I’m still reeling from the news that John Hughes passed away yesterday at 59. While he’d stopped directing films about 18 years ago and hadn’t written much in recent years, the body of work he leaves behind from the ’80s and early ’90s continues to resonate with audiences today. That puts him in a rare league, indeed.

During his career, Hughes aimed his pen at both the younger and older ends of the spectrum (Home Alone and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles), but what’s obvious from the outpouring of remembrances is that the spotlight is fixed right in the center, celebrating his teen-themed films: Sixteen Candles. The Breakfast Club. Pretty In Pink. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Some Kind Of Wonderful.

These movies arrived just several years shy of the start of my own high school years. He thoughtfully captured the awkwardness, confusion, and frustration of being a teenager, while never forgetting the joy and exhilaration. His brilliant mix of the highs and the lows, small moments and happy endings, all so real in dialogue and action (well, perhaps less so in Ferris), made me look forward to walking taller-lockered halls, and figuring out where I fit in this strange new universe. And anxious, too, but Hughes’ films provided some comfort that everything was going to be all right. Parents would make mistakes but apologize. Friends might fight, but come around in the end. Geeks could get the girl. Ferris would be saved, though sweet red convertibles might face a different fate.

Geography most certainly played a part in making these stories so real and reachable to me. Hughes set his films in and around Chicago, just a half-hour’s drive from where I grew up. I, too, listened to WGN (heard at the start of Sixteen Candles) and WLS (in Ferris Bueller), had watched the Cubs play at Wrigley Field, etc. My sister, lucky enough to be in high school at the time, snagged me a Ferris Bueller movie poster, and its “Leisure Rules” message headlined my bedroom for several years, even making the trip to my college dorm.

For me, an essential part of Hughes’ films was the music. Cue the start to the Thompson Twins’ “If You Were Here,” and Sam and Jake are inching closer across a table to share a kiss (while you hope their moment doesn’t go up in flames, thanks to those sixteen candles blazing brightly on the cake). Turn up The Beatles’ “Twist And Shout,” and there’s Ferris on a float in the middle of the Loop. Play The Dream Academy’s cover of “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want,” and you’re staring at the beautiful works on display at The Art Institute.

For me, the entire soundtracks to Pretty In Pink and Some Kind Of Wonderful were life-changing. On Infinite Repeat™ back then, first cassette and later CD, I still play those two from beginning to end today, each having earned permanent residence on my iPod. As I write this, my framed picture-sleeve of OMD’s “If You Leave” is displayed nearby. Hughes was inspired to write Pretty In Pink after hearing The Psychedelic Furs’ original 1981 song of the same name. And while Furs fans might feel otherwise, I’ll always prefer the version the band re-recorded for the film’s soundtrack:

So, yes, John Hughes’ films spoke to a generation, and I think that’s why today we feel like something deep within us has shifted. Who didn’t hold out a tiny bit of hope that he would return to helm the long-rumored Breakfast Club sequel? But if it wasn’t for Hughes’ love of music, I may never have discovered some of the coolest sounds of my life.