From the opening drums on “If You Leave” to the closing trembles of the mandolin on “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” the soundtrack for Pretty in Pink is front to back everything I love.

There’s something to be said for a record you can share your soul with. I know that’s a statement most people wouldn’t allow for a compilation soundtrack, but many of John Hughes’ soundtracks were different than most. Each was like a love letter to his movies and characters that could be shared with fans.

As a teenager, I deeply related to Andie Walsh. Not the whole “being torn between two men” thing (because let’s face it, I was no Molly Ringwald when I was 17), but the sort of inability to fit in knowing you were destined for something better. As the Suzanne Vega song says, “f you want me you can find me / Left of center off of the strip / In the outskirts and in the fringes / In the corner out of the grip.” It takes an outsider to know one. Plus she worked at an ultra-cool record store.

Still my dream job.

In 2012, there was a special Record Store Day release that was numbered and came on a bright pink vinyl. It’s super lovely, but unfortunately this isn’t it. I do have some comfort in knowing that if I was a teenager in 1984, I would still be buying this copy. This specific copy was found in an antique mall – just peering from the stacks waiting for me to pick it up. I had been a massive fan of the movie and its soundtrack and knew we belonged together.

And Jon Cryer’s Duckie remains to be the ultimate in cool/’we’re pretending he’s actually a dork.’ I know I’m married and everything, but this character still remains one of my biggest crushes. As I watched this movie growing up, I knew I needed to be with someone who loved Otis Redding as much as I did. Found him.

Anyway, I mean just watch this clip of Cryer reviving his classic character on this week’s Late Late Show. He’s still just as cool:

The soundtrack is full of what are now considered many of 80s alternative staples like OMD, The Smiths, New Order and Echo & the Bunnymen. But in 1986, not many of these bands were massive names in the States. John knew what songs would help create the character of the music-obsessed Andie: all the must-haves with the carefully selected odd track by fringe bands like Belouis Some.

This particular record holds such a part in my heart. Even though I’ve grown a bit older, this still sounds how it feels to be…me.

I was definitely born in the wrong era.