LogFAQs > #960634318

I didn't have as much time this week as I would've liked, so I in turn won't quite have as much to say as I would've liked. (Mainly, my observations on individual songs would've been rather surface-level.)

1. Start of the Breakdown
2. Watch Me Bleed
3. Mad World
4. Change
5. The Hurting
6. Pale Shelter
7. Suffer the Children
8. Memories Fade
9. Ideas As Opiates
10. The Prisoner

As a child, and even into my teenage years, Tears for Fears music seemed to play often than not during drives of any length - the original source of my enduring affection for them. It had enough going on musically to avoid receding into the background all while still being mellow and relaxed, the latter characteristics of which my mom cites for her own favoritism to this day.

As an adult, I've found that such traits are only part of the picture; on The Hurting in particular, emotions roil beneath a calm surface, and I always have been fond of a good contrast. I know the whole 'smooth, mainstream music about mental turmoil' thing isn't exactly groundbreaking; my most obvious point of reference is The Police (also among my favorite artists), who were on top of the music world about the time Tears for Fears emerged. Yet amidst all the polish, The Hurting somehow still feels like the ineffably singular product of an unusually personal, vivid artistic vision, especially by debut standards - and perhaps it's no wonder knowing that Curt and Roland had full freedom to work in their comfort zone here. It's almost akin to a concept album without that format's limitations, even, an aura later (also excellent) Tears for Fears albums have failed to replicate for me.

Of course, some might argue - and have, in The Hurting's time - that the songwriting here exudes too much adolescent angst to be taken altogether seriously. However, it works for me (and, it seems, most of us) exactly because it's not overblown in the way of a Pretty Hate Machine. Even more importantly, the lyrics strike a chord with my own experiences, layers I discerned only when I began to unpack my own childhood and who I am in general, hand-in-hand. That Tears for Fears sets such words against their contribution to the synth-pop trend of the early 80s only accentuates the parallels in its way. All of it (no song spared) is catchy, cohesive music with real substance and a sense of timelessness, an appealing contradiction not found in abundance in a sub-genre I nonetheless enjoy.

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"I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people who do."
pronouns: she/her or they/them | never knows what to say