Tears for Fears

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Bath, England (1981 – present)

Tears for Fears, named after a phrase found in Arthur Janov’s book Prisoners of Pain, is a British / outfit formed in 1981 in Bath, England, by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, two school friends and ex-members of Graduate. Initially associated with and the movements, the duo’s earliest work (through 1983’s The Hurting) was explicitly based around the confusion and angst of adolescence. Though top forty regulars on both sides of the Atlantic, Orzabal and Smith made their major international breakthrough with Songs From the Big Chair in 1985, which included their most commercially popular material to date (scoring two Billboard Hot 100 #1s and a UK #2).

They released three albums - the synthesizer-based The Hurting (1983), Songs from the Big Chair (1985) (which broke free from the new-wave mold) and the //Beatles influenced The Seeds of Love (1989) - before Orzabal and Smith had an extremely acrimonious falling out.

The split of the duo was ultimately blamed on Orzabal’s intricate but frustrating approach to production and Smith’s distaste for the pop music world. The two spent the 1990s working separately.

Orzabal kept the band name alive by releasing the single Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down), which also appeared on Tears Roll Down (Greatest Hits 82-92).
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  • Joelza1990

    "Listen"

    yesterday afternoon

  • Akayz7

    The Working Hour is great.

    Monday evening

  • Albert-The-Duke

    Who You Are is underrated.

    Friday afternoon

  • infectedmodes

    The saxophone solos from The Working Hour bring tears to my eyes.

    Friday morning

  • IndefiniteCure

    http://www.last.fm/music/Tears+for+Fears/+images/77944154

    Wednesday afternoon

  • HoagsObjekt

    Advice for the Young at Heart seems to be a surprisingly popular choice. I would not blame anyone for getting angry at a supermarket employee depriving them of their chance to listen to it.

    Wednesday morning

  • cat-dentures

    Heard Advice for the Young at Heart playing over the speakers in the supermarket and was having my little bliss-out moment in one of the aisles when some jerk employee cut the song off to announce something unimportant and I was liek, "Bitch STFU I want to hear Tears for Fears while I stand next to this shelf of dog food!"

    12 days ago

  • RosenRot5

    Great lyrics + great melody + (well executed [instruments + vocals]) x every song = Tears for Fears

    16 days ago
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