Minds is bringing the anthem — all the anthems from “Alive and Kicking” to “Someone Somewhere In Summertime” — to its grand return to the States this summer. The trek is the band’s biggest North American tour in four decades and will feature help from openers Modern English and Soft Cell — both of whom play with Simple Minds at the Xfinity Center on June 15.

After spending years away, Kerr wants to prove (or remind old fans) how great Simple Minds is live. He remembers the rock he was raised on and always wants to meet that ridiculously high bar.

“(Growing up in Glasgow) the first gigs I saw, right off the top of my head, were Bowie, Roxy, Genesis, Lou Reed, Bob Marley, Rolling Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and lots of ‘also rans,’” Kerr said. “Something transcendental happened when (a great band) played live where the stage would disappear and the audience and band would become one. That was always the kind of band we wanted to be.”

Kerr said they didn’t know how to get there, but figured long, hard years of practice was a good place to start. So from the late-’70s to mid-’80s Simple Minds graduated from pubs to clubs to theaters to massive arenas across the globe.

One of the reasons Simple Minds hasn’t spent much time in the States is that they are more popular everywhere else — the band is massive in Europe and Australasia. But a year ago, at California’s Cruel World festival, American audiences (and promoters) were reminded of Kerr and crew’s stage skills.

“To say that that went well is an understatement,” Kerr said. “There was a feeling of, how can I put it, maybe absence makes the heart grow fonder. Half an hour before we went on, the field was packed.”

Simple Minds came out of the festival with many saying they had won the day. Fans gushed. The press gushed. Promotor Live Nation wanted the band for a 2025 arena tour.

Look up the original demo for “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” and compare it to what Simple Minds did with the track. The energy levels are radically different. Simple Minds version does feel almost like a live track. Of course, if you want to ratchet up the energy a few more notches, go see the band in concert.

For tickets, tour dates, and details, visit simpleminds.com