MusiClack: 1985 – The year Tears For Fears broke in the U.S.

Michael: Well, for this week’s MusiClack I decided to showcase of one of my all-time favorites, Tears For Fears, and explore its seminal year 1985, a huge one in terms of popularity and direction for the band.

Tara: I love them, too! They just epitomize 1985 for me. I can picture myself now *cue blurry dream sequence music* … black leggings, my Dad’s white button down starched work shirt (buttoned all the way up with a big rhinestone flower pin at the throat), scrunched up black socks and my Doc Martens. Oh! And lots of black eye liner, can’t forget that.

My girlfriends and I were living in a house off campus at Michigan State and Tears For Fears routinely blasted from our windows on warm spring days.  Ah, youth! *sigh*

What were you up to back then, Michael?

Michael: Amazingly, the white buttoned-down shirt, collar pin and Doc Martens you mentioned aren’t far from the mark! But I do know the mid-’80s was the time I buckled down and really started appreciating music to its fullest.

Tara: Well, the first video you chose is a good one. It was wildly popular on MTV. But we were spinning it on vinyl more.

Michael: Exactly what I was doing … spinning vinyl incessantly. I distinctly remember having TFF’s first album — The Hurting — on cassette, but it was necessary for me to purchase it on vinyl as well. Songs From The Big Chair, on the other hand, was immediately acquired as an LP.

Tara: That album did churn out a lot of hits, this one making them mainstream in this country. I remember seeing this video on MTV and being fascinated with Roland’s teeth more than the song. They’re very distracting.

Michael: While you were being distracted by his teeth, I was more interested in his voice. I always thought Roland had a very distinct way of singing, believing he was the leader of the band more so than he and Curt being equal collaborators.

Tara: I know, right? And isn’t that one of the reasons they parted ways?

Michael: Not exactly. Roland wanted to go one direction with the band, Curt another. Conflicts and infighting arose after their third album, The Seeds Of Love. That’s when they broke up.

Tara: That song will always remind me of my friend Lynne. Isn’t it funny how some songs are forever identified with certain people in your mind?

Michael: Yes. I have tons of songs that remind me of not only people but places and things. Songs are terrific memory triggers.

Tara: That’s so true and it’s one of my favorite parts of life. Also! I love the fact that TFF includes so many traveling scenes in this video. It is the perfect song when you’re on the road. There’s just something breezy about it, despite the heavy tone of the lyrics, that makes you feel good.

Michael: You know … I never thought of it that way … but, listening to it in that vein, it is rather breezy. Another identifier! Thanks for that, Tara!

Tara: While the next video is highly entertaining after not having seen it in 20 years, I have to say its wonderful lyrics are lost in all the monkey business. (There’s an actual monkey in the video.) I think at this point in MTV history the race was on which band could be most heavily rotated … and in the case of TFF, with so many hits in their back pocket, it’s a shame we lose words like this.

Michael: Interesting thought. But remember: This video was the idea for the song the band, specifically Roland, wanted for it. So why do you think after all this time he may want to do it differently? The video is both comical and meaningful at the same time.

Tara: What I meant is that I feel the bands themselves were in competition with each other to become the most heavily played on MTV. In other words, they would compromise the lyrics for the visual. (See Dire Strait’s Money For Nothing as an example.)

I would be into seeing what Roland and Curt would do with this song in video form now.

Michael: And that would be absolutely nothing, as far as I’m concerned. I am very adamant about this.

Tara: And that is true to your original thought about taking on this band as a subject for MusiClack. Because it is about the passion.

Clacked by Michael Noble
on Sep 30, 2011 @ 10:00 EST5EDT