About the artist
Tears for Fears are an English pop and rock duo formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, childhood friends who had earlier played together in the mod-influenced band Graduate. Taking their name from a concept in primal therapy, they built an early sound around synthesizers, drum machines and introspective, often political lyrics, breaking through in 1982 with «Mad World» and the 1983 album The Hurting.
Their international breakthrough came with 1985's Songs from the Big Chair, which shifted toward a bigger, more polished pop-rock sound and produced the global hits «Shout» and «Everybody Wants to Rule the World». The follow-up, The Seeds of Love (1989), leaned into Beatles-esque psychedelia and lush production, topping the UK charts before the duo split in 1991, with Orzabal continuing the band name through the 1990s while Smith pursued solo work.
Orzabal and Smith reunited in the 2000s, releasing Everybody Loves a Happy Ending in 2004 and later The Tipping Point in 2022. Across four decades, Tears for Fears have remained a touchstone of 1980s synth-pop and art-rock, admired for melding emotionally raw songwriting with widescreen studio craft, and their catalog continues to be sampled, covered and rediscovered by new generations.
Popular tracks
- 1
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
en - 2
Mad World
en - 3
Head Over Heels / Broken
en - 4
Shout
Een - 5
Sowing the Seeds of Love
en - 6
Head Over Heels
en - 7
Woman in Chains
en - 8
Pale Shelter
en - 9
Break It Down Again
en - 10
The Working Hour
en - 11
Listen
en - 12
Memories Fade
en - 13
Mothers Talk
en - 14
Advice for the Young at Heart
en - 15
Watch Me Bleed
en - 16
Everybody Wants to Run the World
en - 17
I Love You But I’m Lost
en - 18
Change
en - 19
I Believe
en - 20
Broken
en - 21
The Hurting
en - 22
Badman’s Song
en - 23
The Tipping Point
Een - 24
The Girl That I Call Home
en - 25
Goodnight Song
en - 26
Ideas as Opiates
en - 27
The World Is Yours To Take
Een - 28
Suffer the Children
en
Frequently asked questions
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Discography
Songs for a Nervous Planet
2024
Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Sped Up Version)
2022
The Tipping Point
2022
The Seeds of Love (Super Deluxe)
2020
The Sun (45's & B-Sides)
2020
The Wind (Demos, Diversions & Jams)
2020
Rule the World: The Greatest Hits
2017
Edited Songs from the Big Chair
2014
Remixed Songs from the Big Chair
2014
Unreleased Songs from the Big Chair
2014
Ready Boy & Girls? (EP)
2014
Everybody Wants to Rule the World: The Collection
2013
Famous Last Words: The Collection
2007
Everybody Loves a Happy Ending
2004
Shout: The Very Best of Tears for Fears
2001
Classic
2000
Saturnine Martial & Lunatic
1996
Secrets - Single
1996
Raoul and the Kings of Spain
1995
God’s Mistake - Single
1995
Raoul and the Kings of Spain - Single
1995
Elemental - Single
1994
Goodnight Song - Single
1993
Cold - Single
1993
Elemental
1993
Break It Down Again - Single
1993
Woman in Chains (1992) - Single
1992
Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82–92)
1992
Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down) - Single
1992
Tears Laid Low (A Tears For Fears Alter Collection)
1992
Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams - Single
1991
Famous Last Words - Single
1990
Advice for the Young at Heart - Single
1990
Woman in Chains (1989) - Single
1989
The Seeds of Love
1989
Sowing the Seeds of Love - Single
1989
Five Tracks from Songs from the Big Chair
1989
Everybody Wants to Run the World - Single
1986
Mothers Talk (U.S. Remix) - Single
1986
I Believe (A Soulful Re-Recording) - Single
1985
Head Over Heels - Single
1985
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Single
1985
Songs from the Big Chair
1985
Shout - Single
1984
Mothers Talk - Single
1984
The Way You Are - Single
1983
Pale Shelter - Single
1983
The Hurting
1983
Change - Single
1983
Mad World - Single
1982
Pale Shelter (You Don’t Give Me Love) - Single
1982
Suffer the Children - Single
1981
