Tears For Fears

I like Break it Down Again, from the later years (early 90s?). Never liked their 80s-era stuff much.

I preferred their earlier work.

It's not their best song by far and it isn't even my favorite song of their's but "Sowing the Seeds of Love" is my jam. I WILL sing along, very loudly, when it comes on the radio.

The whole Seeds of Love album was fantastic! I can't believe that was released in 1989. Jesus, time flies. I used to love Tears for Fears. They were my very first concert. This was a favorite of mine...

I think their music still holds up today, it's timeless

The one song that defined the '80s.

R2 is correct. The Hurting is their best album.

You wanted to be with me alone... to talk about the weather.

Loved TfF. One of my favorites is one most people don’t seem to care for: The Way You Are.

It reminds me much of the 9 1/2 years I worked alone on Saturdays at my job. 12-hour Saturdays, every single one, doing payroll, safety audits, etc.

I played much background music or popped in a VHS of a movie to have some kind of noise in the background.

That song and What a Lot of Flowers by Richard Harris (!—yeah... I listen to pretty much anything from 1963-1986), every time I hear them, remind me of those quiet and lonely days. 5:30-5:30.

“ SHOUT... SHOUT.... LET IT ALL OUT... “

Ugly ugly ugly with a huge mouth

"YOU DON'T GIVE ME LOVE!" The album version intro is a thing of beauty.

What next? A communard’s thread? Simple minds ? Sumply Red? Jeez.

Simply red? But sumply works fine.

Did anybody's straight brother call the group "Tears for Queers?" Mine did. Isn't that hilarious?

Pale Shelter is their best song.

This thread takes me back to a happy time. Thank you OP.

Weezer just covered one of their songs. They performed with TFT on Kimmel not too long ago.

Roland looks like Jon Cryer.

Roland has the biggest mouth on the planet. Incredibly ugly too.

awesome song

LOVE Pale Shelter, have from the first moment I heard it. Definitely brings those early years in the 80s rushing back...

Curt Smith was hot.

They knew that the record label was going to make a big push to break them in America so the band wanted a song that appealed to Americans.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World went #1 in the US.

Orzibald ugly

Curt looks better now than he did back then. Poor Roland was and is, um, unfortunate looking.

Woman in Chains is another great one

Ugly

I remember seeing them in concert in Detroit. They commented on how strange it was to see 24 hour convenience stores in the US.

I love the Elemental Album that came out in ‘93. IMO it’s the bands best album and ironically Curt had left the band.

Oleta Adams broke up the band as she was the Yoko Ono of Tears for Fears

did Miss OP think we all don't have Wikipedia?

Or radios?

My 15 year old cousin had this playing on the car stereo when she plugged up the garage doors and carbon monoxide-ed herself in the 80s.

My favorite Oleta song

"Shout" was the first song of theirs I heard and then "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," but out of their initial hits, "Head Over Heals" was by far my favourite. I'm also a big fan of "Sowing the Seeds" and "Break It Down Again." I like "Woman in Chains" in too. Out of those four, I'd put "Break It Down Again" on top.

Their music was really emotional pop. It has aged better than some other music of that era. I was really surprised that they toured successfully recently and were able to reproduce their sound with some fidelity. Their sound seemed heavily engineered and “fiddled with”. I don’t listen much to it today, but when I do hear it, it reminds me of being very young and trying on identities at that formative time in life. It’s not too unpleasant. I think Shout was a giant summer hit.

I hate, "Sowing the Seeds of Love". So opposite of their angsty angst. Now, "Pale Shelter" or "Change", I'll play any day.

PIEEERCE!!! BRING MUSIC - TEARS FOR FEARS, PIERCE!

Pale Shelter was the first music video I saw on a show called Friday Night Videos out of Canada.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World is one of those songs that I never grow tired of. It came out during one of the best summers I had as a kid in Austin, Tx..

Thanks for this thread, OP. One of the greatest bands ever in my opinion. I have all of their albums and still listen to them to this day. Their music is just as good now as it was back in the '80s.

Tears for fears is, like, a really lousy trade.

When I was younger, I thought "Break It Down Again" was a song about tearing down Western Civilisation.

But, it seems to be more about getting back to the basics when things get too complicated and overwhelming and seeing things from a different perspective (which could still be about tearing down Western Civilisation and starting over again). I think it's also about dealing with depression.

It sounds so inspirational and upbeat. I love it.

Sorry.

When I hear Tears for Fears, I'm transported to a certain place and time. The music makes me sad and really touches me. Makes me remember a time of firsts: first heartbreak, etc.

"Head over Heels" is probably my favorite TFF song, especially when he sings, "In my mind's eye ..."

I'm surprised no one has written "Head Over Heels." Granted, it was behind Shout and Everybody Wants to Rule the World in popularity. I love it. It's so infectious and his voice is gorgeous.

The video's setting makes me think of the Ghostbusters library scene for some reason. Maybe it was the flying card catalogue. It's so innocent, in that Mentos commercial kind-of-way. It reminds me of a time when I wasn't a superficial prick and looked at life through rose-coloured glasses (granted, I was 11 at the time). Society sure beats it out of you.

Of course, most people don't associate it with Tears for Fears, but the Donnie Darko version of Mad World by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules made me appreciate the original. I used to prefer the darker, stripped-down cover, but the original has grown on me considerably, especially the chorus. I love it more now. It's off their original album. It was Top 3 U.K. and never released/charted in the U.S.

It fits very much into the music I enjoy from that era: Echo & the Bunnymen, Oingo Boingo, U2, etc.

As a younger gay boy, Curt Smith got my attention. "Pale Shelter", "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Mad World" were my favorites.

R45, OMG, you beat me by a minute lol

R48, "Pale Shelter" is a good one, thanks!

Also, my Spidey-sense tells me that GapPlayListGuy will be posting shortly ...

Actually, though I love some of their earlier songs, my favorite album is "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending."

I loved "The Hurting" and wore that record out. I hated everything else Tears for Fears put out after that.

Their music makes me long for my youth

The Hurting and Songs have both been reissued in lavish box sets. Many thought Seeds of Love would get a 30th anniversary last year but it didn't. Hopefully one day.

Agree with everybody here - their songs have not aged at all. Great songwriting, production, vocals. Timeless.

Advice for the Young at Heart is such a beautiful song.

I saw them in concert a few years back and they were excellent.

Weird coincidence that I was just watching this and then came here and this thread was here.

I know he sucks now but this was such a great opening...

'Sowing the Seeds' verses have an 'I am the Walrus' vibe to them.

Curt Smith is a hot daddy now.

Greatest Hits essential.

R9 I l freaking ove "The Way You Are"!!! Listen to it all the time. What an odd song, it's just brilliant. R4, TFF were my first concert too. R2 The Hurting is definitely their most creative and groundbreaking work. What a debut!

I used to have Roland Orzibal dreams at night --in 6th grade. I was madly in love with him.

From "...Big Chair" think "The Working Hour" is a fairly underrated masterpiece. That entire record kills it.

But from "Sowing the Seeds of Love" onward, something changed. They completely lost their New Wave roots and went Adult Contemporary. I remember feeling soooooo disappointed by that release. Cuz we had to wait a long time for it.

After that, Curt left the band. So there's a few records where its just Roland carrying on as Tears For Fears but it is essentially solo Roland. From that era, "Raoul and the Kings of Spain" is by far the best album. Got some magical moments. I am glad they are back together though, because solo Roland is not TFF. Sorry!

....

The Way You Are has been on my playlist for the past month. FYI: Neither Roland nor Curt hurt like that song.

About 10 years ago, Roland was standing in front of me at the checkout at Ralph’s market on Ventura and Coldwater in the valley. He kept turning around staring at me. I’m not sure why. But I never spoke to him.

R62 Are you the one with the crush, was there some grab ass going on?

No, and I'm female.

My brother and I used to refer to Roland as Duckie when we were kids due to his Jon Cryer resemblance.

Roland and the chick from Face to Face look like they could be brother and sister...

“New Star” from the Threesome soundtrack is a good one.

For you Roland fans, here's a shirtless Roland in the video for "I Believe." (Yes, very high-waisted jeans.)

Unfortunately, I see Jerry Seinfeld in Roland and can't unsee it.

Roland's hair is arguably a curly mullet.

His nuts must have been strangulating!

R62, perhaps he thought he knew you from somewhere.

Poor Roland, he lost his wife of 35 years in 2017, sort of out of nowhere. "Natural causes" but she weren't that old. Mid-50s.

R33 [quote]when she plugged up the garage doors and carbon monoxide-ed herself in the 80s

Everybody wants to rule the world

Hot Roland

I loved this when it came out but now I can’t stand it.