Post by Jules on Jan 7, 2016 16:48:14 GMT
Tears for Fears are a British band that was founded in 1981. It was founded originally as a duo by Roland Orzabal (vocals, guitar, and keyboards) and Curt Smith (vocals, bass, and keyboards), later augmented by keyboardist Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias, plus various touring band members. Both were born 1961 in Bath, a few months apart, and had been friends since school. They had been in the bands Graduate and Neon (the latter of which also gave way to the band Naked Eyes) but weren’t satisfied with either group. At the same time, Roland had been turned onto “The Primal Scream”, the famous book by the American psychotherapist Arthur Janov, and in turn got Curt interested in Janov’s theories as well. As both had experienced not quite happy childhoods, the idea that bad things happening to you as children get suppressed and have negative effects on your later life plus the proposed “Primal Therapy” model, something John Lennon had also tried out, made sense to them and became the initial creative theme. This theme translated not only into the music and lyrics, but also the band name itself as Janov suggests ‘replacing fears with tears’ (i.e. reliving those childhood traumas as a means of catharsis, to get rid of things like phobias) and Curt turned this into the catchy phrase “tears for fears”. The music that was most interesting to the two young musicians at the time was sophisticated electronic pop, with the likes of Gary Numan, Peter Gabriel, The Talking Heads, David Bowie, Joy Division and The Thompson Twins often cited as influences. However, as following albums would embrace a larger stylistic palette, the influence of The Beatles and other musicians outside the synthpop umbrella (e.g. Robert Wyatt) became more apparent.
After the UK success of “The Hurting” (released 1983), thanks to three hit singles (“Mad World”, “Change” and “Pale Shelter”), the follow-up 1985 album “Songs from the Big Chair” made TFF worldwide stars, containing no less than three absolute 80s classics in “Shout”, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Head over Heels”. After the SFTBC tour, TFF took a pause before struggling heavily with the third album, which eventually took three years and a lot of money before finally being released as “The Seeds of Love” in 1989. Creative differences as well as other disagreements over financial and personal issues led to friction and eventually the breakdown of the friendship between Curt and Roland, the latter carrying on as the only official member of TFF in the 90s. “Elemental” (1993) and “Raoul and the Kings of Spain” (1995) are popular with TFF fans but didn't achieve the same commercial success as their predecessors. The band ceased to exist in 1996 but was reformed by Roland and Curt after they had begun talking to each other again in 2000. The result of the renewed collaboration was the studio album “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” in 2004. Ever since then, they have been playing live and more recently started working on a new album, which is due for release this year (2016).
After the UK success of “The Hurting” (released 1983), thanks to three hit singles (“Mad World”, “Change” and “Pale Shelter”), the follow-up 1985 album “Songs from the Big Chair” made TFF worldwide stars, containing no less than three absolute 80s classics in “Shout”, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Head over Heels”. After the SFTBC tour, TFF took a pause before struggling heavily with the third album, which eventually took three years and a lot of money before finally being released as “The Seeds of Love” in 1989. Creative differences as well as other disagreements over financial and personal issues led to friction and eventually the breakdown of the friendship between Curt and Roland, the latter carrying on as the only official member of TFF in the 90s. “Elemental” (1993) and “Raoul and the Kings of Spain” (1995) are popular with TFF fans but didn't achieve the same commercial success as their predecessors. The band ceased to exist in 1996 but was reformed by Roland and Curt after they had begun talking to each other again in 2000. The result of the renewed collaboration was the studio album “Everybody Loves a Happy Ending” in 2004. Ever since then, they have been playing live and more recently started working on a new album, which is due for release this year (2016).