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DailyBoom Your Old School Music Authority

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Tears For Fears - 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World'


"It's my own design
It's my own remorse
Help me to decide
Help me make the most
Of freedom and of pleasure
Nothing ever lasts forever
Everybody wants to rule the world"


It takes a pretty amazing song to not only represent one generation but then resonate with several more to come. When you actually do lock down one of those classics they are rarely feel-good anthems as well. Tears For Fears kind of did the almost impossible in 1985 with "Everybody Wants to Rule The World". Whenever it is played it turns into an instant sing-a-long doesn't it?

I mean, you know it and if your kids are teenagers they probably know it too (though they may not admit it). It puts you in an instant good mood but at the time that it was written, the undertones were pretty serious. The message remains just as much a rally cry, just towards different countries. 

When Tears For Fears released their Greatest Hits compilation late last year, Curt Smith explained the phenomenon that the song remains.

“I think a lot of these songs, now that I’ve listened back to them, are kind of just as poignant as they were then, but just towards different people, different areas of the world. Back when we were doing Songs From the Big Chair and ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’ we were really discussing the Cold War,” he says. “But it was the U.S. and Russia then, and now the concern is more the U.S. and Korea. I find that fascinating.”

It is fascinating in that I'm sure it never occurred to them that the song would remain relevant with future generations. Check out the video below. Do you love it as much as I do?