Tears for Fears (GB)

About

Also known as: Tears For Fear

Tears for Fears built their reputation on some of the most recognisable synth pop anthems of the 1980s. Formed in Bath in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, the duo hit their stride fast: debut album The Hurting went to number one in the UK, and their follow up Songs from the Big Chair landed two US number ones with "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". The latter also took home the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986. Their sound pulls from synth pop, art pop, and psychedelic pop, with lyrics often rooted in the ideas of primal therapy pioneer Arthur Janov, a genuine influence on the band's whole identity. After a famously bitter split in the early 1990s, the two reconciled and eventually returned with The Tipping Point in 2022, their first album in nearly two decades, which gave them their highest UK chart peak in thirty years. In 2021 they received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection, recognising a catalogue that still sounds sharper than most of what it inspired.