- #TEARS FOR FEARS MAD WORLD GARY JULES SHOW PSYCH PLUS#
- #TEARS FOR FEARS MAD WORLD GARY JULES SHOW PSYCH TV#
“When we came out with Woman in Chains, I think a lot of our peers who were hanging out at the Groucho Club were like: ‘What the fuck?’” says Orzabal. Early on they were sometimes mocked for their willingness to speak about such wide-ranging subject matter as emotional issues, mental health and gender imbalance. They released their first single, Suffer the Children, in 1981.
Tears for Fears were teenagers when they met in Bath, bonding over a love of Blue Öyster Cult, and recording as the mod-leaning Graduate before forming a synth-led band with a name inspired by the work of the primal therapist Arthur Janov. Suffer the children … Orzabal and Smith being interviewed at MTV Studios, New York, in 1983.
#TEARS FOR FEARS MAD WORLD GARY JULES SHOW PSYCH PLUS#
The Tipping Point is a stunning record, taking in fine-fledged folk guitar and aggressive synthesisers, and encompassing loss, resentment, the Mistral wind of southern France, the healing that has taken place between them plus the patriarchy, the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests. Today, though, they sit in the small, starkly lit boardroom of a Marylebone hotel, two radiant 60-year-olds eager to talk about their new material. With the demands of family, acting, opera and gym workouts, not to mention management disputes and periods of acrimony between the pair, somehow 17 years have passed since Tears for Fears last recorded an album together. “Her answer was: ‘Mama goes to the office and Papa goes to the gym.’” One day at preschool, his eldest daughter was asked what her parents did. I was very much the stay-at-home dad, because my wife has a career and is very busy.” With little in his Los Angeles home to suggest a successful career in music – no gold discs on the walls, or awards on the mantelpiece – Smith realised that, while he might not need such reminders to know who he was, his identity was mysterious to his children.
“You still write music, but you do other things. The life of the “semi-retired” musician is a strange one, Smith reflects.
“I went in there and I fucking nailed it,” he recalls of his performance of Giordani’s Caro Mio Ben in a suite at the Savoy hotel that winter. He took the audition seriously, practised diligently, sought out an opera coach near his home in the West Country. “I’m thinking: ‘This was meant for me.’” he says. Orzabal, who had sung opera in the past, felt the stars were aligning.
#TEARS FOR FEARS MAD WORLD GARY JULES SHOW PSYCH TV#
In the chorus, when he refers to “dreams in which (he’s) dying” as “the best (he’s) ever had”, some may even say he’s alluding to suicide. (But in actuality it’s more along the lines of literally dreaming about dying as a form of stress release).Meanwhile, back in England, Smith’s bandmate Roland Orzabal had received an invitation to audition for the reality TV show Popstar to Operastar. Meaning of the “dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had” Moreover in Tears for Fears’ homeland of the United Kingdom, this song has received Silver certification, meaning it sold at least a quarter-million copies.Ī cover of “Mad World” by Gary Jules in 2003 was actually more successful than the Tears for Fears’ original. And this caused great joy to Roland Orzabal, who was by then middle-aged and well pass his musical heyday. Indeed by that time he could no longer relate to the “teenage menopause” which inspired him to write this and other of the band’s songs. “Mad World” peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song also charted in Australia, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa. He evntually concluded that Curt Smith’s rendition “sounded fabulous”. Originally Roland Orzabal wrote this song with the intent of singing it himself. However, he didn’t like the sound, gave it to his partner to try. In the concluding chorus of this song, the words “Halargian world” are uttered. This phrase has usually been misinterpreted considering “Halargian” isn’t even a word. Or rather, it is actually a phrase that only Tears for Fears were familiar with, as in it belonging to their own inner-clique slang. And Curt Smith, who handled the vocals on “Mad World”, accredited its origin to either Ross Cullum or Chris Hughes, the track’s two producers. Tears for Fears’ member Roland Orzabal wrote “Mad World” when he was 19 years of age. His musical inspiration was a song entitled “Girls on Film” (1981) by Duran Duran. The song which served as the B-side to “Mad World” is entitled “Ideas as Opiates”.īoth of these tracks were influenced by the works of American psychologist Art Janov (1924-2017).Ĭlive Richardson served as the director of this song’s music video. It was the first music video Tears for Fears had ever done. “Mad World” is recognized as being Tears for Fears’ first hit song. The track was released on 20 September 1982 as the third single from their debut album, “The Hurting”.