Album: Songs From The Big Chair
Artist: Tears For Fears
Artist: Tears For Fears
Born: Bath, Somerset
Released: February 1985
Genre: New Wave
Influenced: Smashing Pumpkins, Pulp, Tori Amis, Fugees, Radiohead
As we enter 1985, a time when I was just 5-6 years old, I'm now for the first time writing about songs (not yet albums!) that entered my consciousness when they were released. I have a pretty hazy, vague memory of hearing Everybody Wants To Rule The World as a young kid, and the song definitely triggers a Proustian response, taking me back to my carefree younger days. For this reason, I was a bit hesitant about putting Tears For Fears and Songs From The Big Chair on this list, fearful that my critical faculties had been numbed by a strong dose of nostalgia. Yes, the production on some of these tracks is very dated and yes, there's a lot of 80s melodrama, but what surprised me on recent listens is how good the songwriting is and how daring the arrangements. Like many British bands that emerged at this time, Tears For Fears started out as an experimental post-punk / synthpop act (debut album The Hurting explores their obsession with primal therapy, a fact rooted in the band's name) but later developed a new wave pop sheen. Songs From The Big Chair continues these themes of therapy, notably on hit single Shout, but also ups the intensity with a string of hit singles.
Film director Richard Kelly's use of Head Over Heels, as well as the early Tears For Fears' song Mad World (covered by Gary Jules), in sci-fi teen-angst epic Donnie Darko, brought the songs to a new generation in 2001. Both US No.1 singles that appear on the LP, Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule The World, are unashamedly commercial but beneath the slick surface linger concerns about the modern world, be it ecology ("turn your back on Mother Nature") or war ("in violent times / you shouldn't have to sell your soul"). Mothers Talk was another hit single and original in its use of sampling, adding drama to a song that explores fears about nuclear war, while I Believe was written for Robert Wyatt and has an atmosphere that clearly pays homage to his unique sound (it was released as a single with a cover of Wyatt's Sea Song as the B-side). Tears For Fears somehow managed to retain their artistic credibility, with an album that works as a cohesive whole, while at the same time winning chart success. In the year that Back To The Future was released, nothing takes me back to 1985 better than listening to Songs From The Big Chair.
As we enter 1985, a time when I was just 5-6 years old, I'm now for the first time writing about songs (not yet albums!) that entered my consciousness when they were released. I have a pretty hazy, vague memory of hearing Everybody Wants To Rule The World as a young kid, and the song definitely triggers a Proustian response, taking me back to my carefree younger days. For this reason, I was a bit hesitant about putting Tears For Fears and Songs From The Big Chair on this list, fearful that my critical faculties had been numbed by a strong dose of nostalgia. Yes, the production on some of these tracks is very dated and yes, there's a lot of 80s melodrama, but what surprised me on recent listens is how good the songwriting is and how daring the arrangements. Like many British bands that emerged at this time, Tears For Fears started out as an experimental post-punk / synthpop act (debut album The Hurting explores their obsession with primal therapy, a fact rooted in the band's name) but later developed a new wave pop sheen. Songs From The Big Chair continues these themes of therapy, notably on hit single Shout, but also ups the intensity with a string of hit singles.
Film director Richard Kelly's use of Head Over Heels, as well as the early Tears For Fears' song Mad World (covered by Gary Jules), in sci-fi teen-angst epic Donnie Darko, brought the songs to a new generation in 2001. Both US No.1 singles that appear on the LP, Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule The World, are unashamedly commercial but beneath the slick surface linger concerns about the modern world, be it ecology ("turn your back on Mother Nature") or war ("in violent times / you shouldn't have to sell your soul"). Mothers Talk was another hit single and original in its use of sampling, adding drama to a song that explores fears about nuclear war, while I Believe was written for Robert Wyatt and has an atmosphere that clearly pays homage to his unique sound (it was released as a single with a cover of Wyatt's Sea Song as the B-side). Tears For Fears somehow managed to retain their artistic credibility, with an album that works as a cohesive whole, while at the same time winning chart success. In the year that Back To The Future was released, nothing takes me back to 1985 better than listening to Songs From The Big Chair.
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