Tears For Fears Thought This No. 1 Single Was Too Bland To Be a Hit

In 1985, Tears for Fears released “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”. The song was written by Roland Orzabel, one of the two lead singers of Tears for Fears, along with band member Ian Stanley and producer Chris Hughes. It appears on Tears for Fears’ sophomore Songs From The Big Chair record.

By the time “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” was released, Tears for Fears already had several hit singles. Their previous releases, which all did well, include “Mad World”, “Change”, and “Shout”. So it would seem that they knew what a hit sounded like. But Hughes reveals that no one, including himself, expected “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” to become such a big success.

“We only mixed this track once,” Hughes tells Mix. “It came together easily. With the other songs, there was a lot of second-guessing, making sure every sound was really pushing the band. But this was more straightforward.”

The Success of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” for Tears for Fears

“Everybody Wants To Rule The World” begins with, “Welcome to your life / There’s no turning back / Even while we sleep / We will find you / Acting on your best behavior / Turn your back on mother nature / Everybody wants to rule the world.” Nothing in the lyric or the recording made Hughes, or anyone else, think “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” would spend two weeks in the top spot on the charts.

“It’s probably the most straightforward recording on the record,” Hughes says. “Other tracks were recorded to two 24-tracks, then we would do edits on tape. And any piece of technology that could have gone wrong or held us up probably did. But ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ was so simple and went down so quickly, it was effortless, really. In fact, as a piece of recording history, it’s bland as hell.”

The last song on Songs From The Big Chair, Hughes admits he is still blown away by the final result of “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”.

“When you’ve spent so long trying to perfect the other bits and pieces of the record, and it has taken such a long time, it’s a breath of fresh air when something comes together in a very innocent moment,” says Hughes. “It was up on its legs too quick to over-fuss it.”

Several artists later covered “Everybody Wants To Rule The World”, including Gloria Gaynor and Lorde. Lorde’s version is part of the 2013 movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Photo by Robin Platzer/IMAGES/Getty Images