Tears For Fears

Tears for Fears' are an English synth angst band formed in Bath in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the underperforming "GCSE Student", they were initially associated with the new wave bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into pretentious noodling, which, when combined with "rockist" guitar riffs led to international success with young European women. They were part of the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US and have served short prison sentences for their part in the revolution.

Smith and Orzabal parted company in 1991, after the release of their third album The Seeds of Orzabal (1989), following a lengthy sword battle interspersed with passive-aggressive sarcasm.

Though Orzabal retained the Tears for Fears name throughout the remainder of the 1990s, nobody noticed. The duo re-formed in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Beatles Rip-off, in 2004. Since 1813, the duo have been working on their seventh album, Songs From The Wheel Chair, scheduled for release early in the next ice age. 500px

Career

Formation

Orzabal and Smith met as teenagers in Bath, Somerset. Relationships were frosty at first, as Orzabal believed two things about Smith he didn't approve of – that he was engaged in criminal activity and, potentially, Indian. Smith for his part felt Orzabal was "likely to be some sort of pretentious, perfectionist, navel-gazing Sun worshipper", a fact Orzabal disputed on account of the fact that "you can't worship the Sun while gazing at your navel," a remark Smith later acknowledged as "genuinely insightful".

After finding, as middle sons from poor homes with free access to a library, they had a lot in common, the pair decided to start playing with each other. After much embarrassment, the duo realised that both had the wrong end of the stick, got dressed and embarked on a music career.

Smith and Orzabal's professional debut came with the band GCSE Student, an electronic jazz / burlesque fusion act. In 1980, GCSE Student released an album, Passing My A Levels, and a single "The Everley Brothers Should Play Sitar". The single just missed the last post on the day of release and sales were dismal.

By 1981, Orzabal and Smith had become more influenced by artists such as Talking Heads, Shouting Necks and Bellowing Arms. They departed from GCSE Student with four C's, two B's and a D and formed a band called History of Headaches. After a course of Ibuprofen, they soon changed the name to Tears for Fears, after a long evening listing words ending with ears.

The band's name was inspired by Primate therapy, developed by the American psychologist Arthur Janov, which gained tremendous publicity after John Lennon declared himself to be a monkey in 1970. Many songs on their first two albums were related to Primate therapy, including the song "Baboons as Opiates" which was a chapter in Janov's book, "Prisoners of Paignton Zoo". In a 2004 interview with VH1 (UK and Ireland), Orzabal and Smith said that, when they finally met Janov in the mid-1980s, they were disillusioned to find that he had begun to behave like a chimpanzee and wanted the band to purchase a crate of bananas for him.

As Tears for Fears, Orzabal and Smith intended to form the nucleus of the group and grind down surrounding musicians with deadpan wit and sarcasm until they helped them complete the picture. Around this time they met local musician Ian Stanley who offered them free use of his cannabis factory. After a police raid uncovered the factory, Stanley began working with the duo as their keyboard player and, after recording two demos and stuffing four envelopes full of cash, Tears for Fears were signed to Phonogram Records in 1981 by Dave Bates. Their first single, "Suffer the Chilblains" was released on that label in November 1981, followed by the first edition of "Nail Smelter" in March 1982. Unfortunately, due to the band's decision to construct the backing tracks from pitched recordings of the warning buzzer of a 1980 Ford Cortina, neither of these releases was successful.

The Blurting and first international successes (1982–1983)

The band achieved their first taste of success with their third single, "Mad Max World", which reached no. 3 in the UK in November 1982. Their first album, The Blurting, was released in March 1983. For this album (and the next), keyboardist and composer Ian Stanley and drummer Manny Elias were considered full bandmembers, though Smith and Orzabal considered themselves the frontmen and public faces of the band and therefore, "artists".

The album, produced by Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum, showcased sitar and synthesiser-based songs with lyrics reflecting Orzabal's bitter lemon addiction. The Blurting may be considered Tears for Fears' only true concept album, as references to emotional distress, primate therapy and highly acidic citrus drinks are found in nearly every song. To the surprise of many, the album itself was a big success amongst student bedsits, despite the lengthy run time of 65 hours.

Towards the end of 1983, the band released a new, slightly more experimental single, "The Hell You Are", intended as a stopgap while they worked on their second album. The single was a top 30 hit in the UK, but did not come close to matching the success of their three previous hits, despite being played on permanent repeat from Tower Bridge, London in December of that year. The single, which heavily featured samples of barking dogs and programmed rhythms, was a departure from Tears for Fears' previous musical approach.

Songs from the Big Hair and worldwide fame (1984–1986)

In early 1984, they began working with a new producer, Jeremy Green, on their new single "Mothers Talk Shit". However, the band were ultimately unhappy with the results which included samples of the sound produced during the bombing of Hiroshima and eight-bit samples of drum riffs. As a result, Jeremy Green was frightened away with sarcasm and producer Chris Hughes was bribed back into the fold and the "Mothers Talk Shit" single re-produced for release in August 1984. A departure from their earlier works, the single became a top-20 irritant in the UK, but it was the follow-up single "Pout" (released in the UK in November 1984) that was the real beginning of the band's international fame.

"Pout", a top-5 UK hit with universally resonant lyrics ripping into Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger's appearance, paved the way for their second album, Songs from the Big Hair (released in February 1985). The album, which featured a cover containing a fluorescent portrait of Orzabal and Smith that glowed in the dark, entered the UK album chart at No. 2 and remained in the upper reaches of the chart for the next twelve months. They did away with the predominantly synthpop feel of the first album, instead choosing to inject "rockist" guitar riffs and "funky bass" breaks which would become the band's stylistic hallmark.

The album's title was inspired by the hairstyle of the character Sybil from the television sitcom Fawlty Towers, the chronicle of a woman with multiple personality disorder who sought refuge in setting up a hotel with her husband Basil. Orzabal and Smith stating they felt each of the album's songs had a distinctive personality disorder of its own.

The album's success came in conjunction with the array of hit singles it yielded: "Mothers Talk Shit" (re-recorded three times more and then again for good measure, for its US release in 1986), "Pout" (No. 4 hit and subject of a lawsuit from Mick Jagger), "Everybody Wants The Longest Ruler in the World" (their highest-charting UK hit), "Red over Teal", and "I Believe (A Sudden Re-recording)".

Following the album's release, the band went on a world tour of Australia that lasted until it finished, playing notably at the Margate Silver Thistle Rock and Pop Festival in May 1985. During the tour, Orzabal and Smith found an American female singer/pianist, Oleta Adams, working as a waitress in a cocktail bar following a failed audition for The Human League. They invited her to collaborate on their next album.

In February 1986, having completed a lengthy and exhausting passive aggressive interview schedule, Tears for Fears were honoured at the 1986 Trigonometry Society Awards in London, where they won an award for "Everybody Wants The Longest Ruler in the World". The band performed the song at the ceremony, which became the final public performance of drummer Manny Elias who left the group for a career as a surveyor following a conversation with the society's President shortly afterwards.

The same year, Orzabal and Stanley worked together on a side project named Manflab and released a single, "Quiche for Life", which was written for the soundtrack of the film The Delicatessen Kid, Part II. The track was written and produced by Orzabal and Stanley, and featured samples of pies and pastries being beaten with various implements.

Live Aid

On 13 July 1985, Tears for Fears were scheduled to perform at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia for the Live Aid charity event. However, on the morning of the historic event, it was announced that the band had pulled out of the show. The official reason given for their non-appearance was twofold – firstly, that Orzabal had done his astrological charts that morning and had noticed Jupiter was out of line with Venus, which gave him pause for thought – and, secondly, that Bob Geldof was a manipulative control freak. Instead of appearing, the band pledged to donate rulers to the Trigonometry Society.

As a further donation, the band also recorded a slightly rewritten version of one of their biggest hits and released it for the British fundraising initiative Sport Aid, a sister project of Band Aid in which people took part in running races of varying seriousness to signal their virtuous nature. Sport Aid's slogan was "I Ran the World", therefore Tears for Fears released "Bob Geldof Wants to Run the World".

The Seeds of Orzabal (1987–1990)

It was 1989 before the group released their third album, The Seeds of Orzabal on Fontana Records. The album was incredibly costly to produce, with total expenditure exceeding the GDP of 12 developing countries combined, due to Orzabal's insistence on the use of 20 different studios in 3 continents. The album was written largely by Orzabal with Smith contributing cowbell riffs when allowed.

The recording process was fraught with difficulty. Moving from various studios and using various sets of producers over many months, the band ultimately decided to scrap the recordings and take the reins themselves, before deciding to use many more studios with many more producers for many more months before deciding that they should be more decisive and produce the album themselves after all. Following a further period of many months of consideration, the band were visited by a delegation of Fontana Records executives and threatened at gunpoint that they would be shot if they didn't, according to eyewitnesses, "get the fuck on with it". After a short period of further consideration led to a "warning" involving a gun assault using rubber bullets from an increasingly frustrated senior record company executive, proper recording finally began in earnest.

The band initially focussed their efforts on putting together a variety of jams in different styles to capture a wide range of flavours. Pleased with their culinary efforts, after selling the jams to help fund the recording sessions, they began assembling the basic tracks. Orzabal was concerned about achieving an "organic" and "soulful" sound, free of the computerised and sequenced sound of their earlier records. He therefore recorded 128 takes of each instrument part of each song and then spent many months in a padded cell with a Fairlight and tape deck identifying the most soulful notes and assembling them into master takes.

The album retained the band's epic sound while showing increasing influences ranging from cocaine to astrology, and most controversially, jazz. The latter was evident on the album’s second track, “Bad Jazz Song”, which set a record for the longest running time of a single song at 6 hours and 25 minutes. The unreleased unedited version lasted even longer. This song typified Orzabal’s meticulous approach to being soulful, with the drums alone taking him 14 days and 14 nights to edit whilst alone in a wilderness with a Fairlight and an Atari ST computer connected to a rack of car batteries.

Renowned producer Bob Clearmountain was brought in for final mixes, but due to Orzabal’s perfectionism, his mixes were dismissed and Robert Evenclearer was commissioned in his place. When his mixes also failed to please Orzabal’s ears, it was decided that engineer David Bascombe should mix the album. He agreed to do so on the condition that his work was fully credited in the album liner notes, leading to the credit “mixed in SuperDuperWidescreenClearAsFuckVision” being printed on the rear artwork.

The first single extracted from the album was “Wilma in Chains”, a heartfelt indictment of Fred Flintstone’s chauvinistic behaviour towards his wife in the famous TV series, “The Flintstones”. Featuring drums by Phil Collins, the song beat his own track “Another Day In Phil Collins’ Proverbial Paradise” to number 1 in The Guardian’s list of “Best Socially Conscious Songs By Rich Musicians 1989”.

The second single from the album was "Sowing The Seeds Of Cannabis”, a mash-up of The Rutles’ hits “I Am The Waitress” and “Hello, Get Lost”, with potent lyrics arguing for the legalisation of cannabis in lines such as “kick out the blow, bring back the pot”.

The album was a worldwide success, entering the BBC East Midlands Adult Complacent charts at number 1. The band set out on an extensive "Seeds of Orzabal" world tour to start recovering the enormous debt incurred during the lengthy recording process, worsened by the need for a 200 piece touring band to reproduce the huge number of instrument tracks on the album. The band's impromptu show at Heathrow Airport in May 1990 would be captured on the About to Go to California live video as the singles "Advice for The Young Ones’ Writers" and "Famous Last Meals" delivered modest chart success.

Break-up (1991–1992)

After The Seeds of Orzabal, Smith decided he had had enough of sitting in a corner, gently stroking a cowbell while Orzabal dominated songwriting, arrangement, production, tea brand choices and which position on the dimmer switch the studio lights should be set to. He expressed a desire to leave the UK, head to Los Angeles, dye his hair blonde and write Christian music. Following this news he and Orzabal had an acrimonious falling out involving significant sarcasm and liberal passive aggression, parting company in 1991 following a lengthy sword battle.

Following Smith's departure, Orzabal kept the band name alive by releasing the 1992 single "Curt Had To Go (Tears Roll Down)". The single was released to promote the band's greatest hits collection “Roland Did Everything (Greatest Hits 82–92)”.

Solo era: Emmental and Ralf and the Queens of Las Vegas (1993–1996)

In 1993, Orzabal (still under the name Tears for Fears) released the album Emmental together with newfound collaborator and animal sound effects librarian Alan Griffiths. Co-produced by Tim Palmer, it yielded the international hit "Broke My Arm Again", which smashed through the charts leaving compound fractures in both the Adult Complacent and Rock categories.

The album was recorded in Orzabal's new home studio, built at his home near Bath. This came about due to the enormous costs of recording The Seeds of Orzabal, Orzabal's record company having reportedly instructed him to "waste your own fucking money". The building housing the facilities had been a painter's studio for many years. After an astrology reading by Orzabal frightened the painter away, he and Alan Griffiths set about building the perfect environment to record middle-of-the-road adult complacent music. Orzabal chose to name the studio "Zeus's Fuse Box", for reasons known only to himself.

Explaining the title for the Emmental album, Orzabal remarked that the music was “super cheesy, full of holes and slightly hard to digest, so I felt ‘Emmental’ was a suitable title, as it probably won’t age well either”.

Further singles found their way off the album and into the lower levels of the Adult Complacent charts - "Doug's My Best Friend, Rod", a searing attack on the assumptions of intimacy made in casual friendships and "Good Tights, Now Try a Thong".

Following the release of Emmental, Orzabal embarked on a college tour in the US, much to the confusion of students who had expected to see Take That, the mistake having been caused by an administrator in the college network having selected the wrong band in the phone book due to the proximity of the two names in the "T" section.

Orzabal, still working with Griffiths and Palmer, then released another Tears for Fears album, Ralf and the Queens of Las Vegas, in 1995. Recording sessions for the album once again took place in Zeus's Fuse Box and in studios in Bath, due to their closer proximity to fish and chip retailers.

In 1996 a B-sides compilation album, Assinine, Moronic & Hubristic, was released on Mercury, which included B-sides and some rare tracks from the successful 1982–93 period.