text:
Idée fixe (psychology)

In psychology, an idée fixe is a preoccupation of mind believed to be firmly resistant to any attempt to modify it, a fixation. The name originates from the French idée, "idea" and fixe , "fixed."

Background
According to intellectual historian Jan E. Goldstein, the initial introduction of idée fixe as a medical term occurred around 1812 in connection with monomania. The French psychiatrist Jean-Étienne Dominique Esquirol considered an idée fixe – in other words an unhealthy fixation on a single object – to be the principal symptom of monomania. The term idée fixe had already seeped from psychiatric discourse into literary language before Hector Berlioz employed it in a musical context in his programmatic Symphonie fantastique (subtitled Episode in the Life of an Artist...) of 1830 to denote a recurring melodic theme that references the composer's own romantic obsession (or erotomania) with the actress Harriet Smithson. Especially around the 1820s and 1830s, the concepts of idée fixe and monomania became firmly associated with the Romantic movement in literature, and fixated protagonists feature in a variety of contemporary novels and plays, ranging from the serious to the almost humorous.

As originally employed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, idée fixe described a more specific condition with respect to monomania (a term denoting a wider range of pathologies that did not stem only from a single fixation). A second difference is that the victim of idée fixe was understood to be unaware of the unreality of their frame of mind, while the victim of monomania might be aware. At that time, idée fixe was discussed as a form of neurosis or monomania. According to Goldstein, the original medical diagnosis of monomania "denoted an idée fixe, a single pathological preoccupation in an otherwise sound mind."

The idea of monomania as a diagnostic category was further developed by Esquirol in his work Des Malades Mentales (1839) and was coupled to the idée fixe by Wilhelm Griesinger (1845) who viewed "every single idée fixe [as] the expression of a deeply deranged psychic individuality and probably an indicator of an incipient form of mania".

The "pathologicalization" of political convictions was used to discredit political anarchists. The further historical evolution of idée fixe was much entangled with the introduction of psychologists into legal matters such as the insanity defense, and is found in a number of texts.

Development of the concept
The concept of idées fixes has been expanded and refined by Emil Kraepelin (1904), Carl Wernicke (1906), and Karl Jaspers (1963), evolving into a concept of overvalued ideas. An overvalued idea is a false or exaggerated and sustained belief that is maintained with much less than delusional intensity (i.e., the individual is able to acknowledge the possibility that the ideas may not be true).

Modern usage
In most contexts, idée fixe refers to an obsession or a passion one fixates on. However, the term also has a pathological dimension, denoting serious psychological issues. The pathology is what is denoted in psychology and law.

Idée fixe began as a parent category of obsession, and as a preoccupation of mind the idée fixe resembles today's obsessive-compulsive disorder. Although the afflicted person can think, reason and act like other people, they are unable to stop a particular train of thought or action. However, in obsessive-compulsive disorder, the person recognizes the absurdity of their obsession or compulsion, which may not be the case with an idée fixe (normally being a delusion). Today, the term idée fixe does not denote a specific disorder in psychology, and does not appear as a technical designation in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). It is still used as a descriptive term, appearing in dictionaries of psychology.

In literature
An example of an idée fixe is in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote:

"Don Quixote reveals his kinship to the most commonly encountered of Cervantes's character types: the head-in-clouds fantasist, obsessed by his idée fixe."

Although Herman Melville's Captain Ahab may come to mind as another famous example of idée fixe, and it is sometimes referred to this way, more often Ahab's obsession is referred to as monomania (the more inclusive term), and Melville himself does that. It would seem from the description of Ahab's possession that idée fixe applies quite accurately, as the following description suggests:

"'Not one jot of his great natural intellect had perished.' ... 'Yielding up all his thoughts and fancies to his one supreme purpose', Ahab has let his mind's guiding and directing power be usurped by the 'sheer inveteracy' of a will driven by 'one unachieved revengeful desire'"

However, what makes monomania the better term is that "Captain Ahab ... has an inkling of his true state of mind: 'my means are sane, my motive and my object mad.

The words idée fixe also occur explicitly: for example, in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes:

"There is the condition which the modern French psychologists have called the idée fixe, which may be trifling in character, and accompanied by complete sanity in every other way. A man might form such an idée fixe... and under its influence be capable of any fantastic outrage."

and in Abraham B. Yehoshua's novel about the Mani family through six generations:

"...I had begun to despair of his accursed idée fixe which devoured every other idée that it encountered..."

and in the account of the war on terror by George Bush's counter-terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke:

"Iraq was portrayed as the most dangerous thing in national security. It was an idée fixe, a rigid belief, received wisdom, a decision already made and one that no fact or event could derail."

Legal implications
Possibly the best example of the role of idée fixe in an insanity defense today is its use in identifying paranoid personality disorder. "A frequent manifestation of ... paranoid personality is the presence of an overvalued idea ... a fixed idea (idée fixe) ... which might seem reasonable both to the patient and to other people. However, it comes to dominate completely the person's thinking and life. ... It is quite distinct phenomenologically from both delusion and obsessional idea."

title: Idée fixe (psychology)


text:
Idée fixe

Idée fixe may refer to:

 * Idée fixe (psychology), a psychological disorder
 * Idée Fixe (album), an album by Aerolit
 * Dogmatix, the English name of an Asterix comics character, called Idéfix in French
 * Idée fixe (music), a recurring theme or motif, as in the Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Idée fixe


text:
Wolf spider

Wolf spiders are members of the family Lycosidae, so named for their robust and agile hunting skills and excellent eyesight. They live mostly in solitude, hunt alone, and usually do not spin webs. Some are opportunistic hunters, pouncing upon prey as they find it or chasing it over short distances; others wait for passing prey in or near the mouth of a burrow.

Wolf spiders resemble nursery web spiders (family Pisauridae), but wolf spiders carry their egg sacs by attaching them to their spinnerets, while the Pisauridae carry their egg sacs with their chelicerae and pedipalps. Two of the wolf spider's eight eyes are large and prominent; this distinguishes them from nursery web spiders, whose eyes are all of roughly equal size. This can also help distinguish them from the similar-looking grass spiders.

Description
The many genera of wolf spiders range in body size (legs not included) from less than 0.4 to 1.38 in. They have eight eyes arranged in three rows. The bottom row consists of four small eyes, the middle row has two very large eyes (which distinguishes them from the Pisauridae), and the top row has two medium-sized eyes. Unlike most other arachnids, which are generally blind or have poor vision, wolf spiders have excellent eyesight.

The tapetum lucidum is a retroreflective tissue found in eyes. This reflective tissue is only found in four secondary eyes of the wolf spider. Flashing a beam of light over the spider produces eyeshine; this eyeshine can be seen when the lighting source is roughly coaxial with the viewer or sensor. The light from the light source (e.g., a flashlight or sunlight) has been reflected from the spider's eyes directly back toward its source, producing a "glow" that is easily noticed. Wolf spiders possess the third-best eyesight of all spider groups, bettered by jumping spiders of the family Salticidae (which can distinguish colors) and the huntsman spiders of the family Sparassidae. Wolf spiders are unique in the way that they carry their eggs. The egg sac, a round, silken globe, is attached to the spinnerets at the end of the abdomen, allowing the spider to carry her unhatched young with her. The abdomen must be held in a raised position to keep the egg case from dragging on the ground. Despite this handicap, they are still capable of hunting. Another aspect unique to wolf spiders is their method of care of young. Immediately after the spiderlings emerge from their protective silken case, they clamber up their mother's legs and crowd onto the dorsal side of her abdomen. The mother carries the spiderlings for several weeks before they are large enough to disperse and fend for themselves.

Because they depend on camouflage for protection, they do not have the flashy appearance of some other kinds of spiders. In general, their coloration is appropriate to their favorite habitat.

Hogna is the genus with the largest of the wolf spiders. Among the Hogna species in the U.S., the nearly solid dark brown H. carolinensis (Carolina wolf spider) is the largest, with a body that can be more than 2.5 cm long. It is sometimes confused with H. helluo, which is somewhat smaller and different in coloration. The underside of H. carolinensis is solid black, but the underside of H. helluo is variegated and has reds, oranges, and yellows with shades of black.

Some members of the Lycosidae, such as H. carolinensis, make deep, tubular burrows in which they lurk much of the time. Others, such as H. helluo, seek shelter under rocks and other shelters as nature may provide. As with spiders in general, males of almost any species can sometimes be found inside homes and buildings as they wander in search for females during the autumn.

Wolf spiders play an important role in natural population control of insects and are often considered "beneficial bugs" due to their predation of pest species within farms and gardens.

Venom
Wolf spiders inject venom if continually provoked. Symptoms of their bites include swelling and mild pain. In the past, necrotic bites have been attributed to some South American and Australian species, but further investigation has indicated that those problems that did occur were probably due to bites by members of other families or did not induce those effects.

Genera
, the World Spider Catalog accepts these genera:

 * Acantholycosa Dahl, 1908 —Asia, Europe, North America
 * Adelocosa Gertsch, 1973 —Hawaii
 * Agalenocosa Mello-Leitão, 1944 —South America, Oceania, Mexico, India
 * Aglaoctenus Tullgren, 1905 —South America
 * Algidus New York, 1975 —USA
 * Allocosa Banks, 1900 —Oceania, North America, Africa, South America, Costa Rica, Asia, Europe
 * Allotrochosina Roewer, 1960 —Australia, New Zealand
 * Alopecosa Simon, 1885 —Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, North America, Oceania
 * Amblyothele Simon, 1910 —Africa
 * Anomalomma Simon, 1890 —Pakistan, Indonesia, Zimbabwe
 * Anomalosa Roewer, 1960 —Australia
 * Anoteropsis L. Koch, 1878 —New Zealand, Papua New Guinea
 * Arctosa C. L. Koch, 1847 —Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, North America, Vanuatu
 * Arctosippa Roewer, 1960 —Peru
 * Arctosomma Roewer, 1960 —Ethiopia
 * Artoria Thorell, 1877 —Oceania, Africa, Asia
 * Artoriellula Roewer, 1960 —South Africa, Indonesia
 * Artoriopsis Framenau, 2007 —Australia, New Zealand
 * Aulonia C. L. Koch, 1847 —Turkey
 * Auloniella Roewer, 1960 —Tanzania
 * Birabenia Mello-Leitão, 1941 —Argentina, Uruguay
 * Bogdocosa Ponomarev & Belosludtsev, 2008 —Asia
 * Brevilabus Strand, 1908 —Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ethiopia
 * Bristowiella Saaristo, 1980 —Comoros, Seychelles
 * Camptocosa Dondale, Jiménez & Nieto, 2005 —United States, Mexico
 * Caporiaccosa Roewer, 1960 —Ethiopia
 * Caspicosa Ponomarev, 2007 —Kazakhstan, Russia
 * Costacosa Framenau & Leung, 2013 —Australia
 * Crocodilosa Caporiacco, 1947 —India, Myanmar, Egypt
 * Cynosa Caporiacco, 1933 —North Africa
 * Dejerosa Roewer, 1960 —Mozambique
 * Deliriosa Kovblyuk, 2009 —Ukraine
 * Diahogna Roewer, 1960 —Australia
 * Diapontia Keyserling, 1877 —South America
 * Dingosa Roewer, 1955 —Australia, Peru, Brazil
 * Dolocosa Roewer, 1960 —St. Helena
 * Donacosa Alderweireldt & Jocqué, 1991 —Spain
 * Dorjulopirata Buchar, 1997 —Bhutan
 * Draposa Kronestedt, 2010 —Asia
 * Dzhungarocosa Fomichev & Marusik, 2017 —Kazakhstan
 * Edenticosa Roewer, 1960 —Equatorial Guinea
 * Evippa Simon, 1882 —Africa, Asia, Spain
 * Evippomma Roewer, 1959 —Africa, Asia
 * Foveosa Russell-Smith, Alderweireldt & Jocqué, 2007
 * Geolycosa Montgomery, 1904 —Africa, South America, Asia, North America, Oceania
 * Gladicosa Brady, 1987 —North America
 * Gnatholycosa Mello-Leitão, 1940 —Argentina
 * Gulocosa Marusik, Omelko & Koponen, 2015
 * Hesperocosa Gertsch & Wallace, 1937 —United States
 * Hippasa Simon, 1885 —Africa, Asia
 * Hippasella Mello-Leitão, 1944 —Argentina, Peru, Bolivia
 * Hoggicosa Roewer, 1960 —Australia
 * Hogna Simon, 1885 —Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Caribbean, Europe, Oceania, Central America
 * Hognoides Roewer, 1960 —Tanzania, Madagascar
 * Hyaenosa Caporiacco, 1940 —Asia, Africa
 * Hygrolycosa Dahl, 1908 —Asia, Greece
 * Karakumosa Logunov & Ponomarev, 2020 —Asia
 * Kangarosa Framenau, 2010 —Australia
 * Katableps Jocqué, Russell-Smith & Alderweireldt, 2011
 * Knoelle Framenau, 2006 —Australia
 * Lobizon Piacentini & Grismado, 2009 —Argentina
 * Loculla Simon, 1910 —Iran, Africa
 * Lycosa Latreille, 1804 —North America, Africa, Caribbean, Asia, Oceania, South America, Central America, Europe
 * Lycosella Thorell, 1890 —Indonesia
 * Lysania Thorell, 1890 —China, Malaysia, Indonesia
 * Mainosa Framenau, 2006 —Australia
 * Malimbosa Roewer, 1960 —West Africa
 * Margonia Hippa & Lehtinen, 1983 —India
 * Megarctosa Caporiacco, 1948 —Africa, Asia, Argentina, Greece
 * Melecosa Marusik, Omelko & Koponen, 2015
 * Melocosa Gertsch, 1937 —North America, Brazil
 * Minicosa Alderweireldt & Jocqué, 2007 —South Africa
 * Molitorosa Roewer, 1960 —Brazil
 * Mongolicosa Marusik, Azarkina & Koponen, 2004 —Mongolia, China
 * Mustelicosa Roewer, 1960 —Ukraine, Asia
 * Navira Piacentini & Grismado, 2009 —Argentina
 * Notocosa Vink, 2002 —New Zealand
 * Nukuhiva Berland, 1935 —Marquesas Is.
 * Oculicosa Zyuzin, 1993 —Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
 * Ocyale Audouin, 1826 —Africa, Peru, Asia
 * Orinocosa Chamberlin, 1916 —South America, Africa, Asia
 * Ovia Sankaran, Malamel & Sebastian, 2017 —India, China, Taiwan
 * Paratrochosina Roewer, 1960 —Argentina, North America, Russia
 * Pardosa C. L. Koch, 1847 —Asia, Europe, South America, North America, Africa, Caribbean, Oceania, Central America
 * Pardosella Caporiacco, 1939 —Ethiopia, Tanzania
 * Passiena Thorell, 1890 —Africa, Asia
 * Pavocosa Roewer, 1960 —Argentina, Brazil, Thailand
 * Phonophilus Ehrenberg, 1831 —Libya
 * Pirata Sundevall, 1833 —South America, Africa, North America, Asia, Cuba, Central America
 * Piratula Roewer, 1960 —Asia, North America, Ukraine
 * Portacosa Framenau, 2017 —Australia
 * Proevippa Purcell, 1903 —Africa
 * Prolycosides Mello-Leitão, 1942 —Argentina
 * Pseudevippa Simon, 1910 —Namibia
 * Pterartoria Purcell, 1903 —South Africa, Lesotho
 * Pyrenecosa Marusik, Azarkina & Koponen, 2004 —Europe
 * Rabidosa Roewer, 1960 —United States
 * Satta Lehtinen & Hippa, 1979 —Papua New Guinea
 * Schizocosa Chamberlin, 1904 —South America, Asia, Africa, North America, Vanuatu, Central America
 * Shapna Hippa & Lehtinen, 1983 —India
 * Sibirocosa Marusik, Azarkina & Koponen, 2004 —Russia
 * Sosippus Simon, 1888 —North America, Central America
 * Syroloma Simon, 1900 —Hawaii
 * Tapetosa Framenau, Main, Harvey & Waldock, 2009
 * Tasmanicosa Roewer, 1959 —Australia
 * Tetralycosa Roewer, 1960 —Australia
 * Tigrosa Brady, 2012 —North America
 * Trabea Simon, 1876 —Africa, Spain, Turkey
 * Trabeops Roewer, 1959 —North America
 * Trebacosa Dondale & Redner, 1981 —Europe, North America
 * Tricassa Simon, 1910 —Namibia, South Africa, Madagascar
 * Trochosa C. L. Koch, 1847 —North America, Asia, Africa, South America, Oceania, Central America, Europe, Caribbean
 * Trochosippa Roewer, 1960 —Africa, Indonesia, Argentina
 * Tuberculosa Framenau & Yoo, 2006 —Australia
 * Varacosa Chamberlin & Ivie, 1942 —North America
 * Venator Hogg, 1900 —Australia
 * Venatrix Roewer, 1960 —Oceania, Philippines
 * Venonia Thorell, 1894 —Asia, Oceania
 * Vesubia Simon, 1910 —Italy, Russia, Turkmenistan
 * Wadicosa Zyuzin, 1985 —Africa, Asia
 * Xerolycosa Dahl, 1908 —Asia, Tanzania
 * Zantheres Thorell, 1887 —Myanmar
 * Zenonina Simon, 1898 —Africa
 * Zoica Simon, 1898 —Asia, Oceania
 * Zyuzicosa Logunov, 2010 —Asia

Evolutionary history
Wolf spiders likely originated after the K–Pg extinction event sometime in the late Paleocene, with most main subfamilies likely originating during the Eocene and Early Oligocene between 41 and 32 million years ago.

Habitats
Wolf spiders are found in a wide range of coastal and inland habitats. These include shrublands, woodland, wet coastal forests, alpine meadows, suburban gardens, and homes. Spiderlings disperse aerially; consequently, wolf spiders have wide distributions. Although some species have very specific microhabitat needs (such as stream-side gravel beds or montane herb fields), most are wanderers without permanent homes. Some build burrows which can be left open or have a trap door (depending on species). Arid-zone species construct turrets or plug their holes with leaves and pebbles during the rainy season to protect themselves from flood waters. Often, they are found in man-made locations such as sheds and other outdoor equipment.

Mating behavior
Many species of wolf spiders possess very complex courtship behaviors and secondary sexual characteristics, such as tufts of bristles on their legs or special colorations, which are most often found on the males of the species. These sexual characteristics vary by species and are most often found as modifications of the first pair of legs. First-leg modifications are often divided into elongated bristles on the legs, increased swelling of leg segments, or the full elongation of the first pair of legs compared to the other three pairs. Some mating behaviors are common between wolf spider genera, and many more that are species-specific. In the most commonly studied genus of wolf spiders, Schizocosa, researchers found that all males engage in a seismic component of their courtship display, either stridulation, or drumming their fore legs on the ground, but some also dependent on visual cues in their courtship display, as well as the seismic signaling, such as waving the front two legs in the air in front of the female, concluding that some Schizocosa species rely on multimodal courtship behaviors.

The Lycosidae comprise mainly wandering spiders, and as such, population density and male-to-female sex ratio puts selective pressures on wolf spiders when finding mates. Female wolf spiders that have already mated are more likely to eat the next male that tries to mate with them than those that have not mated yet. Males that have already mated have a higher probability of successfully mating again, but females that have already mated have a lower probability of mating again.

Relationship to humans
Though wolf spiders do bite humans, their bites are not dangerous. Wolf spider bites often result in mild redness, itching, ulcers, and if the bite wound is not cleaned it could lead to infection. However, wolf spiders usually only bite when they feel threatened or mishandled.

Wolf spiders have been found to be a vital source of natural pest control for many people's personal gardens or even homes, since the wolf spider preys on perceived pests such as crickets, ants, cockroaches, and in some cases lizards and frogs. In recent years, wolf spiders have been utilized as pest control in agriculture to reduce the amount of pesticides needed on crops. A notable example is the use of wolf spiders in cranberry bogs as a means of controlling unwanted crop destruction.

In culture
South Carolina designated the Carolina wolf spider (Hogna carolinensis) as the official state spider in 2000 due to the efforts of Skyler B. Hutto, a third-grade student at Sheridan Elementary School in Orangeburg.

At the time, South Carolina was the only U.S. state that recognized a state spider. In 2015, efforts began to name an official state spider for neighboring North Carolina.

title: Wolf spider


text:
Bob Seger

Robert Clark Seger (born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, breaking through with his first album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (which contained his first national hit of the same name) in 1969. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the 'System' from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet (1976), recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums.

A roots rocker with a classic raspy, powerful voice, Seger wrote and recorded songs that dealt with love, women, and blue-collar themes, and is one of the best-known examples of a heartland rock artist. He has recorded many hits, including "Night Moves", "Turn the Page", "Mainstreet", "Still the Same", "Hollywood Nights", "Against the Wind", "You'll Accomp'ny Me", "Shame on the Moon", "Roll Me Away", "Like a Rock", and "Shakedown", the last of which was written for the 1987 film Beverly Hills Cop II and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also co-wrote the Eagles' number-one hit "Heartache Tonight", and his recording of "Old Time Rock and Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001.

With a career spanning six decades, Seger has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012. Seger was named Billboard 2015 Legend of Live honoree at the 12th annual Billboard Touring Conference & Awards, held November 18–19 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. His farewell tour took place in 2018 and 2019.

Early years
Seger was born at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Charlotte and Stewart Seger. At age five, he moved with his family to Ann Arbor. He had an older brother, George.

Seger's father, a medical technician for Ford Motor Company, played several instruments and Seger was exposed to music from an early age. Seger was also exposed to frequent arguments between his parents that disturbed the neighborhood at night. In 1956, when Seger was 10 years old, his father abandoned the family and moved to California. The remaining family soon lost their comfortable middle-class status and struggled financially.

Seger attended Tappan Junior High School (now Tappan Middle School) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated in 1963 from Ann Arbor High School, now known as Pioneer High School. He ran track and field in high school. Seger also went to Lincoln Park High School for a time.

Regarding his early musical inspirations, Seger has stated, "Little Richard – he was the first one that really got to me. Little Richard and, of course, Elvis Presley." "Come Go with Me" by The Del-Vikings, a hit in 1957, was the first record he bought.

The Decibels and The Town Criers
Bob Seger arrived on the Detroit music scene in 1961 fronting a three-piece band called the Decibels. The band included Seger on guitar, piano, keyboards, and vocals, Pete Stanger on guitar, and R.B. Hunter on drums. All of the members attended Ann Arbor High. The Decibels recorded an acetate demo of a song called "The Lonely One", at Del Shannon's studio in 1961. As well as being Seger's first original song, "The Lonely One" was Seger's first song to be played on the radio, airing only once on an Ann Arbor radio station. In 2021, a recording of "The Lonely One" resurfaced, and was broadcast (with permission from Seger) twice on WCSX-FM in Detroit, on the mornings of March 15 and 16.

After the Decibels disbanded, Seger joined the Town Criers, a four-piece band with Seger on lead vocals, John Flis on bass, Pep Perrine on drums, and Larry Mason on lead guitar. The Town Criers, covering songs like "Louie Louie", began gaining a steady following. Meanwhile, Seger was listening to James Brown and said that, for him and his friends, Live at the Apollo was their favorite record following its release in 1963. Seger was also influenced by the music of The Beatles, once they hit American shores in 1964. In general, he and local musician friends such as Glenn Frey (later a member of the Eagles) bought into the premises of 1960s pop and rock radio, with its hook-driven hits; he later recalled himself and Frey thinking at the time, "You're nobody if you can't get on the radio."

Doug Brown & The Omens
As the Town Criers began landing more gigs, Seger met a man named Doug Brown, backed by a band called The Omens. Seger joined Doug Brown & The Omens, who had a bigger following than the Town Criers. While Brown was the primary lead vocalist for the group, Seger would take the lead on some songs—covering R&B numbers. With this group, Seger first appeared on an officially released recording: the 1965 single "TGIF" backed with "First Girl", credited to Doug Brown and The Omens. Seger later appeared on Doug Brown and The Omens' parody of Barry Sadler's song "Ballad of the Green Berets" which was re-titled "Ballad of the Yellow Beret" and mocked draft evaders. Soon after its release, Sadler and his record label threatened Brown and his band with a lawsuit, and the recording was withdrawn from the market.

While Seger was a member of The Omens, he met his longtime manager Edward "Punch" Andrews, who at the time was partnered with Dave Leone running the Hideout franchise, which consisted of four club locations from Clawson to Rochester Hills, where local acts would play, and a small-scale record label. Seger began writing and producing for other acts that Punch was managing, such as the Mama Cats and the Mushrooms (with Frey). Seger and Brown were then approached by Punch and Leone to write a song for the Underdogs, another local band who recently had a hit with a song called "Man in the Glass". Seger contributed a song called "East Side Story", which was not successful.

The Last Heard
Seger decided to record "East Side Story" himself, and officially left the Omens (though he did retain Brown as a producer). As Bob Seger and the Last Heard, Seger released his version of the song with Hideout Records in January 1966, and it became his first big Detroit hit. The single (backed with "East Side Sound", an instrumental version of "East Side Story") sold 50,000 copies, mostly in the Detroit area, and led to a contract with Cameo-Parkway Records. Though the name "The Last Heard" originally referred to the collection of Omens and Town Criers who recorded "East Side Story" with Seger, it soon became the name of Seger's permanent band, which consisted of former Town Crier Pep Perrine on drums, Carl Lagassa on guitar, and Dan Honaker on bass. Following "East Side Story", the group released four more singles: the James Brown-inspired holiday single "Sock It to Me Santa", the Dylan-esque "Persecution Smith", "Vagrant Winter", and perhaps the most notable, "Heavy Music", released in 1967. "Heavy Music", which sold even more copies than "East Side Story", had the potential to break out nationally when Cameo-Parkway suddenly went out of business. It was a top 100 hit in Canada, where it topped out on the national RPM charts at ; in the US, it just missed the Hot 100, peaking on the "bubbling under" chart at. The song would stay in Seger's live act for many years to come.

The Bob Seger System
After Cameo-Parkway folded, Seger and Punch began searching for a new label. In the spring of 1968, Bob Seger & the Last Heard signed with major label Capitol Records, turning down Motown Records, who offered more money than Capitol. Seger felt that Capitol was more appropriate for his genre than Motown.

Capitol changed the name of the band to The Bob Seger System. In the transition between labels, guitarist Carl Lagassa left the band and keyboard player Bob Schultz joined. The System's first single with Capitol was the anti-war message song "2 + 2 = ?", which reflected a marked change in Seger's political attitudes from "The Ballad of the Yellow Beret". The single was again a hit in Detroit and hit number 1 on radio stations in Buffalo, New York and Orlando, Florida, but went unnoticed almost everywhere else, and failed to chart nationally in the US. The single did, however, make the Canadian national charts, peaking at.

The second single from The Bob Seger System was "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". It was a major hit in Michigan, and it also became Seger's first national hit, peaking at. The song's success led to the release of an album of the same title in 1969. The Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album reached on the Billboard pop albums chart. Glenn Frey had his first studio gig singing back-up and playing guitar on "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man".

Seger was unable to follow up on this success. For the next album, singer-songwriter Tom Neme joined The System, ultimately writing and singing the majority of the tunes featured, for which the group was heavily criticized. The album called Noah (1969), failed to chart at all, leading Seger to briefly quit the music industry and attend college. He returned the following year and put out the System's final album, 1970's Mongrel, this time without Neme. Bob Schultz left the band as well, being replaced by Dan Watson. Mongrel, with the powerful single "Lucifer", was considered to be a strong album by many critics and Detroit fans, but failed to do well commercially.

The Bob Seger System was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2006.

Solo
After Mongrel (1970) failed to live up to the success of Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1969), The System dissipated. For a short period following the breakup, Seger had ambitions to be a one-man act. In 1971, he released his first solo album, the all-acoustic Brand New Morning. The album was a commercial failure, and led to his departure from Capitol Records.

Seger, having regained an eye for bands, began playing with the duo Teegarden & Van Winkle, who in 1970 had a hit single with "God, Love and Rock & Roll". Together they recorded Smokin' O.P.'s (1972), released on Punch Andrews' own Palladium Records. The album mainly consisted of covers, spawning a minor hit with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" ( the US), though it did feature "Someday", a new Seger original, and a re-release of "Heavy Music". The album reached 180 on the Billboard 200.

After spending most of 1972 touring with Teegarden & Van Winkle, Seger left the duo to put together a new backing band, referred to as both My Band and the Borneo Band, made up of musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jamie Oldaker, Dick Sims, and Marcy Levy were all members of My Band before joining Eric Clapton's backing band. In 1973, Seger put out Back in '72, recorded partly with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a renowned group of session musicians who had recorded with the likes of J. J. Cale and Aretha Franklin. According to Seger, there was a financial misunderstanding with the musicians: they offered to record him "for $1500 a side", which he took to mean $1500 per album side. When he found out that they meant $1500 per song, he left after recording three songs but resolved to work with them in the future. Back in '72 featured the studio version of Seger's later live classic "Turn the Page"; "Rosalie", a song Seger wrote about CKLW music director Rosalie Trombley (and which was later recorded by Thin Lizzy); and "I've Been Working", a song originally by Van Morrison, a strong influence on Seger's musical development. Despite the strength of Seger's backup musicians, the album only reached 188 on the US charts and has since faded into obscurity. Even so, Back in '72 and its supporting tour mark the beginnings of Seger's long-time relationships with future Silver Bullet Band saxophonist Alto Reed, powerhouse female vocalist Shaun Murphy, and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Over the tour, My Band would prove to be unreliable, which frustrated Seger. By the end of 1973, Seger had left My Band in search of a new backing band. Throughout 1974–75, Seger continued to perform in local venues around his hometown while known as the Bob Seger Group including one renowned concert in Davisburg, Michigan, called the "Battle of the Bands".

The Silver Bullet Band
In 1974, Seger formed the Silver Bullet Band. Its original members were guitarist Drew Abbott, drummer and backing vocalist Charlie Allen Martin, keyboardist and backing vocalist Rick Manasa, bass guitarist Chris Campbell, and saxophonist and backing vocalist Alto Reed. With this new band sitting in occasionally, Seger released the album Seven (1974), which contained the Detroit-area hard-rock hit "Get Out of Denver". This track was a modest success and charted at nationally.

In 1975, Seger returned to Capitol Records and released the album Beautiful Loser, with help from the Silver Bullet Band (with new keyboardist Robyn Robbins replacing Manasa) on his cover of the Tina Turner penned "Nutbush City Limits". The album's single "Katmandu" which was featured in the 1985 movie Mask starring Cher (in addition to being another substantial Detroit-area hit) was Seger's first real national break-out track since 1968's "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Although it just missed the US Pop Top 40 – peaking at – the song received strong airplay in several markets nationwide including Detroit.

In April 1976, Seger and the Silver Bullet Band released the album Live Bullet, recorded over two nights in Detroit's Cobo Arena in September 1975. It contained Seger's rendition of "Nutbush City Limits" as well as Seger's classic take on life on the road, "Turn the Page", from Back in '72. It also included his late 1960s successful releases – "Heavy Music" and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Critic Dave Marsh later wrote that "Live Bullet is one of the best live albums ever made ... In spots, particularly during the medley of "Travelin' Man"/"Beautiful Loser" on side one, Seger sounds like a man with one last shot at the top." An instant best-seller in Detroit, Live Bullet began to get attention in other parts of the country, selling better than Seger's previous albums, getting progressive rock radio and album-oriented rock airplay, and enabling Seger to headline more shows. But Seger still had a popularity imbalance; in June 1976, he was a featured performer at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in front of nearly 80,000 fans, but one night later played to fewer than a thousand people in Chicago.

Peak of success: 1976–1987
Seger finally achieved his commercial breakthrough with his October 1976 album Night Moves. The title track, "Night Moves" was critically and commercially well-received, becoming a hit on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and receiving airplay on AOR radio. The album also featured the songs "Mainstreet" (written about Ann Arbor's Ann Street), a hit ballad that emphasized Seger's rock credibility as well as guitarist Pete Carr's lead guitar line,  and "Rock and Roll Never Forgets", which peaked at  on the Billboard Hot 100. Night Moves was Seger's first top-ten album in the Billboard album chart, and as of 2006 was certified at 6 million copies in the United States, making it the biggest-selling studio album of his entire career. The success of Night Moves also bolstered sales of Seger's previous releases. Seger's 1975 release Beautiful Loser would eventually sell two million copies and the 1976 album Live Bullet would go on to sell six million copies in the United States. Live Bullet would eventually be cited as one of the greatest live albums of all time.

In February 1977, Silver Bullet Band drummer Charlie Allen Martin was hit by a car from behind while walking on a service road and was left unable to walk. David Teegarden, previous drummer for Seger on his 1972 album Smokin' O.P.'s was his replacement. Despite the loss of Martin, Seger's 1978 album Stranger in Town was also a success. The first single, "Still the Same", reached on the Billboard Hot 100. "Hollywood Nights" reached on the same chart, while the ballad "We've Got Tonight" reached. "We've Got Tonight" was a major hit again when it was covered in 1983 by country music superstar Kenny Rogers and pop singer Sheena Easton. Notably, it topped Billboard's Hot Country Songs and peaked at and  on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Hot 100 charts respectively. "Old Time Rock and Roll", a song from George Jackson and Thomas E. Jones III that Seger substantially rewrote the lyrics for, peaked at on the Hot 100, but achieved greater popularity after being featured in the 1983 Tom Cruise film Risky Business, in which Tom Cruise's character dances in his underwear to the song. It has since been ranked the second-most played Jukebox Single of all time, behind Patsy Cline's "Crazy". "Old Time Rock and Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001. Seger has since remarked that not taking one-third writing credit on his recording was, financially, "the dumbest thing I ever did".

Seger also co-wrote the Eagles' hit song "Heartache Tonight" from their 1979 album The Long Run; their collaboration about Seger's and Glenn Frey's shared early lives in Detroit.

In 1980, Seger released Against the Wind (with ex-Grand Funk Railroad member Craig Frost replacing Robyn Robbins on keyboards) and it became his first and only album on the Billboard album chart. The first single "Fire Lake" featured Eagles Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, and Glenn Frey on backing vocals and Muscle Shoals guitarist Pete Carr on 12-string acoustic. Fire Lake reached on the Hot 100, while the title song "Against the Wind" reached  as a single and even crossed over to the Top 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. "You'll Accomp'ny Me" became the third hit single from the record, reaching. Against the Wind would also win two Grammy Awards. As of 2006, both Stranger in Town and Against the Wind had sold over 5 million copies each in the United States.

The live 1981 album Nine Tonight encapsulated this three-album peak of Seger's commercial career. Seger's take on Eugene Williams' "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" became a Top Five hit from Nine Tonight and the album would go on to sell 4 million copies.

Seger released the acclaimed The Distance in December 1982. During the recording of this album, Silver Bullet guitarist Drew Abbott left the band due to his frustration with Seger's frequent use of session musicians in the studio and was replaced by Dawayne Bailey. After the album's release, David Teegarden also left the band due to internal conflict and was replaced by ex-Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer. Critically praised for representing a more versatile sound than that of his recent material, The Distance spawned numerous hits beginning with Rodney Crowell's "Shame on the Moon". It was the biggest hit of the Silver Bullet Band's entire career, hitting on the Adult Contemporary chart and holding at  for four consecutive weeks – behind Patti Austin and James Ingram's "Baby, Come to Me" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" – on the Hot 100. It also crossed over to on Billboard Country Singles chart. The follow-up single, "Even Now", just missed the Top 10, and "Roll Me Away" peaked at. The driving album track "Making Thunderbirds" was a popular music video filmed in Detroit and well-received on MTV. Seger's multi-platinum sales dropped off at this point, with The Distance peaking at and selling only 1.9 million copies in the United States. The Distance was belatedly released on 8-track tape; Capitol reportedly had no plans to do so, but Seger, claiming that many of his fans still used 8-track players in their vehicles, requested that the label also release the album in the waning format.

In 1984, Seger wrote and recorded the power rock ballad "Understanding" for the film soundtrack Teachers. The song was another Top 20 hit for Seger in late 1984. In 1986, he wrote and recorded "Living Inside My Heart" for the film soundtrack of About Last Night....

Seger was no longer as prolific, and several years elapsed before his next studio album, Like a Rock, emerged in the spring of 1986. The fast-paced "American Storm" was another Top-20 single aided by a popular music video featuring actress Lesley Ann Warren, and "Like a Rock" followed, reaching on Billboard's Hot 100. Later, it would become familiar to many Americans through its association with a long-running Chevrolet ad campaign (something Seger explicitly chose to do to support struggling American automobile workers in Detroit). Seger's 1986–1987 American Storm Tour was his self-stated last major tour, playing 105 shows over nine months and selling almost 1.5 million tickets. Like a Rock reached and eventually sold over three million copies, although it has never been certified above platinum.

On March 13, 1987, Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their contributions to the music industry, located at 1750 Vine Street.

In 1987, Seger recorded the song "Shakedown" for the soundtrack to the film Beverly Hills Cop II. A synth-driven pop-rock song, it was Seger's first and only hit on the pop singles chart. The song had originally been intended for fellow Detroiter Glenn Frey, but when Frey lost his voice just before the recording session, he asked Seger to take his place. Seger changed the verses of the song but kept the chorus the same. The song earned Seger an Academy Award nomination as co-writer in the Best Original Song category the following year.

Later years: 1988–present
Bob Seger's next record was 1991's The Fire Inside, at a time when glam metal, grunge and alternative rock were taking the forefront. His new music found little visibility on the radio or elsewhere. The same was true of 1995's It's a Mystery, although the album was certified gold (500,000 copies sold). However, in 1994, Seger released Greatest Hits; the compilation album was his biggest-ever record in terms of sales, selling nearly 10 million copies in the United States. Seger did go back on the road again for a 1996 tour, which was successful and sold the fourth-largest number of tickets of any North American tour that year. (Seger was once known for his concerts in small venues, as witnessed with his appearance at the 18th Amendment in Omaha, Nebraska.)

Seger took a sabbatical from the music business for about ten years to spend time with his wife and two young children. In 2001 and 2002, Seger won the prestigious Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race aboard his 52 ft sailboat Lightning. He subsequently sold the boat. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 2004. Fellow Detroiter Kid Rock gave the induction speech and Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm proclaimed that date Bob Seger Day in his honor. In 2005, Seger was featured singing with 3 Doors Down on the song "Landing in London" from their Seventeen Days album.

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2005.

Seger's first new album in eleven years, titled Face the Promise, was released in 2006. In its first 45 days, it sold more than 400,000 copies. The album sold over 1.2 million copies, returning Seger to platinum status and staying on the Billboard chart for several months. His supporting tour was also eagerly anticipated, with many shows selling out within minutes. Showing that Seger's legendary appeal in Michigan had not diminished, all 10,834 tickets available for his first show at Grand Rapids' Van Andel Arena sold out in under five minutes; three additional shows were subsequently added, each of which also sold out.

In 2009, Seger released a compilation album titled Early Seger Vol. 1, which contained archival material from the 1970s and 1980s, including some fully or partially re-recorded tracks from his albums Smokin' O.P.'s (1972) and Seven (1974) and some never-before-released songs. The album was initially only available for purchase at Meijer stores and then later for download at BobSeger.com. Seger contributed piano and vocals on Kid Rock's 2010 album Born Free. Seger staged a successful arena tour during 2011, accompanied by the release of a two-CD compilation album, Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets. On May 28, 2011, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder proclaimed that date as Bob Seger Day for his more than 50 years of sharing his celebrated musical talents with fans all over the world.

On December 30, 2011, before a sell-out crowd at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Seger closed another tour. On October 30, 2011, he told AnnArbor.com director, Bob Needham, he was returning to the studio to complete another new album for release in the fall of 2012, followed by another supporting tour.

On June 14, 2012, Seger was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. On January 10, 2013, Seger announced another tour in the US and Canada.

Seger performed a duet of "Who'll Stop the Rain" with John Fogerty on Fogerty's album Wrote a Song for Everyone, released in 2013.

Seger's 17th studio album, Ride Out was released on October 14, 2014. Ride Out was accompanied by a highly successful arena tour of the United States and Canada.

On December 22, 2016, Seger performed "Heartache Tonight" as the Kennedy Center honored the Eagles. A few weeks later, on January 18, 2017, Seger gave away the single "Glenn Song" on his website as a tribute marking the first anniversary of the death of Eagles founding member Glenn Frey, with whom Seger was close friends. Starting on August 24, 2017, Seger embarked on a 32-city Runaway Train tour that was originally scheduled to conclude on November 17, 2017, in Chicago. This tour included a show on September 22, 2017, at The Palace of Auburn Hills (Michigan), which was the last event to be held at that venue. The same day, Seger announced his new studio album, I Knew You When, and released "Busload of Faith", a cover of the Lou Reed song from the 1989 album New York, as the first single taken from the album. I Knew You When was released on November 17, 2017, which would have marked the last day of Seger's Runaway Train tour. However, due to "an urgent medical issue with his vertebrae", all concert dates starting September 30 had to be postponed. Of the 32 scheduled tour dates, Seger could complete 13 and had to postpone 19.

On September 18, 2018, Seger announced his final tour. Named the Travelin' Man tour, it included postponed dates from the 2017 tour as well as additional shows, and was scheduled to kick off on November 21 at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI. The tour ended on November 1, 2019, after which Seger retired. Silver Bullet Band saxophonist Alto Reed died one year later, on December 30, 2020, aged 72.

Seger came out of retirement on October 22, 2023, to perform at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville for the induction of Patty Loveless, playing her 1997 song "She Drew a Broken Heart." Loveless sang a duet with Seger in "The Answer's The Question" in Seger's Face the Promise album in 2006.

Legacy
Lincoln Park declared November 17, 2017, "Bob Seger Day" in the city. Mayor Thomas Karnes called Seger the voice of the city for their generation. Seger attended school there in his youth and performed at the city's bandshell in the 1960s. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Seger at number 181 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Personal life
Seger's first marriage to Renee Andrietti in 1968 lasted for "one day short of a year". He had a long-term relationship with Jan Dinsdale from 1972 until 1983. In 1987, he married actress Annette Sinclair and they divorced one year later. He married Juanita Dorricott in 1993, in a small private setting at The Village Club, in Bloomfield Hills; they have two children.

Politics
Politically, Seger has characterized himself as a centrist: "[I'm] right down the middle", he remarked. He supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. He tackled antiestablishment themes in early songs such as "2+2=?" (1968) and "U.M.C. (Upper Middle Class)" (1974), according to Brian McCollum of the Detroit Free Press. On his 2014 album Ride Out, he addressed topics such as gun violence, and wrote "It's Your World" about climate change. On the subject, he said, "There are a lot of culprits in climate change, and everybody's responsible, myself included. Nobody gets a free pass on this one. We've got to change our ways and change them fast."

He has considered President Barack Obama to be the favorite president of his lifetime; he met him at the 2016 Kennedy Center Honors and thanked Obama for his "wisdom and dignity."

Discography

 * Studio albums

 * Ramblin' Gamblin' Man (1969)
 * Noah (1969)
 * Mongrel (1970)
 * Brand New Morning (1971)
 * Smokin' O.P.'s (1972)
 * Back in '72 (1973)
 * Seven (1974)
 * Beautiful Loser (1975)
 * Night Moves (1976)
 * Stranger in Town (1978)
 * Against the Wind (1980)
 * The Distance (1982)
 * Like a Rock (1986)
 * The Fire Inside (1991)
 * It's a Mystery (1995)
 * Face the Promise (2006)
 * Ride Out (2014)
 * I Knew You When (2017)

 * Live albums
 * Live Bullet (1976)
 * Nine Tonight (1981)
 * Compilation albums
 * Greatest Hits (1994)
 * Greatest Hits 2 (2003)
 * Early Seger Vol. 1 (2009)
 * Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets (2011)
 * Heavy Music: The Complete Cameo Recordings 1966-1967 (2017)

Other sources

 * 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide
 * Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 1983. ISBN 0-8230-7511-7.
 * Joel Whitburn, Top Adult Contemporary 1961–2001, 2002. ISBN 0-89820-149-7.
 * Stephen Thomas Erlewine, [ AllMusic biographical entry on Bob Seger]

title: Bob Seger


text:
Brat Pack

The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. The term "Brat Pack", a play on the Rat Pack from the 1950s and 1960s, was first popularized in a 1985 New York magazine cover story, which described a group of highly successful film stars in their early twenties. David Blum wrote the article after witnessing several young actors being mobbed by groupies at Los Angeles' Hard Rock Cafe. The group has been characterized by the partying of members such as Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, and Judd Nelson.

Membership
An appearance in one or both of the ensemble casts of two specific films released in 1985—John Hughes's The Breakfast Club and Joel Schumacher's St. Elmo's Fire—is often considered the prerequisite for being a core Brat Pack member. With this criterion, the most commonly cited members include:
 * Emilio Estevez
 * Anthony Michael Hall
 * Rob Lowe
 * Andrew McCarthy
 * Demi Moore
 * Judd Nelson
 * Molly Ringwald
 * Ally Sheedy

Absent from most lists is Mare Winningham, the only principal member of either cast who never starred in any other films with any other cast members. Estevez was cited as the "unofficial president" of the Brat Pack. He and Demi Moore were once engaged. In 1999, McCarthy said he was never a member of the group: "The media made up this sort of tribe. I don't think I've seen any of these people since we finished St. Elmo's Fire."

The initial New York article covered a group of actors larger, or more inclusive, than the currently understood meaning of the term "Brat Pack". For example, he mentions cast members of Taps, including Tom Cruise and Timothy Hutton. Charlie Sheen appears in several lists – more for his family relationship to Emilio Estevez and his partying than for his film work with other members.

James Spader and Robert Downey Jr. have also been considered members, and performed alongside other Brat Packers: both of them with Andrew McCarthy in Less than Zero; Spader with McCarthy in Mannequin and Pretty in Pink, with Lowe in Bad Influence, and with Ringwald in Pretty in Pink; and Downey with Anthony Michael Hall (Weird Science and Johnny Be Good; and the cast of Saturday Night Live) and with Molly Ringwald (The Pick-up Artist). Other actors who have been linked with the group include Kevin Bacon, Matthew Broderick, Jon Cryer, John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Nicolas Cage, Jami Gertz, Mary Stuart Masterson, Sean Penn, Kiefer Sutherland, and Lea Thompson. In her autobiography, Melissa Gilbert connects herself with the Brat Pack, as her social life centered on Estevez and Lowe (each of whom she was engaged to at different times). Through frequent collaborative work, the actor Harry Dean Stanton, then in his late 50s, became a mentor for the group of young actors.

Article
David Blum's New York story, titled "Hollywood's Brat Pack", ran on June 10, 1985. It was originally supposed to be just about Emilio Estevez, but one night, Estevez invited Blum to hang out with him, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, and others at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a typical night out for the group, who had gotten close while filming St. Elmo's Fire. That night, Blum decided to change the article's focus to an entire group of young actors at the time. The St. Elmo's Fire crew members did not like Blum and sensed that he was jealous of the actors' success.

When the piece ran, the actors all felt betrayed, especially Estevez. The article mentioned people in several films but focused on Estevez, Lowe, and Nelson, and portrayed those three negatively. The "Brat Pack" label, which the actors disliked, stuck for years afterward. Before the article ran, they had been regarded as talented individuals; after the article, all of them were grouped together and regarded as unprofessional. Interviewed for Susannah Gora's 2010 book You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, And Their Impact on a Generation, Blum admitted that he should not have written the article.

With the increased negative attention to them, the actors soon stopped socializing with one another. On the group's camaraderie, Ally Sheedy later said the article "just destroyed it. I had felt truly a part of something, and that guy just blew it to pieces."

Legacy
During the late 1980s, several of the Brat Pack actors had their careers mildly derailed by problems relating to drugs, alcohol, and in Lowe's case, a sex tape. According to Susannah Gora, "Many believe they could have gone on to more serious roles if not for that article. They were talented. But they had professional difficulties, personal difficulties after that." By the 21st century, the term "Brat Pack" had lost its negative connotation.

The films themselves have been described as representative of "the socially apathetic, cynical, money-possessed and ideologically barren eighties generation." They made frequent use of adolescent archetypes, were often set in the suburbs surrounding Chicago, and focused on middle-class teenage angst. According to author Susannah Gora, these films "changed the way many young people looked at everything from class distinction to friendship, from love to sex and fashion to music." They are considered "among the most influential pop cultural contributions of their time."

In 2012, Entertainment Weekly listed The Breakfast Club as the best high school movie ever made. On VH1's 2006 list of the 100 greatest teen stars, Molly Ringwald was ranked No. 1, Rob Lowe was ranked No. 2, Anthony Michael Hall was ranked No. 4, Ally Sheedy was ranked No. 34, and Andrew McCarthy was ranked No. 40.

In 2020, Estevez expressed frustration at the persistence of the "Brat Pack" name, saying "That [term] will be on my tombstone ... It's annoying because Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon have worked together more than any of us have. We just made two movies and somehow it morphed into something else."

Filmography
Beyond the two primary films, there is no generally accepted list of "Brat Pack" movies. While Blum's article credits Taps as the first Brat Pack movie, the list of movies below represents the more traditional filmography, with each movie including at least two core members in starring roles:

Other 1980s films, many with similar coming-of-age themes, that starred only one core Brat Pack actor with one or more close contributors include:
 * Tex (1982) with Emilio Estevez and Matt Dillon
 * WarGames (1983) with Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick
 * Bad Boys (1983) with Ally Sheedy and Sean Penn
 * Repo Man (1984) with Emilio Estevez and Olivia Barash
 * No Small Affair (1984) with Demi Moore and Jon Cryer
 * Heaven Help Us (1985) with Andrew McCarthy and Mary Stuart Masterson
 * Weird Science (1985) with Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr.
 * One Crazy Summer (1986) with Demi Moore and John Cusack
 * Youngblood (1986) with Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze
 * The Pick-up Artist (1987) with Molly Ringwald and Robert Downey Jr.
 * Less than Zero (1987) with Andrew McCarthy, Jami Gertz, Robert Downey Jr., and James Spader
 * Mannequin (1987) with Andrew McCarthy and James Spader
 * Johnny Be Good (1988) with Anthony Michael Hall and Robert Downey Jr.
 * Young Guns (1988) with Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, and Kiefer Sutherland
 * Kansas (1988) with Andrew McCarthy and Matt Dillon
 * We're No Angels (1989) with Demi Moore and Sean Penn
 * Young Guns II (1990) with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland
 * Bad Influence (1990) with Rob Lowe and James Spader

Some films have been dubbed "Brat Pack movies" despite having no stars from the core membership, including 1984's Red Dawn with C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Grey, Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton, Patrick Swayze, and Lea Thompson, 1986's Ferris Bueller's Day Off which starred Matthew Broderick with Grey and Sheen in supporting roles and 1987's The Lost Boys with Kiefer Sutherland and Jami Gertz in key roles.

Later acting careers
Many of the Brat Pack members have continued to act past the 1980s.

 * Molly Ringwald continued acting in films throughout the 1990s and in 2001, began performing as Sally Bowles in the Broadway revival of Cabaret. In 2013, she released a jazz record called Except Sometimes. She also began starring in television shows such as The Secret Life of the American Teenager and Riverdale.
 * Rob Lowe saw a massive downturn in his career following a 1988 sex tape scandal, while his opening number at the 61st Academy Awards (1989) further aggravated his image and career and eventually his film career declined. However, his career saw a resurgence when he ventured back into television with The West Wing and since has had significant roles in various television shows including Brothers & Sisters (2006–2010), Parks and Recreation (2010–2014), and currently stars on 9-1-1: Lone Star (2020–present).
 * Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson also continued to act. Nelson has performed on three seasons of the show Suddenly Susan and Bad Kids Go to Hell. Estevez would star in several films, with the most notable being The Mighty Ducks trilogy, and would go on to have a career as a director.
 * Ally Sheedy has acted, mostly in independent productions like Kyle XY, and also teaches at LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts.
 * Andrew McCarthy has acted steadily in smaller TV and film roles and later began directing TV shows such as Gossip Girl, The Blacklist starring James Spader and Orange Is the New Black. In 2022, he joined the cast of The Resident. In 2024, he released the documentary Brats chronicling the Brat Pack.
 * Anthony Michael Hall starred as Bill Gates in the 1999 television film Pirates of Silicon Valley and eventually overcame his geeky persona by starring in lead roles such as that of the TV series The Dead Zone (2002–2007) for six seasons.
 * Demi Moore starred in the blockbuster Ghost (1990). She followed this success with leading roles in consecutive box office hits: A Few Good Men (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), Disclosure (1994) and by the mid-90s became the highest paid actress. However, her starring roles in The Scarlet Letter (1995), The Juror (1996), Striptease (1996), and G.I. Jane (1997) were widely panned and marked the end of her career as a leading actress.

title: Brat Pack