“If You Leave” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

"If You Leave" is the song Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark made for the soundtrack of Pretty in Pink in 1986, and if you've seen the film you know exactly where it lands: it plays big over the final scene, and for a lot of people it's the sound of that ending.

It's synth-pop with its heart on its sleeve, all glassy keyboards, a marching beat and a chorus that pleads rather than struts, the English electronic band going for pure, widescreen romance. Virgin put it out, and it caught America in a way nothing else of theirs did: up to number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1986, still the group's highest placing there, with top-five showings in Canada and New Zealand and a number 15 in Australia.

Alongside "Enola Gay" from 1980, it's the song people most often call OMD's signature, and Interview magazine went so far as to call it one of the most influential songs ever, a perfect snapshot of its moment.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.