The album spun off three MONSTER songs that topped the charts in the US and the UK. Everybody probably remembers hearing Shout back then on the radio. I know I did, listening to BJ 105 from Orlando and I-100 in Daytona. (RIP those forgotten music stations.) It was a tour de force for a 9 year old that had just moved from Arkansas to the beaches of Florida. "Shout" was very cathartic. However, the second single is the one that has stayed with me.
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was a more up tempo song for the duo, and although the topic was about power and how everyone wants it and is against war making, it was quite the upbeat ditty. It's been used as the theme song for "Dennis Miller Live" when it was on HBO, and was included in the movie "Real Genius" starring a young Val Kilmer. (Short side note here: that movie is pretty dang funny. I love it, and Kilmer actually had some pretty good comic timing. Plus, Stacy Perralta played a pilot in the movie, so that just makes it that much more awesome. Don't know who Stacy Perralta is? Look it up.)
Anyways, when I have a Tears for Fears song on my iPad, it usually isn't "Shout" or "Head Over Heels" (which is another great song). It's probably "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."
Now, when you're a 9 year old looking at the future, you don't get the idea of what the song is about. You just hear the opening line, which in my opinion is one of the best in pop music history, and you think, "Yeah, this pretty well sums up what I'm feeling." Here's the opening line:
Welcome to your life/there's no turning back.
That's some deep thinking for a 9 year old, don't you think? Welcome to your life. There's no turning back. Heck, I'd been thinking that since I was at least 6. (Believe me, most of my panic attacks can be traced back to my realization of my own mortality at the tender age of 6.) But it has a bit of a happy thought behind it. Welcome.
Maybe I'm over thinking this puff pop song, but I really feel that there usually is a deeper meaning behind some of these songs. The puff pop songs that last usually do have a thing behind them. Believe me, and I've said it before, but there isn't anything behind Bieber songs. In 30 years I'll doubt we'll hear them on the radio, except as an oddity. Like the songs from The Partridge Family. (Although "I Think I Love You" was pretty darn good.)
(Short tangent here. What in the name of all that is good and pure in this world was Justin Bieber doing writing on the guest book at the Anne Frank House that he hoped she would have been a Belieber. Really?!? How about, "I'm sorry she was killed by evil people, and her strength to record all that was going on is a shining example to all that followed and a living testament to the terror she and her family shared." Because really, Justin, it ain't about you. Take it down a notch, hoss. I can already tell you where this path your on is headed, and they probably have a spot in rehab already set up for you. Heck, when Chris Brown tells you to chill, you may need to think about your choices in life. End of Tangent.)
Anyways, the fact is that "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" actually still sounds good to this day. Heck, it hasn't even been covered that much, because no one wants to screw it up. (Someone keep UB 40 away from it please.) Tears for Fears are still touring, and I tell you, I'd go see them. If you haven't heard the song in a while, go listen to it. It'll probably take you back almost 30 years, but it'll be worth it.
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