Tears for Fears

English pop band · formed 1981 in Bath

Tears for Fears — Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith — formed in Bath in 1981 and recorded ‘Mad World’ in 1982, with Smith on lead vocal and Orzabal as writer. It was their first hit, an up-tempo synth-pop single that reached UK No. 3. They went on to far bigger records like ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, which is part of why their bleak little debut single got quietly re-attributed to the man who covered it two decades later.

Who recorded it

Songs Tears for Fears recorded first

Mad World

Recorded it first — now often credited to Gary Jules

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