Today’s song is another example of one I’ve grown to love more over the years. It isn’t that I disliked it during the 80s – I always thought it was a decent enough tune, though no more than that. However, these days, I appreciate just how much of a classic it truly is. I’m really pleased to share my thoughts on Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World.
The artist
Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith first met in Bath in the 1970s and immediately bonded over their love of rock music. Quickly forming their first band, Graduate, they played mod / new wave music influenced by artists such as The Jam and two-tone music. In 1980, they released the album Acting My Age and the single Elvis Should Play Ska, which narrowly missed the UK pop chart. Graduate ended in 1981 and as Orzabal and Smith continued to work together, particularly as session musicians, they became more influenced by the synth-pop sounds of the time, from artists such as Gary Numan / Tubeway Army, OMD, Depeche Mode, and The Human League. Working as a duo, they initially went by the name of History of Headaches, though they soon switched to Tears for Fears, a name inspired by primal therapy developed by the American psychologist Arthur Janov.
Signing to Mercury Records in 1981, they released their first single, Suffer the Children, later that year, quickly followed by Pale Shelter in March 1982. Whilst neither release was successful, their third single, Mad World, reached number 3 in the UK in November 1982. Their first album, The Hurting, was released in March 1983 and showcased guitar and synthesizer-based songs with Orzabal-penned lyrics reflecting a difficult childhood and his interest in primal therapy (essentially a trauma-based psychotherapy which states that neurosis and mental disorders are primarily caused by the repressed pain of childhood trauma). This wasn’t necessarily the type of material to get the kids up and dancing on Saturday Superstore… Subsequent singles from the album, specifically Change and a re-recorded version of Pale Shelter, all reached the UK top five and firmly established the duo as one of the most successful bands of the era. Their fame sky-rocketed with the 1985 release of the album Songs from the Big Chair, which entered the UK charts at number 2 and remained in the upper reaches of the chart for around twelve months. Including the hit singles Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and Head Over Heels, the album is quite rightly regarded as a classic. The album’s title was inspired by the book Sybil, the chronicle of a woman with dissociative identity disorder who sought solace in her analyst’s “big chair”. Orzabal and Smith felt each of the album’s songs had a personality of its own – something which comes across quite clearly when listening to the album in its entirety.
Subsequent hits such as Sowing the Seeds of Love and Woman in Chains cemented the duo’s position as one of the most prominent British artists of the time and despite Olazabal and Smith splitting in 1991, they reunited during the early part of the 2000s. Thankfully, they continue to write and perform to this day.
Why I’ve chosen to write about this song
It is, without any doubt, one of the finest songs of the decade. Not just in terms of pop music, but across all genres. To these ears, it sounds as fresh today as it did back in 1985. I love everything about it. The production (by Chris Hughes) is clear and precise and the driving rhythm is something I adore in music – Orzabal recently admitted that this rhythm was influenced by the Simple Minds song Waterfront and I can definitely hear that (which is no bad thing for me, with that being another 80s song I adore). Another reason I like so many Tears for Fears songs is the serious (and at times quite dark) lyrics, which aren’t always instantly apparent. Smith has said the lyrics on this track reflect “everybody wanting power – it’s about warfare and the misery it causes”. Many summaries of the lyrics have interpreted them in slightly different ways, with one commentator claiming it to be a Cold War anthem, speaking to the anxieties of every age.
All that aside, as is often the case with me, there are some common elements which make it a classic song. Firstly, that riff! It isn’t quite as easy to play as it sounds, though it is a classic riff – it sets the scene perfectly for the rest of the song. The melodies are infectious and it contains one of the finest bridges of any 80s song (the section which begins ‘There’s a room where the light won’t find you’). Plus, and I have no idea why this hits home so much with me, I always listen to the song waiting patiently for the ‘Say that you’ll never never never never need it’ section at the 3 minute mark. Perhaps it’s how Smith delivers that section with such gusto, perhaps it’s the wonderful guitar part underpinning it. I’m not quite sure, though I can never resist singing those few lines out loud! Finally, I always love a pop song with a brilliant guitar solo, and that is certainly the case here – Orzabal is an incredibly talented (and underrated) player.
The video
I must admit – I have no idea what is going on in the video! A mixture of a band performance and then a series of scenes filmed in California, including Smith driving a vintage sports car (whilst, randomly, a child points toy guns in his direction), a plane, a prospector and his donkey, two men in suits performing a dance routine, and young people riding all terrain vehicles and dirt bikes through the desert. There may be a story behind all of this but, if there is, I’m certainly not getting it!
The stats
The song first charted at number 16 on 30th March 1985. Spending 17 weeks in the top 100, it peaked at number 2 on the 20th & 27th April charts. For the stats fans, the number one single during those weeks was We Are The World, by USA For Africa, whilst the number one album was the compilation Hits 2.
The song won the 1986 Brit Award for Best British Single.
Additionally, a revised version of the song, Everybody Wants to Run the World, was recorded for the Sport Aid fundraiser in 1986 and reached number 5 in the UK charts.
The cover version
An easy choice this time around, from an artist who I really do admire. Lorde covered the song for the 2013 film Hunger Games: Catching Fire. This version is much darker than the original, which is always a huge plus-point for me. Orzabal himself praised the cover, saying the band finds it interesting when their songs are reinterpreted, and they appreciated this version to such an extent, they used it to launch the shows during their Rule the World tour in 2018.
The wrap-up
There will be many artists who I will cover more than once within this blog and Tears for Fears absolutely fall into that category. There is so much to admire about them. Fantastic songwriters, their music immediately hits home, and I love the fact that their lyrics are always interesting and multi-layered – this certainly isn’t throwaway pop music (not that there’s anything wrong with that, btw). As already alluded to here, I am a big fan of music which veers slightly to a darker side, and songs such as Shout achieve the delicate balance of doing this and also being a huge hit. Everybody Wants to Rule the World is quite rightly regarded as an eighties pop classic. For me, it is one of the finest pop songs of that and any other decade. A timeless tune that I will never tire of listening to.
Best wishes.
Mick
