TEARS FOR FEARS - SHOUT

SHOUT

TEARS FOR FEARS

SONGWRITERS: IAN STANLEY & ROLAND ORZABAL

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: SONGS FROM THE BIG CHAIR

LABEL: PHONOGRAM RECORDS

GENRE: NEW WAVE

YEAR: 1984

"Shout" is a song by English pop/rock band Tears for Fears, released as the second single from their critically acclaimed second studio album, Songs from the Big Chair(1985), on 19 November 1984. Roland Orzabal performs lead vocals on the track, with bassist Curt Smith duetting on the choruses. The single was a global and critical success, becoming the group's sixth UK top 40 hit, peaking at No. 4 in January 1985. In the US, it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 3 August 1985 and remained there for three weeks. "Shout" would ultimately become one of the most successful songs of 1985, eventually reaching number 1 in multiple countries. "Shout" is regarded as one of the most recognizable songs from the mid-eighties and is also recognized as the group's signature song, along with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World".

Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were initially associated with the new wave synthesizer bands of the early 1980s. Later, the band branched out into mainstream rock and pop and attained international chart success. Tears for Fears were part of the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US.

The band's debut album, The Hurting(1983), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair(1985), reached number one on the US Billboard 200, achieving multi-platinum status in both the UK and the US. Songs from the Big Chair contained two Billboard Hot 100 number one hits: "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"'. The latter song won the Brit Award for Best British Single in 1986.

After the release of their platinum-selling third album, The Seeds of Love(1989), Smith and Orzabal had an acrimonious split in 1991. Orzabal retained the Tears for Fears name as a solo project, releasing the albums Elemental(1993) and Raoul and the Kings of Spain(1995). Orzabal and Smith reconciled in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, in 2004.

In April 2010, Tears for Fears joined the reformed 1980s group Spandau Ballet on their seven-date tour of Australia and New Zealand, before a four-date headlining tour of their own in Southeast Asia (Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan) and a 17-date tour of the United States.

In 2011 and 2012, they played dates in the US, Japan, South Korea, Manila and South America.

In May 2013, Smith confirmed that he was writing and recording new Tears for Fears material with Orzabal and Charlton Pettus. Several songs were worked on in the UK at Orzabal's home studio, Neptune's Kitchen, in April 2013, and continued in Los Angeles in July 2013. According to Orzabal, they have been producing more dark, dramatic pieces of music. "There's one track that's a combination of Portishead and Queen. It's just crazy," Orzabal stated. In August 2013, Tears For Fears released their first newly recorded material in nearly a decade, with a cover of Arcade Fire's "Ready to Start" made available on SoundCloud. In 2014, the track was included on a limited edition 3-track 10" vinyl EP from the band called Ready Boy & Girls?, released exclusively for Record Store Day, which also featured covers of Hot Chip's "Boy From School" and Animal Collective's "My Girls". All three songs were recorded as "kick-start" projects as the band commenced work on their seventh studio album. In an interview on BBC Radio Devon in October 2014, Orzabal stated that the band had now signed to Warner Music Group and that around five or six songs had so far been completed for the new album.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the band's debut album The Hurting, Universal Music reissued it in October 2013 in two Deluxe Editions (one a 2-disc set and the other a 4-disc set with a DVD of the 1983 In My Mind's Eyeconcert). Deluxe Editions of the band's second album, Songs From The Big Chair, were released on 10 November 2014 including a 6-disc set that features various rarities and two DVDs (one audio, one video). On 12 November 2014, Tears for Fears performed "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live! TV programme. In mid 2015, the band began a series of live dates in the US and Canada.

In July 2016, the band played their first live dates in the UK in over ten years: the Newmarket Nights festival at Newmarket Racecourse on 29 July; and a closing night headlining appearance at Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle in Dorset on 31 July. The gigs marked the band's first UK festival appearances since Knebworth in 1990. The band again toured the US and Canada in September and October 2016.

In 2017, the band toured North America with co-headliners Hall & Oates, and also played in Israel, at the British Summer Time Festival in London's Hyde Park on 8 July, and at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil on 22 September. In a July 2017 interview, Orzabal stated that the band had collaborated with songwriter/producer Sacha Skarbek on their new album tentatively titled The Tipping Point, and divulged several song titles from it including "My Demons", "I Love You But I'm Lost", "End of Night" and "Up Above the World". In an interview with SiriusXM Canada the same month, Orzabal divulged that although the band had signed with Warner Music to release their new album (which had been scheduled for October 2017), Universal Music had then approached Warner Music about buying the rights to the album so that they could release it (Universal being the rights holders of the vast majority of the band's back catalogue).

On 26 October 2017, the band performed a 65-minute live set at the BBC Radio Theatre in London for the Radio 2 in Concert series, which was broadcast on both radio and television (via the BBC Red Button service). The following night, the band played their first full-length UK concert since 2005, at London's Royal Albert Hall. Prior to this, on 12 October, "I Love You But I'm Lost" was released as a single from a new 16-track Tears For Fears compilation album titled Rule The World - The Greatest Hits. The compilation was released by Universal Music on 10 November 2017, and includes fourteen Top 40 hits from all six previous Tears For Fears albums along with two new tracks. In October 2017, the band announced an 11-date UK arena tour for April–May 2018, featuring Alison Moyet as the support act. However, the tour was postponed to early 2019 due to unspecified health reasons.

The band performed at further UK and European festivals in Summer 2019, starting with the Hampton Court Palace Festival on 18 and 19 June, the Forest Live festival at Delamere Forest on 21 June, and the Nocturne Live Concert Series at Blenheim Palace on 22 June.

In February 2020, the band's Songs from the Big Chair was the subject of an episode of the BBC series Classic Albums featuring new interviews with the band and all key personnel from the album's creation and subsequent success. To coincide with the album's 35th anniversary, the 2014 deluxe boxed set was reissued by Universal Music, as well as a new 12-inch vinyl picture disc of the album.

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

In violent times

You shouldn't have to sell your soul

In black and white

They really really ought to know

Those one track minds

That took you for a working boy

Kiss them, goodbye

You shouldn't have to jump for joy

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

They gave you life

And in return you gave them hell

As cold as ice

I hope we live to tell the tale

I hope we live to tell the tale

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

And when you've taken down your guard

If I could change your mind

I'd really love to break your heart

I'd really love to break your heart

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on

Shout, shout, let it all out

These are the things I can do without

Come on, I'm talking to you, come on.