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.

Musical Legacy

In 2003 the legacy of Tears For Fears re-emerged with some surprise when a haunting piano cover of their debut hit "Mad World," performed by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules reached the coveted UK Number 1 spot for Christmas 2003, due much in part to being featured on the soundtrack to the cult film Donnie Darko. Despite chart-topping success in the USA, Tears For Fears had yet to reach the top spot in their native country, and the cover marked "their" first Number 1. However, the coincidental timing of the Andrews/Jules single and the release of Tears for Fears' newest album, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, prompted some critics to accuse the band of capitalizing on the single's success for profit, although TFF wrote and recorded their new album before Andrews and Jules had recorded theirs.

Related Topics:
Mad World - Michael Andrews - Gary Jules - Donnie Darko

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The success of the single also led Tears for Fears' greatest hits album, Tears Roll Down, released in 1992, to spend eight weeks in the UK Top 40 a full twelve years after its release.

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Adding to that criticism of the band has been the fact that over the years, branches of Universal Records have released numerous "greatest hits" collections, compilations, DVDs, and repackaged reissues of the same, at times without the band's knowledge.

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To their credit, Universal reprinted the first three albums for sale in the UK in early 2004 following the success of the Andrews/Jules cover, and these sold in astonishing numbers.

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