Before becoming an ’80s classic, this hit almost had a different title and a totally different message.
When Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears originally put pen to paper to write the 1985 hit "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," he envisioned an entirely different title. In a 2025 interview with Classic Pop, Orzabal admitted he had some difficulties coming up with a lyric he felt worked with the song's message.
"Yeah. It was another song from the experience of putting great rhythms into the LinnDrum machine, this time Simple Minds’ Waterfront and Throw Away The Key by Linx," he explained. "The problem was, I didn’t have the lyric."
He continued, "It was originally called 'Everybody Wants To Go To War,' which I knew didn’t work. My wife Caroline loved it, but when you’re a songwriter who doesn’t like the lyric, the song dies."
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Orzabal concluded, "It was our producer Chris Hughes who championed 'Everybody'… It got to the point where, at 6 p.m. at the end of every session, he’d make us spend an hour going over and over it. That’s where I came up with the guitar figure and changing it to ‘…Rule the World’, which is when I thought, 'Yeah, that’s good.'”
Tears for Fears was inspired to name their album after a 1976 TV film
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" comes from Tears for Fears’ 1985 album Songs from the Big Chair. The album’s title was inspired by the 1976 U.S. television film Sybil, which starred Sally Field as a woman with multiple personality disorder.
But that wasn’t the only surprising connection. According to Far Out Magazine, Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith drew inspiration from other psychological themes, weaving real-life experiences and cultural references into their lyrics, beginning with the band's name.
The name Tears for Fears was also reportedly taken from the work of the psychotherapist Arthur Janov, who came up with primal scream therapy. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it is "psychotherapy in which the patient recalls and reenacts a particularly disturbing past experience usually occurring early in life and expresses normally repressed anger or frustration, especially through spontaneous and unrestrained screams." The song "Shout" is also loosely based on Janov's therapy.
Songs From The Big Chair would go on to hit number one on the Billboard album charts. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout" would also take the top spots on the Billboard 200. "Sowing the Seeds of Love" and "Head Over Heels" would place at the second and third spots, respectively.
Tears for Fears continues to tour. According to their official website, they are scheduled to play three shows at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas on October 22, 24, and 25.
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