Arguably, the finest song of the 80s. Written by band members Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley and producer Chris Hughes, and sung beautifully by bassist Curt Smith, "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" was released in the UK in March 1985 and amazingly only reached no.2, though it was a chart topper Stateside. As with Guns 'N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine," Tears For Fears didn't believe the song had the best possibility of success, being the third single to be released from the "Songs From The Big Chair" album and originally considered to be something of a black sheep with the rest of the other songs recorded. I've read a variety of interpretations of the song with one suggestion being a contemporary reflection on the world in the mid-eighties with the Cold War still ongoing. Curt Smith once revealed, "the concept is quite serious – it's about everybody wanting power, about warfare and the misery it causes." I've always struggled to decipher the song's meaning so it was interesting to gain some enlightenment.
The music video to "Everybody Wants To The Rule The World" interchanges between Curt Smith driving around America, his strange hairstyle blowing in the wind, and the group performing the song in the studio. A notable highlight is two men in tuxedos and sunglasses dancing outside a service station. I like to think this was a regular occurrence in America in the eighties but I'm a hopeless dreamer!
I've been listening to "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" for years, it's one of the songs I can remember vividly from childhood and I will never tire of hearing it. Mrs B does a very good rendition of the song on Singstar though yours truly isn't good enough to sweep the floor in Tears For Fears' studio let alone try and match Curt Smith's singing. Both Smith and Orzabal contributed some great singing to the group's hits but it's credit to Orzabal that he took a step back and allowed Smith to sing what turned out to be their biggest hit as well as "Mad World." Orzabal proved with "Head Over Heels," another favourite of my mine, that he could sing really well. I would argue for "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" to be in any list of the ten best songs of the eighties. Personally, I don't hesitate in seeing it at the top.