Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 31

Tears for Fears - "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" & "Head Over Heels"





(Single Releases: March & June 1985)
Tears for Fears was always a dark horse candidate to be one of my favorite bands in 1985. They never cracked the holy triumvirate of Smiths, Echo, and New Order, nor the top five if you include DM and the Cure, but they were not far behind. Truth be told, if you had asked me in 1983, with the release of The Hurting (soon to be a "Highlights from my Vinyl Collection" entry), they would have easily been higher ranked. It's not that I don't like Songs from the Big Chair, far from it. Like everyone else, I loved that album, but rather than an individual passion, they were a collective love. We all owned that album in some format, didn't we? Weren't we issued this one in 1985 once "Shout" hit #1 on the US pop charts? I like that song and would have included it had it not been issued as a single in 1984. But, the above two singles were issued in 1985, along with the album, and remain among my favorite TFF tracks. The opening guitar notes of "Rule the World" are unmistakable, leading into Curt Smith's great falsetto. Though Roland Orzabal later came to be known as the more prominent "voice" of TFF, I was always a Curt Smith fan. His vocals on "Pale Shelter" and "Change," as well as other shared vocal tracks on that first album, showcased a wonderful dynamic between the two, and a more sensitive side to the band. Later, I would become even more of a Curt Smith fan when he would appear on Kevin Pollak's Chat Show and Psych. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was Tears For Fears' second #1 hit single, deservedly so, but my favorite was always "Head Over Heels," especially as it appears on the album, with a live version of "Broken" as a capstone. The video, as presented above, is somewhat absurdist, which prompted a fairly funny version with "literal lyrics," but I think the song is fine without it. Now, many are reminded of Donnie Darko when they hear "Head Over Heels," and at one time, The Dennis Miller Show when they heard "Everybody Wants to Rule the World." I am just reminded at how amazingly rich in music 1985 really was.