TEARS FOR FEARS – EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD 2×7″ – Nr MINT/EXC+ UK 1985

Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World
(Mercury Records  1985  IDEA99)
UK Pressing

Double Vinyl in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from some crackles on Vinyl 1)
Vinyl 1 – Excellent+ / Vinyl 2 Nr MINT

Gatefold Sleeve in Excellent+ condition
– some wear to edges
Inner Sleeve has small split on left edge

Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were initially associated with the new wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s. Later, the band branched out into mainstream rock and pop and attained international chart success. Tears for Fears were part of the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US.

The band’s debut album, The Hurting (1983), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair (1985), reached number one on the US Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the UK and the US. Songs from the Big Chair contained two Billboard Hot 100 number one hits: “Shout” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”‘. The latter song won the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986.

After the release of their platinum-selling third album, The Seeds of Love (1989), Smith and Orzabal had an acrimonious split in 1991. Orzabal retained the Tears for Fears name as a solo project, releasing the albums Elemental (1993) and Raoul and the Kings of Spain (1995). Orzabal and Smith reconciled in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, in 2004. The duo have toured on a semi-regular basis since then. After almost a decade in development, the band’s seventh album, The Tipping Point, has been announced for release in February 2022.

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is a song by English pop rock band Tears for Fears from their second studio album Songs from the Big Chair (1985). It was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley, and Chris Hughes and produced by Hughes. It was released on 22 March 1985 by Phonogram, Mercury, and Vertigo Records as the third single from the album. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is a new wave and synth-pop song with lyrics that detail the desire humans have for control and power and centre on themes of corruption.

Track listings