Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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I would say Sowing the Seeds of Love is the best.
Thats not just because of the song, either.
The thing about being a recording artist is the strength of your recordings is what matters to you.
Its as close as weve ever got to perfection on production.
We were allowed to go full throttle into getting an entire orchestra into a room.
When you listen to the song, its clearly a Beatles pastiche weve not been shy about that.
We really wanted to have a full orchestra and make it big with a ton of strings.
Theres an oboe solo.
When we were growing up, we were influenced by the Beatles and George Martins string arrangements.
It was just a joy to make.
Those are the things that bring you immense joy.
I think Mad World is our best, lyrically, because its so direct.
It doesnt fight against the production; its a contrast.
We produced it as an uptempo song with very dark lyrics.
In a sense,the Michael Andrews and Gary Jules versionis far more in tune with the lyrics.
But Mad World is very clean and never gets dated.
Most people dont know about it, thankfully.
It really is not very good, but it did lead us into doingSongs From the Big Chair.
We were starting to get a little older and be more outward-looking and a little more political.
We corrected that by the time we started recordingSongs From the Big Chair.
I would rerecord Mothers Talk.
Maybe its one of those things that will never be right.
Its the feel of it.
Mothers Talk is this weird song thats somewhere between a shared bombasity but is very electronic.
We havent, and didnt, strike that balance particularly well.
We were still torn between the electronic side of it and making it bigger.
The rest ofSongs From the Big Chairis bigger and bolder than Mothers Talk.
It never gets to that point where its convincing to me.
A lot of this is always a feeling, its not something you could actually put into words.
It just doesnt do it for me.
No version yet has done it for me.
Song that shouldve been longer
None of them.
The songs that are longer are definitive versions.
Where I question it is when theyre edited down, because theyre intended to be long.
They normally dont have the same impact when theyre shortened.
We even wrote a line in one of our songs about that problem.
Shout was the first single to come out from us that was six minutes long.
That came from that problem of being asked to fade the end of Shout by five seconds.
It becomes a journey in and of itself, and those are the most fun ones to make.
As far as lyrically, Id go back to Mad World.
But I generally go for the deeper album tracks.
Ideas As Opiates is pretty existential.
The title itself tells you that its a little deeper than the average song.
Instead, they can actually give you the feel of the album.
The Working Hour does that onSongs From the Big Chair.
Most philosophy-influenced song
It changes as you get older.
Philosophically, there was a theme throughoutThe Hurtingthat was very prevalent.
Philosophically, I guess its interesting that we were 20-year-olds when we finishedThe Hurting.
It was written during our late teens and we were trying to mine our childhood trauma.
Laying the blame on our parents door and all that kind of stuff that teens tend to do.
We had become far more philosophically outward-looking and were discussing the politics in England.
But as opposed to being angry about it, it became the joyous Sowing the Seeds of Love.
This is the way we get out of this to come together.
We get more world-wise as we get older.
I found it disturbing that some fans didnt understand that.
Neither of us are very comfortable being pop stars at all.
I would say we are really bad at it.
I think thats also the reason why I ended up moving to New York.
No one cares who you are.
No one stops you in the street.
They can know who you are, theyll recognize you, but they will not stop you.
I have been stopped on the street twice in 30 years.
Thats the joy of New York.
Thats my kind of comfort zone.
Its weird because, being a musician, you would think we crave attention.
Yet when you get the attention, youre like,Im not really enjoying this that much.
I sometimes get into these brief discussions on Twitter when I talk about politics.
Have you not listened to any of our songs?
Do you not understand that half of our songs are political?
I find that fascinating.
People who cover it and dont attempt to change it is where I have the issue.
You should put your own interpretation on it.
Theyre bad, elevated, and muted versions of songs.
I find those upsetting because I think,Oh my God,thats what weve become.
Most therapeutic album for you to record
This new one.
Normally the opposite happens, because weve been going through the wringer and trying to get this album finished.
It can be a real struggle, and that struggle tends to linger.
Favorite Curt Smithless Tears for Fears song
I dont know them well.
I have come to really like Break It Down Again.
We play that song nowadays and I enjoy playing it.
I found it highly amusing.
I would pick those two songs.
Weirdest place you heard Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Theres been a bunch of weird places.
We were in Hawaii and it was the one break we had in a long and grueling touring year.
That was the most surreal.
I did not go in and join in.
That was a moment with the people fromPsych.The actors are very much into karaoke.
They were too busy picking out what they were going to do, right?
It was totally funny.
I think Ive come full circle on it because of the other versions.
I think it then took on a whole new meaning.
Seeing her get into it and clearly understand it was quite moving to me.
The meaning behind the songs can always change depending on your viewpoint.
I dont necessarily want to do that anymore.
Now I have to look at it as encouraging other people to shout, preferably people younger than me.
In that sense, Ive got to change my view of the song to really be honest about it.
With that comes a certain level of respect if youre still alive and playing.
Were appreciated more now than we were ten years ago without question.
I was discussing this with Roland recently theres a certain respect with interviewers that wasnt there before.
Weve both noticed it this time around.
Do I careabout being nominatedfor the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
I guess it would be nice.
That kind of legacy is more for my kids than anything else.
I dont think it is for me.
Thats the gratifying side of it.
Its hard for both of us to admit that, but its something we have come to learn.
Were better together than apart, and theres some magic that happens when were together.
I had never seenPsych, and he was like, You have to come on our show.
He was a little intense and I didnt think much of it at the time.
James wouldnt let go; he kept asking, so I finally said sure.
The cast is exactly how you think they are.
Its like theyre all 10-year-olds when on set together and its a joy to be around.
When theyasked me back again, of course I said yes.
I think the 100 Clues episode was very funny.
Being mauled by a panther and shot, you thought they couldnt get lower than that.
But yeah, of course they could find a way.
Nightmare on State Street would have to be my favorite moment.
The shot of me as a zombie is pretty intense.
It was a big and intense three hours of makeup.
The whole premise with me forced me to be as self-deprecating as I possibly can.
Im into that and Im fine with it.
Im sure there are some lines I wouldnt cross, but I havent got to them yet.
