Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears are a British pop band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, which emerged after the dissolution of their first band the mod influenced Graduate. They were initially associated with new wave and the New Romantic movements, but quickly branched out into mainstream chart success.

Albums

Their first album The Hurting (1983) featured synthesizer-based songs whose lyrics reflected Orzabal's bitter growing-up experiences with his parents. Its singles were "Mad World," "Change" and "Pale Shelter." A previously unheard single called "The Way You Are" was released at the very beginning of 1984 to keep the band in the spotlight while they worked on the second album. For The Hurting, keyboardist Ian Stanley and Drummer Manny Elias were considered full members of the band.

Related Topics:
1983 - Synthesizer - Ian Stanley - Manny Elias

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Their next album, Songs from the Big Chair (1985) - its title inspired by the 1976 US TV mini-series Sybil - broke free from the new-wave mold, featuring instead a big sound that would become the band's stylistic hallmark. Orzabal had been encouraged by producer Chris Hughes to pick up his guitar as he was a gifted player but wasn't using the instrument enough. Orzabal also took over the lion's share of lead vocal duty from Smith, who ended up with a comparative bit-part role of playing bass guitar.

Related Topics:
1985 - Sybil - Producer - Guitar - Bass guitar

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The album was a massive success on both sides of the Atlantic and yielded the hit singles "Mothers Talk"; "Shout"; "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"; "Head Over Heels" and "I Believe." The album title stemmed from the B-side to "Shout," which was a song called "The Big Chair," though this song was absent from the album itself. Following "Songs From the Big Chair," Stanley and Elias would leave the group.

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During 1985, a controversy broke out in regards to the band's plan to participate in Bob Geldof's Live Aid charity event. Tears For Fears was originally scheduled to perform at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, however on the morning of the historic event, July 13, 1985, it was announced that Tears For Fears had pulled out of the show. The official reason given for their non-appearance was that two of their backing musicians had quit - guitarist Andrew Saunte and saxophonist William Gregory. It was said that their contract expired. Instead, in place of appearing the band pledged to donate proceeds from their world tour played in Tokyo, Sydney, London and New York. However, six weeks later, it was revealed that the loss of the backing musicians was not the real reason for their non-appearance at Live Aid. The truth of the matter was that Orzabal questioned the practices of organizer Bob Geldof in raising money for famine relief in the first place. It was said that Geldof had actually pressured them into appearing by saying Tears For Fears would be 'responsible for the deaths of 'half a million Africans' if they did not perform. Smith responded back: "We both resented the way were made to feel guilty. Who is Bob Geldof to have the power to install guilt? I mean telling us that we personally would be held responsible for half a million lives if we didn't play..."He also hinted that we would get bad press. In my book that's blackmail" Curt fumed.

Related Topics:
1985 - Live Aid - JFK Stadium - Philadelphia - Andrew Saunte - William Gregory - Tokyo - Sydney - London - New York. - Bob Geldof

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In 1986, a slightly rewritten version of their biggest hit was recorded and released for the British fundraising initiative Sport Aid, a splinter project of Band Aid in which people took part in running races of varying length and seriousness to raise more money for African projects. The slogan was "I Ran The World"; therefore Tears For Fears released "Everybody Wants To Run The World." They were indirectly involved in the earlier Band Aid single Do they know it's Christmas? of 1984 which featured a slowed down sample of Mad World in the introduction.

Related Topics:
1986 - Recorded - Sport Aid - Band Aid - Africa - 1984 - Sample

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It was 1989 before the group released its third album, The Seeds of Love, at a reported production cost of over a quarter of a million dollars. The album retained the band's epic sound while showing increasing influences ranging from jazz and blues to The Beatles, the last of which is extremely evident in the hit single "Sowing the Seeds of Love." Another single was "Woman in Chains," on which Phil Collins played drums and Oleta Adams — whom Orzabal would guide to a successful solo career — shared vocals.

Related Topics:
1989 - The Seeds of Love - Jazz - Blues - The Beatles - Phil Collins - Oleta Adams

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