Tears for Fears
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Tears for Fears |
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Tears for Fears (sometimes abbreviated to TFF or T4F) are a popular English 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 burgeoning wave of synthesizer bands of the early 1980s, but quickly branched out into mainstream chart success. Tears for Fears have sold more than 22 million albums worldwide (including over 8 million in the United States alone).
Career
Formation
Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in their home town of Bath, England. Their professional debut came with the band Graduate, a Mod Revival/New Wave act drawing on the major influences of the time, including The Jam and Elvis Costello. In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska" (referring to Elvis Costello, not Presley). The single just missed the Top 100 in the UK, though it performed well in Spain and in the Netherlands.
By 1981, Orzabal and Smith were becoming more influenced by artists such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno. They departed from Graduate and formed a band called History of Headaches, a moniker which was then changed to Tears for Fears. The plan was for Orzabal and Smith to form the nucleus of the group and bring in surrounding musicians to help them complete the picture.
Tears for Fears were signed to Phonogram Records, UK in 1981 by A&R manager Dave Bates. Their first single as Tears for Fears, "Suffer the Children" (produced by David Lord), was released on that label in November 1981, followed by the first edition of "Pale Shelter" (produced by Mike Howlett) in March 1982.
Derivation of band name
The band's name is derived from the primal therapy treatment of the same name developed by Arthur Janov, which was made famous after John Lennon became Janov's patient. In a 2004 interview with VH1 UK, Orzabal and Smith said that when they finally met Janov in the mid-80s, they were disillusioned to find that he had become quite "Hollywood" and wanted the band to write a musical.
Eras and albums
The Hurting and first international successes
The band's third single "Mad World" hit the top 3 in the UK in November 1982. Their first album, The Hurting, was released in March 1983. For this LP (and the next), keyboard player and composer Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias were considered full members of the band, though Smith and Orzabal were still essentially the frontmen and public face of the band.
The album, produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, showcased synthesizer-based songs with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter childhood and upbringing. The Hurting can be considered Tears for Fears' only true concept album, as references to emotional distress and primal therapy are found in nearly every song. The album strongly bears the behind the scenes influence of Daniel Lichtblau, commonly thought of as the "fifth" T4F member, owing to his premature departure from the group just as they were on the cusp of real fame. Some say his haircut at the time even resembled Pete Best's. In any case, Lichtblau, a pianist, was a big proponent of the "double keyboard" effect that characterizes their early sound and is prevalent on this album. The album itself was a big success and had a lengthy chart run (65 weeks) in the UK, where it reached no.1 - also reaching the Top 20 in several countries and yielded the international hit singles "Mad World" (top 5 hit in South Africa), "Change" (top 30 hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy and South Africa), and a re-recorded version of "Pale Shelter" (all of which were top 5 in the UK).
Towards the end of 1983 the record company released a new, slightly more abstract single, "The Way You Are", to keep the band in the public eye 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 (captured on the "In My Mind's Eye" live video release). The single, which heavily featured sampling and programmed rhythms, led to a departure in Tears for Fears' musical approach. In the liner notes to their B-sides album "Saturnine, Martial and Lunatic" they wrote that "this was the point we realised we had to change direction", although the somewhat experimental style of the single continued to be reflected to some extent in their forthcoming B-sides.
Songs from the Big Chair and worldwide fame
A change of direction was initially instigated as they began working with a new producer, Jeremy Green, on their new single "Mothers Talk" in early 1984, but the band were ultimately unhappy with the results and so producer Chris Hughes was brought back into the fold and the "Mothers Talk" single reproduced for release in August 1984. A distinct departure from their earlier works, the single became a top 20 hit in the UK, but it was the follow-up single "Shout" (released in the UK in November 1984) that was the real beginning of the band's golden age.
This top 5 hit paved the way for the long-awaited second album Songs from the Big Chair (released in February 1985), which entered the UK album chart at no.2 and remained in the upper reaches of the chart for the next 12 months. With this album, Orzabal and Smith lessened their preoccupation with pop psychology and turned their attention to wider themes, including the global politics of the Reagan-Thatcher era. They did away with the predominantly synth-pop feel of the first album, instead expanding into a more sophisticated sound that would become the band's stylistic hallmark. Anchored around the creative hub of producer Hughes, Stanley and Orzabal, the new Tears for Fears sound helped to propel Songs from the Big Chair into becoming one of the year's biggest global sellers and achieve quintuple-platinum sales status in the U.S. (where it remained the no.1 album for five weeks).
The album's success was in conjunction to the array of hit singles it yielded: "Mothers Talk" (the first to be released in the UK, but the last to be released in the US in a remixed form), "Shout" (#4 UK, #1 in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc., and a huge hit in other territories, in fact one of the biggest of the eighties), "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", (their biggest UK and Irish hit at #2 and another #1 in the U.S. and in Canada), "Head Over Heels" (UK #12, US #3, Ireland #5, Canada #8) and "I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording)" (UK #23 and Ireland #10). Some territories even saw the release of limited edition 10" singles for these hits, 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. During this tour, Orzabal and Smith discovered an American female singer/pianist, Oleta Adams, who was performing in a Kansas City, Missouri hotel bar, with whom they invited to collaborate on their next album.
The album's title was inspired by the book and television mini-series Sybil, the chronicle of a woman with multiple personality disorder who sought refuge in her analyst's "big chair", Orzabal and Smith stating that they felt each of the album's songs had a distinctive personality of its own. The band had a song entitled "The Big Chair" which they had put on the B-side to "Shout" but decided not to include on the album. They also released a video collection/documentary entitled "Scenes From The Big Chair" the same year, while their first two earliest singles were re-released, both reaching the UK Top 75. In 1986, upon completion of the lengthy and exhausting Big Chair world tour, Manny Elias left the group.
Also in 1986, Orzabal and Stanley collaborated together on a side project named "Mancrab". They released one 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 featuring vocals by US singer/dancer Eddie Thomas.
Live Aid
In 1985, Tears for Fears was scheduled to perform at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia for Bob Geldof's Live Aid charity event; 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 Saunders and saxophonist Will Gregory, due to the expiration of their contract. In place of appearing, the band pledged to donate proceeds from their world tour played in Tokyo, Sydney, London and New York.
In 1988, a slightly rewritten version of one of their biggest hits was recorded and released for the British fund-raising 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" (#5 in the UK and #4 in Ireland). They were indirectly involved in the earlier Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" of 1986 which featured a slowed down sample from their song "The Hurting" in the introduction.
The Seeds of Love and the end of an era
It was 1989 before the group released its third album, The Seeds of Love (on which Ian Stanley appeared for the last time as a TFF member), at a reported production cost of over a million pounds. The album was written largely by Orzabal along with keyboardist Nicky Holland, who had toured with the band on their global 1985 "Big Chair" tour. Moving from various studios and using various sets of producers, the band decided to take the reins themselves with assistance from engineer Dave Bascombe. Much of the material was recorded in jam-sessions and later edited down. The length of the production left the band with lumbering debt and a record-company eager to cash in on lost earnings. 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 evident in the hit single "Sowing the Seeds of Love" - the first record ever played on Atlantic 252, the UK and Ireland Longwave Radio station. Another single was "Woman in Chains" (Top 30 hit in the UK, in France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, etc.), on which Phil Collins played drums and Oleta Adams — whom Orzabal would later guide to a successful solo career — shared vocals. The album was a worldwide success, entering the UK album charts at no.1, making the Top 10 in the US (though charting lower there than its multi-platinum predecessor) and in numerous countries, and eventually going on to sell millions of copies worldwide. The band set out on an extensive "Seeds of Love" tour sponsored by Philips to start recovering the debt incurred. The show would be captured on the "Going to California" video as the singles "Advice For The Young At Heart" and "Famous Last Words" delivered some moderate chart success.
A 64-page companion book, simply titled "Tears for Fears - The Seeds of Love", was released by Virgin Books in 1990 and offered extensive insight from Orzabal, Holland and Adams into the songwriting and production process for the album, as well as the musical scores for each track and rare promotional photographs from the era.
Breakup and solo careers
After The Seeds of Love, Orzabal and Smith had an acrimonious falling out.Though only in their late twenties, the two had been in the musical spotlight for nearly a decade. Moreover, they were no longer the angst-ridden teenagers they had been when they first met. The split was blamed on Orzabal's intricate but frustrating approach to production and Smith's desire to slow down the pace of their work. As well, Smith had also been deeply affected by the breakdown of his marriage to Lynn Altman, whom he had met in his teens. Orzabal kept the band name alive by releasing the 1992 hit single "Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)" in order to promote the greatest hits collection Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92) which featured every Top 20 hit single to date (in the UK and internationally) apart from the Sport Aid fundraiser. Over the course of the 1990s, Curt and Roland would launch thinly-veiled attacks on each other via their music.
Smith relocated to New York City and took several years to recover from the spotlight. In 1993 he recorded the album Soul On Board. The album was subsequently a commercial failure and Smith himself has said on numerous occasions that he despised it, alleging that he only made it in order to fulfill his recording contract. In 1995 he met local songwriter and producer Charlton Pettus. The two formed a self-described "organic" partnership, writing simple, melody-based songs and recording them at home on vintage analog equipment.
From 1996 to 1998 their band, Mayfield, performed occasional sets in clubs throughout Greenwich Village and SoHo including Brownie's, the Mercury Lounge, and CBGB. The band's name is actually a play on the name Curtis Mayfield (i.e.: "Curt is Mayfield"). As a live band, Mayfield performed with minimal production and no commercial obligations, and Smith's sense of musicianship was rekindled for the first time since his teenage years.
Eschewing major record labels, Smith formed his own label, Zerodisc, to release Mayfield's music, and was an early advocate of using the internet to share and distribute music outside the mainstream industry. The Mayfield album was released online in 1997, and released to stores in 1998. Another album, Aeroplane was released in 1999. This was essentially a 6-track EP in the US that included new renditions of two TFF tracks, but was released as a 15-track album elsewhere which incorporated the tracks from the Mayfield album. Aeroplane was released under Smith's own name (rather than as "Mayfield"), and is therefore officially his second solo album. Smith also took on the management or co-management of several independent bands and musicians.
Smith cut nine demos for a third solo album, Halfway, Pleased, in 2002. After making the demo tracks available on his web site, he set the project aside for several years until the recording and promotion for 'Everybody Loves a Happy Ending' had run its course. One of the Halfway Pleased tracks, "Who You Are", was recorded for Happy Ending in a slightly different version. Halfway, Pleased was mastered by Tim Palmer in 2006 and released on French label XIII Bis Records in April 2007. On the Web site for the album, Smith included prose stories behind two of the songs, revealing the title track to be a memoir of his mother's postnatal depression and Perfect Day to be the final thoughts of a fictional suicide bomber.
Second line-up and Elemental /Raoul and the Kings of Spain
In 1993, Orzabal (still under the name Tears for Fears) released the album Elemental together with longtime collaborator Alan Griffiths and co-producer Tim Palmer. It yielded the international hit "Break It Down Again" (Top 20 in the UK, France, Italy, the Netherlands, etc.) and was supported with a successful U.S. college tour, where "Break It Down Again" reached #25.
Despite being regarded by some faithful as "an album without Smith", many found this LP to be an enjoyable blend of good songwriting and creative production. The album was top 5 in the UK and France and top 30 in several other countries. But it charted considerably lower in the US than the previous two studio albums, though was still certified Gold status for sales of over half a million copies there. The singles "Cold", "Elemental" and "Goodnight Song" met with minor chart success in certain territories.
Orzabal, still working with Griffiths and Palmer, released another Tears for Fears album in 1995, Raoul and the Kings of Spain, a more contemplative work that delved into his own Spanish heritage and showed a new Latin musical influence (Raoul was originally the name Orzabal's parents wanted to give him, and is also the name of his own first son). Orzabal stated that it was not a concept album but that there was a theme, namely that of familial relationships. Although it continued Tears for Fears' legacy of outstanding songwriting, big production values, and varied influences, the album was not a commercial success by Tears for Fears standards, though minor chart success came via the single release of the title track (top 40 in the UK) and (to a lesser extent) the single "God's Mistake". Raoul and the Kings of Spain also included a reunion with Oleta Adams who collaborated with Orzabal on the track "Me and My Big Ideas".
A worldwide tour, which included a frenzied welcome in Latin America, had the effect of straining Orzabal's energies rather than supporting them. The release of Raoul was delayed for nearly a year due to a last-minute label switch from Mercury to Epic, and the ensuing confusion (Mercury had already begun promotion) did not help the album's chances either. Although the tracklisting for the album had been changed at the record company's request, Sony did not extend Tears for Fears' contract.
In 1996 a B-sides collection, Saturnine Martial & Lunatic, was released on Mercury, which included B-sides and some rare tracks from the successful 1982-93 period. The liner notes by Orzabal and Hughes gave fans an insight into the songwriting process as well as a rare glimpse of self-deprecating humour regarding the tracks which they would rather forget.
Remastering
In 1999, Mercury Records released remastered editions of Tears for Fears' first three albums which included B-sides, remixes, and extended versions. Supervised by producer Chris Hughes it proved to be a meticulous effort bringing new clarity to the recordings. As with Saturnine, the liner notes provided rich background and new insights into the music to even longtime fans. The remasters also had the effect of establishing Tears for Fears as definitive artists, helping them to escape the dreaded "80s band" moniker.
The dizzying array of record company mergers and acquisitions in the late 1990s eventually placed Tears for Fears' back catalogue into the Universal fold.
After undertaking production work (and some songwriting) for Icelandic singer/songwriter Emiliana Torrini on her acclaimed 1999 album "Love In The Time Of Science", Orzabal reteamed with Griffiths and released the album Tomcats Screaming Outside, released on Eagle Records as a solo project under his own name. Whereas Tears for Fears' work had become guitar-based, Tomcats Screaming Outside showcased a predominantly electronic style and a darker approach. The album was released in April 2001 in the UK and Europe, but had the unfortunate coincidence to be released on September 11, 2001 in the US, the same day the United States experienced its worst-ever terrorist attack, and ultimately drew little notice outside the group's core fan base.
Reunion: Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
In 2000, routine paperwork obligations led to Orzabal and Smith's first conversation in almost a decade. The two patched up their differences and Orzabal flew to Smith's home in Los Angeles for what they assumed would be a hesitant attempt at songwriting.
The songwriting sessions, which included Charlton Pettus, Smith's collaborator from the Mayfield years, went so well that fourteen songs were written and recorded in less than six months. The ensuing album, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, is in many ways a natural successor to The Seeds of Love, featuring vibrant Beatles-esque melodies, solid songwriting, and turns of phrase, but the album also has a free spirit that Orzabal and Smith would have shunned in their earlier, more serious years. This spirit is largely the work of co-writer and producer Charlton Pettus, who succeeded at the formidable task of welding Orzabal's lush songwriting with the live energy of Smith's Mayfield shows. Indeed, one of the highest compliments paid to the album was one reviewer's comment that "John Lennon and Paul McCartney are alive and well."[citation needed]
The twelve-track album was scheduled for release on Arista Records in late 2003, but a change in management at Arista led to a last-minute label switch to New Door, a new offshoot of Universal, and delayed the release until September 14, 2004. Two successful U.S. tours followed. The 2004 tour included an unrehearsed guest appearance by Oleta Adams at the Kansas City show for a performance of "Woman in Chains". The song "Who Killed Tangerine?" was used in the movie Fever Pitch starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore.
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending was released in the UK and Europe in March 2005 on Gut Records, shortly after the comeback single "Closest Thing To Heaven" became the first Tears for Fears UK Top 40 hit in a decade. The promo video for the single was a colourful fantasy, featuring Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy riding in a hot air balloon. The European releases of the album contained all fourteen tracks written and recorded during the ELAHE sessions. A brief tour of larger UK venues followed in April.
A performance at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, recorded in June 2005, was released on CD and DVD in France and Benelux, as Secret World Live in Paris on the XIII Bis label in early 2006 and became an instant bestseller, with over 70,000 physical copies sold in addition to downloads. The CD contained one new studio song, "Floating Down the River", and a remastered Mayfield track, "What Are We Fighting For?". The relationship with XIII Bis proved so successful that Smith chose the comparatively small French label to release his 2007 solo album, Halfway, Pleased.
In 2006, the classic Songs from the Big Chair album got the deluxe treatment with additional B-sides and rarities added, expanding even further from the 1999 remastered version. The release was presented with care and did not include the lyrics as the artists had intended with the original release, but came with a 24 page booklet including rare photographs and newly written liner notes. The two-disc set contained four sections, including one with the album taken from the original remasters from 1999. It also included the piano version of "The Working Hour" which had previously only been available as a rare promotional item, as well as numerous B-sides, and the 7" versions of the singles (including the aforementioned "The Way You Are" and the 1986 US remix of "Mothers Talk"). The last section showed the true 80s effect of five remixes, heavily reliant on sequencers, sampling and programming.
In 2005 the band began discussions for the release of an anthology which would be issued with their own involvement, as opposed to the frequent release of numerous greatest hits collections, compilations, DVDs, and repackaged reissues of the same which are usually issued by record companies without the band's involvement or blessing. Despite best intentions, record company backtracking delayed the release until 2006, by which time the release was an unremarkable compilation issued as part of Hip-O's generic "Gold" series and not a true anthology.
The band played the Night of the Proms festival in Belgium and the Netherlands in Fall 2006 and Belgium, France, and Spain in Spring 2007.
In late July 2007, the band embarked on a mini tour of the western United States. Their Costa Mesa show included an opening performance by Gary Jules.
Impact and influence
Musical legacy
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (October 2007) |
In the song "In Love With the 80s (Pink Tux to the Prom)", rock band Relient K pays tribute to Tears for Fears with a line in the chorus, "And my favourite band will always be Tears for Fears".
In an appearance on the UK television programme Saturday Superstore on 7 December 1985, Paul McCartney stated that his current favourite band at that time were none other than Tears for Fears.
Their song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was the theme song for Dennis Miller's HBO show Dennis Miller Live and was featured in the 1985 comedy film Real Genius and in the opening titles for the 1992 British dramedy Peter's Friends starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, as well as the 1997 comedy Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion starring Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino. It can also be heard in the background during a scene in the 2006 comedy Click. This song also appears in the episode Everybody Hates A Part-Time Job of the TV series Everybody Hates Chris.
Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dulé Hill) "cover" TFF's "Shout" in American Duo, the Season 2 premiere episode of the USA Network series Psych, Shawn as Roland Orzabal and Gus as Michael Jackson.
A haunting cover of "Mad World" by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules was featured on the soundtrack to the sci-fi film Donnie Darko and reached UK Number 1 spot for Christmas 2003. "Head Over Heels" was also used in the film. Despite chart-topping success in the USA, Tears for Fears themselves had yet to reach the top spot in their native country. The timing of the Gary Jules "Mad World" cover led many critics to accuse Tears for Fears of reforming to capitalise financially on the single's success, when in fact they had reformed years before the cover was recorded.
The success of the single also led to the re-emergence of the Tears Roll Down greatest hits album, which returned to the UK top ten (#6) and spent eight weeks in the album chart, a dozen years after its release.
This same cover of "Mad World" is also used in a trailer for the Xbox 360 game Gears of War and caused the song to become number one for a time on the iTunes music store.[1]
Disturbed covered "Shout" on their first album, The Sickness.
The song "Pale Shelter" is featured in the 2002 PlayStation 2 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as part of the New wave radio station Wave 103.
In early 2004, Universal Music reprinted the first three albums for sale in the UK following the success of the Andrews/Jules cover.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World was covered by Isha on her album Time and Again in 2004, and by JamisonParker for the CD Punk Goes 80's in 2005.
In a nod to quantum physics, the band recorded a b-side called Schrödinger's Cat, and there is a lyrical reference in God's Mistake to Einstein's famous quote, "God does not play dice."
Metalcore band Evergreen Terrace covered the song "Mad World" on their album Writer's Block.
Australian electro rock band Rogue Traders included the melody from "Head Over Heels" in their 2006 hit "In Love Again" which received heavy radio play in Australia in 2006 / 2007. The song was also used in an Australian television advertisement for Australian Channel 10 drama 'Neighbours' in mid 2007, where the 'Head Over Heels' melody featured prominently.
Punk rock legend Patti Smith covered "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" on her album Twelve.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World was featured in the RTS game World in Conflict.
Synth-Punk band, "The Emotron," mentions Everybody Wants to Rule the World as a lyric in his song "80's Nightmare"
Avant-Jazz group The Bad Plus does an interpretation of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" on their recent album, Prog.
The first episode of the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime is called Tears For Fears.
Discography
| Year | Album | UK | US | BPI Certification | RIAA Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | The Hurting | 1 | 73 | Platinum | Gold |
| 1985 | Songs from the Big Chair | 2 | 1 | 3x Platinum | 5x Platinum |
| 1989 | The Seeds of Love | 1 | 8 | Platinum | Platinum |
| 1992 | Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92) | 2 | 53 | 2x Platinum | Platinum |
| 1993 | Elemental | 5 | 45 | Silver | Gold |
| 1995 | Raoul and the Kings of Spain | 41 | 79 | - | - |
| 2004/2005 | Everybody Loves a Happy Ending | 45 | 46 | - | - |
See also
- List of number-one hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
References