Tears For Fears — Everybody Wants To Rule The World

JUL 01 1985 · 12:00

Tears For Fears — Everybody Wants To Rule The World (1985) Director: Nigel Dick Era: Second British Invasion / New Wave Peak (1985) - Mid-decade apex of synth-pop's mainstream dominance, coinciding with MTV's ascendancy as a commercial and cultural force in the United States Tier-1 archival artefact representing the precise intersection of New Wave's commercial zenith, MTV's formative power as a cultural gatekeeper, and the Second British Invasion's peak. Directed by Nigel Dick at the outset of his landmark career, it is a foundational text for music video studies, pop culture history, and 1980s visual aesthetics. Its continued cultural circulation — through film, television, TikTok nostalgia, and the 2013 Lorde cover — confirms its status as one of the most enduringly resonant music videos of the 20th century. Context: Released on 22 March 1985 as the third single from 'Songs from the Big Chair,' the video arrived at the height of the Second British Invasion, when MTV's heavy rotation of UK acts reshaped American pop. The video's sun-drenched Californian road-trip aesthetic was a deliberate visual pitch at American audiences, and it worked: the song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 8 June 1985. The open desert landscape and vintage car imagery served as a visual translation of the song's Cold War-era themes — freedom, power, and the vast, indifferent American landscape — into a format legible to MTV's suburban US viewership. The Economist would later describe it as 'a Cold War anthem' with a 'timeless message.' Director notes: The video was filmed in Los Angeles, Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, and Cabazon, California, and was the third Tears for Fears clip Dick directed. It features Curt Smith driving a vintage Austin-Healey 3000 sports car through Southern California locales including Interstate 10 and the Wheel Inn diner, intercut with studio performance footage. The shoot was reportedly troubled: Curt Smith described it to Pitchfork as a 'disaster,' with Dick reportedly in tears on the second night, and an on-set accident involving a child during the dirt bike and off-road vehicle scene. The video was edited by Dave Gardner and co-produced by Dick and Faye Cummings. Its heavy rotation on MTV was a significant factor in breaking Tears for Fears in the American market.