Peak
1
Weeks
24
Score
4,153
Chart Year
1985
Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, and Cabazon, California.[67][68] Curt Smith admitted to Pitchfork that the video shoot was a "disaster"; Dick was "in tears" on the second night of shooting.[67] Smith also mentioned that there was an accident while filming the "dirt bikes and four-wheel [sic] off-road vehicles" scene, with one child flying out of a vehicle and smashing his head, leaving him unconscious.[67] The video begins with Smith driving a vintage Austin-Healey 3000 sports car while a toddler points toy guns in Smith's direction.[67] The car is then seen driving through a desert, on Interstate 10, this scene is intercut with the band performing the song in a studio. Smith parks the car at the Wheel Inn diner and makes a call from a telephone booth. The camera pans to show a statue of a prospector and his donkey in the foreground. Smith leaves the diner in the car while singing the song's lyrics. The following scene shows two men in suits performing synchronised dance movements in front of two gas pumps.[69] Shots of young people riding three-wheeled ATVs and dirt bikes through desert sand dunes are also shown. Smith is then shown singing in the desert wearing black sunglasses as many of the dirt bike and ATV riders approach from behind him and pass to either side.[70] The music video promoted the group in America, due to "heavy rotation" on the music video channel MTV.[71] HuffPost editor Daryl Deino ranked the video at number three on their year-end list for best music videos of 1985 stating that the video "represents pure Americana as it was in 1985". Deino also mentioned that the video "proves that at times, artists were able to do so much with so little."[7
This song is about the quest for power, and how it can have unfortunate consequences. In an interview with Mix magazine, the band's producer Chris Hughes explained that they spent months working on "Shout," and near the end of the sessions, Roland Orzabal came into the studio and played two simple chords on his acoustic guitar, which became the basis for the song. Said Hughes: "'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' was so simple and went down so quickly, it was effortless, really. In fact, as a piece of recording history, it's bland as hell." This was the first US #1 hit for Tears for Fears. "Shout" went to #1 two months later. "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is a line from the 1980 Clash song "Charlie Don't Surf." Did Tears for Fears lift it? Joe Strummer of The Clash thought so. He recounted a story to Musician magazine about confronting Roland Orzabal in a restaurant, informing Orzabal that "you owe me a fiver." Strummer said that Roland reached in his pocket and produced a five pound note, ostensibly as compensation for poaching the line for his hit title. Although musically this is quite a jangly and catchy song, its lyrical theme is actually pretty dark. "The concept is quite serious - it's about everybody wanting power, about warfare and the misery it causes," Curt Smith of Tears For Fears explained on the band's website. Dennis Miller used this over the closing credits of his HBO TV show, which ran from 1994-2002. Curt Smith did a solo, acoustic version of this for the soundtrack to The Private Public, a 2001 movie where he made his acting debut. The song was covered by Lorde for the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack, which was released by Republic. She reworked Tears for Fears' tune into a haunting dirge, bringing out its inherent darkness. The label's executive VP Tom Mackay explained to Billboard magazine that the New Zealand singer-songwriter was wrapping her Pure Heroine album at the time tracks were being solicited for the soundtrack. "There was not time for her to write a demo, submit it and come back after changes [are requested]," Mackay said. "Like a lot of songs on this album, it's an artistic leap. When we heard it, we were amazed how she reshaped it-it's hard not to think about President Snow and the Capitol in the film and in the book." In a season 2 episode of the TV series Mr. Robot, the character Angela Moss (Portia Doubleday) sings a plaintive karaoke version of this song as she struggles through a moral crisis. "You really have a desire to rule the world?" a guy asks her when she comes to the bar. "Oh, my desires go way beyond that," she replies. The band had trouble getting into the original incarnation of the song, which featured the lyric "everybody wants to go to war." When it was changed to the title phrase, everything clicked. "Once we got those lyrics, it was a joyful song," Orzabal explained. Tears For Fears spent most of 1985 touring in support of the Songs From The Big Chair album. It took so much out of them physically and emotionally, they didn't go back to work until a few years later, finally emerging in 1989 with their album The Seeds Of Love. Curt Smith explained in Outlook magazine: "We soon realized that touring isn't much fun with a bunch of drum machines and sequencers. We didn't get into the music business to be computer programmers. I did it to be a musician! On that tour, I just went out and did the album for nine months. If people wanted to hear the album, they could've stayed home and listened to it." This was used in the 1985 movie Real Genius, about a group of teen geniuses, led by Val Kilmer, who try to foil their professor's plot to sell their high-powered laser to the military. It was also featured in the 1997 comedy Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, starring Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, the 2015 NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton and the '80s-themed Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One (2018). This was featured in several TV shows, including ER ("Sharp Relief," 1998), Cold Case ("Greed," 2004), Malcolm in the Middle ("Lois Battles Jamie," 2005), Numb3rs ("Hot Shot," 2006), Brothers & Sisters ("States of the Union," 2007), The Wire ("React Quotes," 2008), Medium ("But for the Grace of God," 2008), Psych ("A Nightmare on State Street," 2014), and Riverdale ("Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Midnight Club," 2018). Because "Shout" was the group's first single in the rest of the world, Tears For Fears thought it should also be their first release in the US, but the record label insisted "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" was better suited for their American debut. "Which is interesting in retrospect," Smith told Consequence of Sound, "because it was one of those times when the record company was right and we were wrong, because for America, yes, it was a better first single." The 30th anniversary re-release of the album contains a few different versions of the song, including a live performance from Canada's Massey Hall, an alternate single, and an instrumental rendition. Smith said of the instrumental: "When you strip a vocal off a track, you get to then appreciate how that track was built because you’re just listening to the elements of the music behind it." Gloria Gaynor and the Glee Cast are among the artists to cover this song. Weezer included it on their 2019 covers collection known as The Teal Album. In 2016, the musician Ted Yoder played this in his backyard on a hammered dulcimer. Streamed to Facebook Live, it got over 100 million views, earning Yoder the title, "Dulcimer Dad."
Welcome to your life There's no turning back Even while we sleep We will find you Acting on your best behaviour Turn your back on mother nature Everybody wants to rule the world It's my own design It's my own remorse Help me to decide Help me make the most Of freedom and of pleasure Nothing ever lasts forever Everybody wants to rule the world There's a room where the light won't find you Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down When they do I'll be right behind you So glad we've almost made it So sad they had to fade it Everybody wants to rule the world I can't stand this indecision Married with a lack of vision Everybody wants to rule the world Say that you'll never, never, never, never need it One headline why believe it? Everybody wants to rule the world All for freedom and for pleasure Nothing ever lasts forever Everybody wants to rule the world
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mar 16, 1985 | 70 | 56 |
| 2 | Mar 23, 1985 | 65 | 61 |
| 3 | Mar 30, 1985 | 54 | 72 |
| 4 | Apr 6, 1985 | 43 | 83 |
| 5 | Apr 13, 1985 | 34 | 92 |
| 6 | Apr 20, 1985 | 26 | 100 |
| 7 | Apr 27, 1985 | 18 | 108 |
| 8 | May 4, 1985 | 14 | 112 |
| 9 | May 11, 1985 | 10 | 116 |
| 10 | May 18, 1985 | 9 | 117 |
| 11 | May 25, 1985 | 3 | 123 |
| 12 | Jun 1, 1985 | 2 | 124 |
| 13 | Jun 8, 1985 | 1 | 125 |
| 14 | Jun 15, 1985 | 1 | 125 |
| 15 | Jun 22, 1985 | 3 | 123 |
| 16 | Jun 29, 1985 | 7 | 119 |
| 17 | Jul 6, 1985 | 14 | 112 |
| 18 | Jul 13, 1985 | 25 | 101 |
| 19 | Jul 20, 1985 | 43 | 83 |
| 20 | Jul 27, 1985 | 57 | 69 |