Clever and introspective, but blessed with the power to write down arena-sized songs with a common enchantment, Tears For Fears have been placing their stamp on pop music of high quality and distinction for many years.
Throughout that point, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have achieved issues most bands can solely dream of. They hit the bottom operating with UK chart-topping debut, The Hurting in 1983 and jostled for place among the many world’s greatest bands when their second, 1985’s Songs from the Huge Chair, offered over 8 million copies and turned them into superstars. But success got here at a worth – the duo cut up acrimoniously after their third album, 1989’s The Seeds Of Love, with Orzabal issuing two Tears For Fears albums, Elemental and Raoul And The Kings Of Spain underneath his personal steam throughout the Nineteen Nineties.
Fortunately, the pair reunited for 2004’s fittingly-titled All people Loves A Comfortable Ending and made a triumphant comeback with 2022’s The Tipping Level: a return to type which took the group to the highest of the Billboard Albums Chart.
Teenage angst
(Undergo the Kids; Begin of the Breakdown; Mad World; I Imagine; Shout)
Hailing from Bathtub, just some miles from Bristol within the south-west of England, bassist/vocalist Curt Smith began his profession in a Insanity-influenced ska-pop band named Graduate. His pal, guitarist, vocalist and budding songwriter Roland Orzabal initially leaned in the direction of heavy rock outfits corresponding to Led Zeppelin. However after the boys found a shared love of the UK’s main post-punk acts, they got down to make music collectively.
“I feel we were given a cultural green light by Joy Division and Echo & The Bunnymen, to wear black and be dour and melancholic,” Orzabal informed Report Collector in 2014. The Remedy’s Seventeen Seconds and Religion – I heard all these albums, they have been enjoying in golf equipment and bars, even in Bathtub. Clearly, [Joy Division’s] “Love Will Tear Us Apart” was successful and never simply an underground factor.”
Orzabal and Smith shaped Tears For Fears in 1981 and “Suffer The Children,” one of many first two songs they demoed, landed them a cope with Phonogram. Produced by David Lord (Peter Gabriel, XTC) and recorded at his Crescent Studio in Bathtub, the track was launched because the band’s first single and provided the duo an opportunity to experiment with the synths, sequencers, and drum machines they initially leaned closely upon.
Later described by Report Collector as “like a pop version of Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures,” Tears For Fears’ debut album, The Hurting, adopted “Suffer The Children” in specializing in themes of kid abuse, psychological trauma, and melancholy, although they normally paired their lyrics to profitable, electronic-tinged melodies, guaranteeing that songs corresponding to “Start Of The Breakdown” and “Mad World” went down straightforward. The evocative “Mad World” completely mirrored teenage angst and confusion, and it rewarded Tears For Fears with their breakthrough hit when it climbed to No. 3 within the UK.
Because of “Mad World,” The Hurting took Tears For Fears out of their bedrooms and hurled them onto the worldwide stage. Nevertheless, they weren’t snug within the glare of the highlight. Like John Lennon and Mick Jagger earlier than them, Orzabal and Smith have been influenced by US psychologist Arthur Janov’s ebook The Primal Scream, based mostly on the thought of treating psychological sickness by repeatedly descending into, feeling, and experiencing long-repressed childhood ache. This philosophy impressed a brand new batch of songs which offered private catharsis, but in addition considerably furthered their profession. Orzabal’s lovely ballad, “I Believe” was instantly influenced by the contents of The Primal Scream, as was the band’s world breakthrough hit, the anthemic “Shout,” which topped the Billboard Scorching 100 within the late summer time of 1985.
Socio-political intrigue
(All people Needs to Rule the World; Hear; Sowing the Seeds of Love; No Small Factor; My Demons)
Along with turning Orzabal and Smith into family names, “Shout” chimed with a few of the most potent protest songs of the day corresponding to Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Two Tribes” and The Type Council’s “Walls Come Tumbling Down.” Its success inspired them to write down extra songs with socio-political content material for Songs From The Huge Chair. These included the enigmatic Chilly Struggle commentary “Listen” and the track that’s since turn into Tears For Fears’ signature hit, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World.” Launched by Orzabal’s cyclical guitar determine and sung with feeling by Smith, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” topped the US charts and gained a BRIT award – and revealed you would credibly combine pop with politics in any case.
Tears For Fears pulled off an analogous trick with 1989’s “Sowing The Seeds Of Love,” which married a wonderful widescreen melody with an indignant lyric (“Politician granny with your high ideals/Have you no idea how the majority feels?”) expressing dissatisfaction about Margaret Thatcher’s re-election for a 3rd time period because the UK’s prime minister.
The band have continued to combine the private with the political ever since, with songs from The Tipping Level, such because the highly effective, folk-flavored “No Small Thing” confronting points such because the erosion of non-public freedoms. Arguably much more potent is similar file’s brooding “My Demons”: a commentary on surveillance, CCTV, and “the satellites in space that spy on us with charm and grace.”
The female perspective
(Mom’s Speak; Lady in Chains; Break the Man; Please Be Comfortable; Finish of Evening)
Along with boasting songs of a socio-political bent, Songs From The Huge Chair additionally included the dramatic “Mother’s Talk,” considered one of a bunch of Tears For Fears songs to undertake a feminist stance. This dramatic track juxtaposed themes of motherhood and the specter of nuclear warfare, but it was nonetheless catchy sufficient to attain Prime 30 success within the US and UK.
Notably extra specific was considered one of The Seeds Of Love’s key tracks, “Woman In Chains.” Penned by Roland Orzabal, this stately ballad celebrates the thought of how the world’s matriarchal societies are typically extra harmonious (“They have the woman at the center and these societies are a lot less violent, a lot less greedy, and there’s generally less animosity,” Orzabal stated in a Melody Maker interview). Orzabal sang it as an impassioned duet with visitor vocalist and pianist Oleta Adams, a performer who later loved a profitable solo profession in her personal proper.
Regardless of its high quality, “Woman in Chains” solely troubled the decrease reaches of the US Prime 40, but it surely’s now rightly considered considered one of Tears For Fears’ signature songs. In future, The Tipping Level’s “Break the Man” might be regarded in an analogous gentle because it’s one other potent pro-feminist outing, this time co-written by Curt Smith and guitarist Charlton Pettus. Although considered one of The Tipping Level’s most glowing pop songs, “Break the Man” features a considerate lyric about righting the gender imbalance within the trendy world (“She’s the mother who turns back father time”).
It’s considered one of a number of nice songs from the band’s 2022 album which considers life, love and loss from a female perspective. To this finish, “End Of Night” is a strong exhortation of a girl’s knowledge (“She showed me the world within and told me no need to worry about the world”), whereas the poignant “Please Be Happy” was all too private for Orzabal because it mirrored on the alcohol-related dementia which killed his spouse, Caroline, in 2017.
Sonic innovators
(Change; Head Over Heels; Recommendation for the Younger at Coronary heart; Raoul & The Kings of Spain; Rivers of Mercy)
Tim Palmer, who produced Tears For Fears’ fourth album, Elemental, as soon as stated of Roland Orzabal that “he likes to keep going ‘til it’s perfect” and it’s true that the majority TFF data are the results of intense quantities of studio time. Nevertheless, the band’s need to innovate has at all times stored tempo with their quest for pop perfection.
Impressed by the primary wave of British synth-pop acts corresponding to The Human League, Tender Cell, and OMD throughout their early days, the band have been fast to include synths, sequencers, and drum machines. Because of this, their debut album, The Hurting, sounded bang on pattern in 1983, with a track such because the pressing “Change” among the many tracks reflecting the duo’s innate means to mix introspection with bracing, radio-friendly tunes.
After The Hurting’s platinum yield, Tears For Fears might simply have served up extra of the identical, however they rapidly moved on. Having launched into a prolonged bout of touring to help their debut, they made the notably extra outward-looking Songs For The Huge Chair, including guitars and Manny Elias’ drums to the combination and making a much bigger, extra organic-sounding file which included two enormous hits (“Shout,” “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”) however is maybe finest exemplified by the plush, widescreen pop of “Head Over Heels.”
Tears For Fears have been arguably one of many world’s greatest bands after they started work on their third album, The Seeds Of Love. The classes have been protracted for this huge finances title and 4 years elapsed earlier than it was launched. Roland Orzabal was eager to ditch a few of the expertise that facilitated the band of their early days, however whereas the album was influenced by blues, jazz, and The Beatles’ psychedelic interval, it was nonetheless epic in scope, with the soulful, Curt Smith-sung “Advice For The Young At Heart” displaying that the band continued to progress apace.
Orzabal and Smith hit their lowest ebb throughout the Nineteen Nineties, with the pair (briefly, because it turned out) splitting in 1991. Orzabal sailed the ship on his personal for a lot of the decade, releasing two underrated albums, Elemental and Raoul & The Kings Of Spain, whereas once more pursuing a contemporary sonic agenda. Each titles are worthy of reappraisal, with Orzabal delving into his personal Spanish heritage on the unsung Raoul & The Kings Of Spain.
For the reason that new millennium, although, Tears For Fears have returned to doing what they do finest. Their reunion was brokered by 2004’s All people Loves A Comfortable Ending and the band ended one other prolonged absence with 2022’s glorious The Tipping Level. The latter is crammed wall-to-wall with glorious tracks, however the dreamy, multi-layered “Rivers Of Mercy” is especially particular and its high quality means that – regardless of their wealthy historical past – Tears For Fears are nonetheless setting the bar excessive for releases but to come back.
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