10 Best Tears For Fears Songs

Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal began their recording careers in a terrible band named Graduate, known for the track ‘Elvis Should Play Ska’.

Resenting the control of the other, non-songwriting members, Orzabal and Smith formed the duo Tears for Fears. They were immediately successful – their 1983 debut, The Hurting, topped the UK charts, while 1985’s Songs From The Big Chair also conquered the States. They succeeded despite writing complex songs, with their early lyrics inspired by psychiatrist Arthur Janov.

They went through drama – an overblown (but enjoyable) third album leading to a split, with Orzabal taking charge of the band in the 1990s. The group have only released seven studio albums – here are their best tracks.

10 Best Tears for Fears Songs

#10 Secrets

from Raoul and the Kings of Spain, 1995
Tears for Fears was an Orzabal solo project during the 1990s. His two albums during the solo era are surprisingly strong, heroically recreating the Tears for Fears sound. Raoul and the Kings of Spain is a concept album, reflecting Orzabal’s Spanish heritage.

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#9 Cold

from Elemental, 1993
‘Cold’ was written about an encounter with a photographer in Germany trying to photograph Orzabal on stage. Orzabal kept turning his face away, giving her the cold shoulder. He later received a note from her saying, “how can someone who makes such warm music be so cold?”

Tears for Fears’ two 1990s albums are surprisingly strong. Orzabal’s an overlooked guitarist, and his guitar work gives the records some muscle.

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#8 Mad World

from The Hurting, 1983
‘Mad World’ was Tears for Fears’ first hit single, reaching #3 on the UK charts. It’s notable for its resemblance to Cat Stevens’ ‘Matthew and Son’.

Michael Andrews and Gary Jules later covered ‘Mad World’ for the movie Donnie Darko.

That came when I lived above a pizza restaurant in Bath and I could look out onto the centre of the city. Not that Bath is very mad – I should have called it “Bourgeois World”!

Roland Orzabal, The Hurting CD booklet

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#7 Memories Fade

from The Hurting, 1983
The Hurting is a distinctive album, employing an icy, minimal synth-pop sound. The album’s lyrics often focus on the pair’s interest in Arthur Janov’s primal scream therapy, helping them to deal with their childhood trauma.

Kanye West later interpolated ‘Memories Fade’ into his track ‘Coldest Winter’.

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#6 Woman in Chains

from The Seeds of Love, 1989
‘Woman in Chains’ opens Tears for Fears’ most ambitious album. It’s a grandiose production, featuring gospel duet vocals from Oleta Adams, whom Orzabal and Smith discovered singing in a Kansas City hotel. It also features two drummers – Manu Katché starts off the track, while Phil Collins’ hard-hitting drums enter at 3:32.

In contemporary interviews, Orzabal explained ‘A Woman in Chains’ as a feminist anthem, or about men supressing their feminine side. But in 2021 he told Louder “it was really about my mother. At one point in her life she was a stripper. My father and she ran an entertainment agency from a council house in Portsmouth. So she would go out to strip, and my father would send a driver out with her to spy on her. If she talked to another man, when she came back he would beat her up. So it’s about domestic abuse.”

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#5 Rivers of Mercy

from The Tipping Point, 2022
The Tipping Point is Tears for Fears’ best record since the 1980s, with Smith and Orzabal back together and tapping into their epic melancholy sound. The standout track is ‘Rivers of Mercy’.

‘Rivers of Mercy’ was inspired by the 2020 COVID lockdowns. It recalls Peter Gabriel’s solo work, with its atmospheric, spiritual feel.

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#4 Pale Shelter

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#3 Head Over Heels

from Songs From the Big Chair, 1985
‘Head Over Heels’ has one of the best introductions in pop/rock music. The chords alternate between C and D, building tension. Just when you’d expect a resolution to G, the song instead lifts to A major, giving the song a triumphant opening.

It features an iconic music video with Orzabal romancing a staunch librarian. It was later parodied on Literal Music Videos.

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#2 Sowing the Seeds of Love

from The Seeds of Love, 1989
There’s a clear Beatles influence to ‘Sowing the Seeds of Love’ – the psychedelic haze of the verse and the baroque instrumentation recall the summer of love. Like other Tears for Fears tracks, it showcases the contrast between the pair’s vocal styles – Orzabal’s intensity in the verses, and Smith’s soaring tenor in the chorus.

It’s political, with Orzabal taking aim at Margaret Thatcher – “Politician granny with your high ideals / Have you no idea how the majority feels?”

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#1 Everybody Wants to Rule the World

from Songs From the Big Chair, 1985
Surprisingly, ‘Everybody Wants To Rule the World’ was only the third single from Songs From the Big Chair. It only just made the album – it was a last-minute addition after Orzabal played a brief snippet on the acoustic guitar to producer Chris Hughes. The song was originally titled “Everybody wants to go to war”, but was workshopped, eventually becoming a warm, streamlined hit song. Orzabal plays the first guitar solo, while Smith and Orzabal share lead vocals.

The song was born from Orzabal playing around with a drum machine. He told Guitar Player:

I would copy the drum parts from certain records into the drum machine. It gave me confidence knowing that had produced a great song, and I would write to those beats. [One of those rhythms was from “Waterfront” by Simple Minds.] Just that simple ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump. So that was the bass drum and the snare. There was another track by Lynx called ‘Throw Away the Key,’ and that had a very strange high-hat part. And I had this other pattern to counteract the high-hat part and put that in.

I tuned my guitar’s E string down to D, and I came up with this riff. I didn’t really think anything of it, to be honest with you. It didn’t have the depth of the other material I’d been working on. But my wife at the time liked it. So I thought, Okay, maybe I’m wrong.

Roland Orzabal, Guitar Player

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