Song of the Week - Everybody Wants to Rule the World (1985)

Tears for Fears, "Songs from the Big
Chair" (1985; Mercury Records /
Phonogram Records)

Originally, I was going to do a "This Week in 1985" themed Song of the Week, but then I found out that the number one song in rock this week in '85 was We Belong to the City (ugh) and the top adult contemporary song was Part Time Lover (UGH!!!), so I decided to go with a GOOD song!

Tears for Fears had a big impact on my music tastes very early on.  They were one of the 80's bands that, like INXS and Dire Straits, were not all that influenced by the bubblegum that was oozing in all around them.  They sounded more sophisticated, more adult and more intelligent.  Songs like Mad World were almost experimental and Everybody Wants to Rule the World, their most mainstream-sounding hit, is a classic.

This one goes back to that syncopation I mentioned in my Halo article that I love so much.  The song is filled with nice little rhythmic touches that make it bouncy, but not exactly dancy (I'm adding that word to my dictionary, so should you!).  Instead it was a fascinating, flowing tune that moves with a liquidity that typical, more pedestrian pop hits from the era tended to miss.

The band, Tears for Fears, for those who do not know, was an extremely popular New Wave act that peaked in the 80's and dispatched in the early 90's.  While they had a backup band, they were principally a two-man act.  Composed of Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal, the band was able to create songs that sounded adult while not ever going overboard in excess like much of hair metal or bubblegum pop tended to.  It is a nice middle area that is safe, but not boring.

Basically, the song is about lust.  Particularly the lust for power and the lengths the powerful will go to to seize more or even just hold onto that power, and the lengths a common man will go to to obtain it.  It has been called an anti-war protest song too, and I see it.  It has elements of that sort of "Fight the Power" narrative, though it is not anywhere near as explicit as it was the Vietnam protest songs of the 60's and the militant hip hop of the late 80's and early 90's.

The Song -

Tears for Fears
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
 Songs From the Big Chair
1985 Mercury Records / Phonogram Records