Tears for Fears
Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in Bath in 1981 by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the synth-pop bands of the 1980s, and attained international chart success as part of the Second British Invasion.
The band's debut album, The Hurting, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, and their first three hit singles – "Mad World", "Change", and "Pale Shelter" – all reached the top five in the UK Singles Chart. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair, reached number one on the US Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the US and the UK. The album contained two US Billboard Hot 100 number one hits: "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"; both songs reached the top five in the UK, and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" won the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986. Their belated follow-up album, The Seeds of Love, entered the UK chart at number one and yielded the transatlantic top five hit "Sowing the Seeds of Love".
After touring The Seeds of Love in 1990, Orzabal and Smith had an acrimonious split. Orzabal retained the Tears for Fears name as a solo project, releasing the albums Elemental – which produced the international hit "Break It Down Again" – and Raoul and the Kings of Spain. Orzabal and Smith reconciled in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, in 2004. The duo have toured on a semi-regular basis since then. After being in development for almost a decade, the band's seventh album, The Tipping Point, was released in 2022, giving the band their sixth UK top five album and their highest chart peak in thirty years and reaching the Top 10 in numerous other countries, including the US.
In 2021, Orzabal and Smith were honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for 'Outstanding Song Collection' recognising their "era-defining Tears for Fears albums" and "critically acclaimed, innovative hit singles".
History
Formation and influences
Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in Bath, Somerset, and bonded over their shared affection for rock groups like Thin Lizzy and Blue Öyster Cult. Their professional debut came with the band Graduate, a mod revival/new wave act whose influences included the Jam and two-tone music. In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska". The single just missed the UK pop chart, but performed well in Spain and in Switzerland. The band split in 1981. Shortly afterwards, Orzabal and Smith became session musicians for the band Neon, where they first met future Tears for Fears drummer Manny Elias. Neon also featured Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher, who went on to become Naked Eyes. The pair continued working together, drawing inspiration from artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno.Impressed by the synth-pop sound of Gary Numan's "Are 'Friends' Electric?", Orzabal and Smith began to explore the possibilities of electronic music. Their new creative direction was assured upon hearing the work of bands such as Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Depeche Mode and the Human League. Orzabal and Smith adopted the "duo" presentation they had seen popularised by the likes of OMD and Soft Cell, while Smash Hits compared their early fashion to that of the former. Orzabal was also influenced by post-punk band Joy Division, whose music explored themes of suicidal ideation.
The duo initially assumed the name History of Headaches. Their eventual Tears for Fears moniker was inspired by primal therapy, developed by the American psychologist Arthur Janov, which gained tremendous publicity after John Lennon became Janov's patient in 1970. When Orzabal and Smith finally met Janov in the mid-1980s, they were disillusioned to find he had become quite "Hollywood" and wanted the band to write a musical for him.
As Tears for Fears, Orzabal and Smith intended to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture. Around this time they met local musician Ian Stanley, who offered them free use of his home 8-track studio. Stanley began working with the duo as their keyboard-player and, after recording two demos, Tears for Fears were signed to Mercury Records in the UK in 1981 by A&R manager Dave Bates. Their first single, "Suffer the Children", produced by David Lord, was released on that label in November 1981, followed by the first edition of "Pale Shelter" in March 1982, but neither release was successful.
''The Hurting'' and first hit singles (1982–1983)
The band achieved their first success with their third single, "Mad World", which reached No. 3 in the UK in November 1982. Their first album, The Hurting, was released in March 1983.The album, produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, showcased guitar- and synthesizer-based songs with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter childhood and his interest in primal therapy. The album was a big success and had a lengthy chart run in the UK, where it reached number one and Platinum status. It also reached the top twenty in several other countries and yielded the international hit singles "Mad World", "Change", and a re-recorded version of "Pale Shelter". All three of these singles reached the top five in the UK.
Towards the end of 1983, the band released a new, slightly more experimental single, "The Way You Are", intended as a stopgap while they worked on their second album. The single was a top-30 hit in the UK, but did not come close to matching the success of their three previous hits, despite a national concert tour in December of that year. The single, which heavily featured sampling and programmed rhythms, was a departure from Tears for Fears' previous musical approach. In the liner notes to their 1996 B-sides compilation album Saturnine Martial & Lunatic they wrote "this was the point we realised we had to change direction", though the somewhat experimental style of the single continued to be reflected in their forthcoming B-sides.
''Songs from the Big Chair'' and worldwide fame (1984–1986)
In early 1984, they began working with a new producer, Jeremy Green, on their new single "Mothers Talk". However, the band were ultimately unhappy with the results and so producer Chris Hughes was brought back into the fold and the "Mothers Talk" single re-produced for release in August 1984. A departure from their earlier works, the single became a top-20 hit in the UK, but it was the follow-up single "Shout" that was the real beginning of the band's international fame."Shout", a top-5 UK hit, paved the way for their second album, Songs from the Big Chair, which entered the UK album chart at No. 2 and remained in the upper reaches of the chart for the next 12 months. They did away with the predominantly synthpop feel of the first album, instead expanding into a more sophisticated sound that would become the band's stylistic hallmark. Anchored on the creative hub of Orzabal, Stanley and producer Hughes, the new Tears for Fears sound helped to propel Songs from the Big Chair into becoming one of the year's biggest sellers worldwide, eventually being certified triple platinum in the UK and quintuple platinum in the US.
The album's title was inspired by the book and television miniseries Sybil, the chronicle of a woman with dissociative identity disorder who sought refuge in her analyst's "big chair", Orzabal and Smith stating they felt each of the album's songs had a distinctive personality of its own. The band had also recorded a track titled "The Big Chair", which was released as the B-side to "Shout" but was not included on the album.
The album's success came in conjunction with the array of hit singles it yielded: "Mothers Talk", "Shout", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", "Head over Heels", and "I Believe ". Some regions even saw the release of limited edition 10" singles for these hits, and a variety of double packs and picture discs in addition to the regular 7" and 12" formats.
Following the album's release, the band went on a world tour that lasted most of the year, playing notably at the Montreux Golden Rose Rock and Pop Festival in May 1985. In September 1985, the band performed "Shout" at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards at the Radio City Music Hall in New York. Also during the tour, Orzabal and Smith discovered an American female singer/pianist, Oleta Adams, who was performing in a Kansas City hotel bar, and whom they invited to collaborate on their next album. Towards the end of the year, they released a video collection/documentary titled Scenes from the Big Chair.
In February 1986, having completed the lengthy and exhausting Big Chair world tour, Tears for Fears were honoured at the 1986 Brit Awards in London, where they won the Best British Single award for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". The band was also nominated for Best British Group and Best British Album, and Chris Hughes was nominated for Best Producer. Tears for Fears performed the song at the ceremony, which became the final public performance of drummer Manny Elias who left the group shortly afterwards.
At the same time, the band was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo/Group and Favorite Pop/Rock Duo/Group Video Artist at the 1986 American Music Awards in Los Angeles; performing "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" during the TV show. And in April, a remixed version of "Mothers Talk" was released in North America, reaching the US Top 40.
The same year, Orzabal and Stanley worked together on a side project named Mancrab and released a single, "Fish for Life", which was written for the soundtrack of the film The Karate Kid, Part II. The track was written and produced by Orzabal and Stanley, and featured vocals by US singer/dancer Eddie Thomas, who was one of the dancers in the video for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".