ALBUMEverybody Loves a Happy EndingTears for Fears
ALBUMSaturnine Martial & LunaticTears for Fears
ALBUMRaoul and the Kings of Spain (Expanded Edition)Tears for Fears
ALBUMElementalTears for Fears
ALBUMThe Seeds Of Love (Super Deluxe)Tears for Fears
ALBUMSongs from the Big ChairTears for Fears
ALBUMThe HurtingTears for Fears
Tears for Fears's Popular Music Videos
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Tears for Fears
Everybody Wants To Rule The World
Tears for Fears
Shout
Tears for Fears
Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)
Tears for Fears
Woman In Chains
Tears for Fears
Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Alternative Version)
Tears for Fears
Mad World
Tears for Fears
Sowing The Seeds Of Love
Tears for Fears
The Tipping Point
Tears for Fears
Shout
Tears for Fears
Artist Playlists
Tears for Fears Essentials
Dark, percussive synth-pop that helped define a generation.
Tears for Fears: Chill
Lean back and relax with some of their mellowest cuts.
Tears for Fears: Sampled
Their original tunes have been the source material for some of modern music’s biggest hits.
About Tears for Fears
Artist Biography
After the dissolution of their first group, a mod outfit called Graduate, in 1981, childhood friends Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal (along with keyboardist Ian Stanley) set out to form England’s next big synth band. But while they were aiming for Duran Duran, they ended up with “Mad World”, a darkly relatable song that offered an early sign that Tears for Fears were more contemplative. After all, they took their name from Arthur Janov's book on primal therapy and imbued their lyrics with many of his ideas, like the lines concerning dreams about dying on “Mad World”. Their 1983 debut album, The Hurting, earned them success in the UK, but their 1985 follow-up LP, Songs from the Big Chair, introduced their sobering pop to the world. First, there was the brash “Shout”, which paired synths with a catchy chorus, metal guitars and a rumination on political protest, and then the plaintive sing-along hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”, which tapped into Cold War anxiety. Four years later, they returned with a soulful, Beatles-esque sound for 1989’s The Seeds Of Love, featuring "Sowing The Seeds Of Love", the band’s reaction against Thatcherism and most overtly political single to date. Smith left the band shortly after, but Orzabal persevered, releasing Elemental in 1993, buoyed by the pop-rock anthem “Break It Down Again”, and 1995’s Raoul and the Kings of Spain. After Gary Jules’ cover of “Mad World” was featured in 2001’s Donnie Darko, Smith and Orzabal reunited for 2004’s aptly titled Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. That title may have sounded final, but it wasn’t the end. Eighteen years later, the two returned with The Tipping Point, their seventh studio album. They’d toiled on the record for years, working with several contemporary songwriters—but only when the duo sat down together and began writing on acoustic guitars did the album begin to flow. “Albums for us should be a journey,” they told Apple Music. The Tipping Point proves that if there’s a will to keep going, no journey is ever finished.
Hometown
Bath, England
Genre
Pop
Similar to: Tears for Fears
Discover more music and artists similar to Tears for Fears, like Duran Duran, Simple Minds, a-ha