Everybody Wants to Rule the World
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a song by English pop rock band Tears for Fears from their second studio album Songs from the Big Chair (1985). It was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley, and Chris Hughes and produced by Hughes. It was released on 22 March 1985 by Phonogram, Mercury, and Vertigo Records as the third single from the album. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a new wave and synth-pop song with lyrics that detail the desire humans have for control and power and centre on themes of corruption.
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
An international success, the song peaked at number two in Ireland, Australia, and the United Kingdom and at number one in Canada, New Zealand, and on both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Cashbox. It was certified gold by both Music Canada (MC) and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Retrospectively, music critics have praised "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", with some ranking the song among the decade's best. Along with "Shout" (1984), it is one of the band's signature songs.
A music video received promotion from MTV. The year the song came out, it was featured in the ending to the science fiction comedy film Real Genius. In 1986, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards. The group re-recorded the song as a charity single for the Sport Aid campaign. The song has been covered extensively since its release, most notably by New Zealand singer Lorde for the soundtrack to the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Background and release[edit]
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was written by Roland Orzabal, Ian Stanley and Chris Hughes, and produced by Hughes. The song was a "last-minute" addition during recording sessions of Songs from the Big Chair (1985). The decision to include the song in the album came after Orzabal played two chords on his acoustic guitar for Hughes.[2] It was recorded in two weeks and added as the final track on the album. According to Orzabal, the final line in the song's chorus, originally written as "Everybody wants to go to war", contributed to his indifference towards the track.[3]
In an interview with Mix magazine, Hughes said that "as a piece of recording history, [the song is] bland as hell".[4] Orzabal's unimpressed reaction to the track during their songwriting sessions prompted Hughes to convince him to record it, in a calculated effort to garner American chart success. After completing their sessions at 6 p.m., they would spend an hour reviewing each recording many times; this helped Orzabal to create the song's guitar figure and change its title.[5] Orzabal acknowledged that the shuffle beat used in the song was "alien" to their way of writing music, stating it was "jolly rather than square and rigid in the manner of "Shout", but it continued the process of becoming more extrovert." Curt Smith, the song's lead singer, said the themes were "quite serious – it's about everybody wanting power, about warfare and the misery it causes."[6]
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was first released on 22 March 1985[1] through Phonogram, Mercury and Vertigo Records as the third single from Songs from the Big Chair.[7] The song was released for sale (as a 7-inch,[8] 10-inch[9] and 12-inch[10] vinyl set) which included its B-side, interviews from the band and different versions of the song.[11] To accommodate the vinyl release, a CD video set was also distributed and included the song's music video along with audios of bonus tracks.[12][13]
Composition and lyrical interpretation[edit]
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is a new wave[14][15] and synth-pop song.[16] The song is set in the key of D major[17] with a 12
8 time signature and a tempo of 112 beats per minute.[18] The band stated that the driving shuffle rhythm was influenced by Simple Minds' 1983 song "Waterfront",[19] and Linx's 1981 song "Throw Away the Key".[5] "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" incorporates synthesizers,[2] guitar,[2] a shuffle groove,[20] two guitar solos,[21] and keyboards.[22]
According to Joe Strummer (of The Clash) in a 1988 interview, he was in a restaurant and saw Orzabal, whereupon he told him that "you owe me a fiver", explaining that the title of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was an exact lift of the first line of the middle eight in "Charlie Don't Surf". According to Strummer, Orzabal simply reached into his pocket and gave him a five pound note, confirming that this had been the case.[23][24] The song's lyrics detail the desire humans have for control and power.[25][26] In 2017, Tal Rosenberg of Pitchfork stated that its lyrics could be applied in different scenarios such as the environment ("Turn your back on mother nature"), short-lived financial success ("Help me make the most of freedom and of pleasure/Nothing ever lasts forever"), dictatorial rule ("Even while we sleep/We will find you"), and the Cold War ("Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down").[2]
The song's lyrics have elicited different political interpretations. A writer for The Economist called the track "a Cold War anthem" and noted its "timeless message", stating that "the song's lyrics speak to the anxieties of every age".[27] Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic used the lyrics "Say that you'll never, never, never need it / One headline, why believe it? / Everybody wants to rule the world" in his article about the United States government's use of "original classified authority" and the abuse of power between the branches of government.[28] Dominic Pino of National Review described the track as a "conservative pop song", noting the lyrics' tension between "personal ambition" and "channeling that personal ambition to good ends", comparing these themes to James Madison's concerns about private interest in the Federalist Papers.[29] Curt Smith challenged this interpretation.[30]
Tears for Fears revisited the song and its message in a 2017 interview with Yahoo! Music, stating that the song's themes were still "just as poignant" as they were when they first wrote it.[31] They mentioned that they discussed the Cold War with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and Songs from the Big Chair but that was the "U.S. and Russia then, and now the concern is more with the U.S. and [North] Korea."[31]
Reception[edit]
Consequence of Sound editor Michael Roffman praised the group for being able to produce a "timeless and influential composition" with minimal effort. Roffman also noted that "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was appropriate when it was first released, calling it a "meditative commentary on an era that was so corrupt economically and spiritually."[25] AllMusic's Stanton Swihart expressed in his retrospective review that the group "perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the mid-'80s while impossibly managing to also create a dreamy, timeless pop classic."[32] Pitchfork called it a song with "near-universal appeal", as well as a staple for "classic-rock radio, pharmacies, bars, and parties".[2] In their review for the best albums of the 1980s, Eric Henderson from Slant Magazine stated that the song "seems like one of the great indictments of the materialism and false triumphalism of the decade."[33]
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was voted the 25th best single in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1985 with 17 points, sharing the spot with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Don't Come Around Here No More" (1985) and Sade's "Smooth Operator" (1984).[34] Pitchfork placed the song at number 82 on their list for the best songs of the 80s expressing that "underneath the synth-pop sheen, its vague message" and its lesson in how power-driven society could be, the song was able to reach "Reagan and Margaret-era youth fed up with political greed".[26] Kevin Korber from Spectrum Culture ranked the song at 24 on his 80s decade list, calling the song a "testament to how much of a free-for-all the pop landscape was in the 1980s". Korber dismissed the song's vague lyrics but praised its complex melodic structure, saying it was "both the perfect representation of its time and a timeless composition".[35] Treble included the song at number 49 on their decade list.[36] In 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 319 in their updated list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[37]
In 1986, the song won "Best Single" at the Brit Awards. Band member and co-writer Roland Orzabal argued that the song deserved to win the Ivor Novello International Hit of the Year award, claiming that the winner—"19" by Paul Hardcastle—was not an actual song, but only a "dialogue collage".[38] In 2015, 30 years after its release, the song was honoured at the annual BMI Awards in London for achieving 6 million radio airplays.[39] "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is regarded as the group's signature song, along with "Shout" (1984).[40]
"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was banned for broadcast by the BBC for the duration of the first Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991) due to the song's political themes.[41]
The song was used as the title theme for Dennis Miller during the first several seasons of his HBO talk show, Dennis Miller Live.[42][43] It was later replaced due to costs associated with licensing the song.[44][45]
Commercial performance[edit]
In the United Kingdom, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" debuted at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, in the issue dated 24 March 1985.[46] On the week of 14 April 1985, the song peaked at number two, where it stayed for an additional week, both times being blocked from the top spot by "We Are the World" by USA for Africa.[47] "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" received a gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 13 April 2018 for 500,000 sales[48] and re-entered the UK Singles Chart in 2022 and 2023. In addition, as of May 2023, is the 12th most streamed song from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s by British artists in the United Kingdom.[49] The song peaked at number three in Belgium,[50] and at number two in both the Netherlands and Ireland.[51][52]
In the United States, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" debuted at number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated 16 March 1985.[53] On the week of 27 April 1985, the song rose to number 18.[54] On the week of 8 June 1985, the song moved 2–1, replacing Wham!'s "Everything She Wants" (1984) as the number one on the chart;[55] it would spend a total of two weeks in this position. The song was a commercial success in other American markets, peaking at number two on the Adult Contemporary and Top Rock Tracks and charting at number one on the Hot Dance Club Play,[56] Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales,[56] and Cash Box charts.[57] It ranks as the 345th best-charting single of all time in the United States.[58] In Canada, the song reached the number one spot,[59] earning a gold certification from Music Canada (MC) for 40,000 sales shipments on 1 May 1985.[60]
In Australia, the song reached the number two position.[61] On the report dated 19 May 1985, the song debuted at number four on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles chart; it would later peak at number one.[62] It was certified Gold by the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for sales of 10,000.[63]