Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - Tears For Fears and "Break It Down Again"

Roland Orzabal flies solo for the last Tears For Fears chart-topping hit, "Break It Down Again," a rock-infused, synthesizer-heavy banger

Tears For Fears - “Break It Down Again”

Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 3 weeks (July 24 to August 7, 1993)

Previous Modern Rock Tracks chart #1 hit: Porno For Pyros - “Pets”

Next Modern Rock Tracks chart #1 hit: Red Hot Chili Peppers - “Soul To Squeeze”

Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:

• UB40 - “(I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You” (7/24/93 to 8/7/93)

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I grew up on Tears For Fears. This is not to say I’m some kind of superfan, but my earliest memories of “modern” pop radio were in the mid ‘80s at the height of TFF’s superstardom, a point where every single off Songs from the Big Chair became a top-40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

I can’t be the only one enamored with their amazing list of hits from that period, right? “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” is a global juggernaut of a song, racking up nearly 2 BILLION listens on Spotify. Keeping in mind Spotify wasn’t ubiquitous in the streaming era until the past 10 to 15 years, I’d argue 2 billion streams is pretty amazing for a now-40-year-old song. Curt Smith’s vocals are buttery smooth, paced by a terrific mix of synth-pop and electric percussion. If I had to create a list of songs that I will never get tired of hearing, this one’s easily in the top 20.

Of course, that track went to #1 on the Hot 100, and it was just the beginning for the band’s success in the U.S. “Shout,” the second U.S. single off Big Chair, hit #1 just after “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” and for good reason. The haunting up and down drone of the synthesizer, mixed with an almost industrial clank percussive beat, created the perfect space for TFF co-founder Roland Orzabal to show off his vocal range. Third single “Head Over Heels” fell short of the top spot on the Hot 100 but still peaked at a very respectable #3, and became a favorite of fans a generation later when it featured prominently in the cult classic film “Donnie Darko.” (A Gary Jules re-recording of the band’s modest U.K. hit “Mad World” also featured prominently on that film’s soundtrack.)

Even “Mothers Talk,” a track written in 1983 and released internationally in 1984 in the U.K. and elsewhere, became a U.S. hit when it was remixed and re-released as the band’s fourth U.S. single in 1986. Folks were hungry for more of Smith and Orzabal, going far enough to push the first single from their follow-up album The Seeds of Love to #2 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the then-newly formed Modern Rock Tracks chart: “Sowing The Seeds Of Love.” I talked at length about that track, and honestly found it decidedly “meh” at the time, a stance I still hold to.

Following the subpar chart standing of singles off The Seeds of Love, one could be forgiven for thinking Tears For Fears might have peaked by the end of the 1980s. And then after the release of that album, the band effectively became a solo project when artistic and personal differences between Smith and Orzabal led to Smith leaving Tears For Fears entirely in the early 1990s. Given that handicap, it’s remarkable that Orzabal’s solo version of Tears For Fears was able to brush off their chart decline and interpersonal drama to release one more chart-topping track: “Break It Down Again.”

This song has an unusual intro but grows into something completely different. When I listen to this song, I still get surprised by the transition from the mellow synths to the hard-rock grooves punctuated by the one-two “dun dun” that separates each of Orzabal’s lyrical verses. Musically, it’s orchestrated in such a methodical way, each “dun dun” building with additional guitars and percussion in the background toward the refrain.

But the real beauty of the song comes when Orzabal does a complete 180 with his vocals. In the beginning, his vocals come in a low tone, which is very different from the loud, higher-pitched vocals that made the band’s ‘80s hits so unique. But then, unexpectedly before the actual refrain, Orzabal takes his voice up a couple of octaves and belts out the next verses in a more familiar tone.

[Low pitched Orzabal]

Break it down again (dun dun)
So those are my dreams (dun dun)
And these are my eyes (dun dun)
Stand tall like a man (dun dun)

[High pitched Orzabal]

Headstrong like a horse
When it's all mixed up
Better break it down

ooooh ooh ooh ….. ooooh ooh ooh

The whole thing comes together perfectly, but there had to be a lot of production work that went into composing all of these synth beats, guitar impositions and vocal shifts. That it all works so seamlessly speaks to the level of attention Orzabal and the band put into making the song pop from start to finish in new and unique ways.

But the song is likely tinged with some of the confusion and mixed feelings Orzabal had following the breakup with Smith. I could be reading a lot into the lyrics here, but at one point Orzabal’s lyrics seem to point to Smith’s unwillingness to be in the band anymore, lacking the proper motivation to continue but hoping he’ll find what he’s looking for with some soul searching:

It's in the way you're always hiding from the light
See for yourself, you have been sitting on a time bomb
No revolution, maybe someone, somewhere else
Could show you something new about you and your inner song
And all the love and all the love in the world
Won't stop the rain from falling

In the end, the song seems to set the stage for Orzabal to move forward, to “break it down again” and start fresh with a new path, a new musical vision, and a new sound. Of course, even with the success of this track, Tears For Fears never quite found its way back to the fruitful musical heyday of their ‘80s peak.

In addition to its stint at the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, “Break It Down Again” managed a reasonably good #25 peak on the Hot 100, though it would be the last time the band would crack the top 40 on the pop charts, and ultimately the last time we’ll see Tears For Fears in this space. Smith would reunite with Orzabal in the early 2000s after nearly a decade without speaking, and the band continues to tour to this day. Their latest record, Songs for a Nervous Planet, will be released in five days from the time of this publication, on Oct. 25, 2024.

I can’t say that “Break It Down Again” is on the same level as the band’s biggest hits from Songs From The Big Chair, but I can say that I love this track a LOT more than “Sowing The Seeds Of Love.” I do wonder what Smith and Orzabal together could have crafted going into the ‘90s together, but at least Orzabal was able to bring one last dose of ‘80s-era synth-pop into a more rock-minded alternative scene of the ‘90s, and cement the band’s legacy.

Rating: 8/10

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Chart Check

Other notable MRT chart songs from this time period

Lots of top-five hits peaking during Tears For Fears’ run atop the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The highest peak, U2’s “Numb,” is actually pretty terrible, but the rest of the tracks are OK. Yes, even Björk is better than U2 at this point. Paul Westerberg makes his official solo album debut, OMD brings their sound to a new level, Matthew Sweet keeps on Matthew Sweeting, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones make their Modern Rock Tracks chart debut.

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“Numb” by U2 (#2): U2 went in a decidedly different direction when they released their Achtung Baby follow-up, Zooropa. I’m not going to lie: I never heard this song before today. I’m also not going to lie when I tell you today’s listen will likely be the last time I listen to it. This is dreadful. I’m not sure what they were doing, but it’s terrible. And even though it’s terrible, it peaked at #2 behind Tears For Fears somehow.

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“The Ugly Truth” by Matthew Sweet (#3): Matthew Sweet did not veer too far from his own musical wheelhouse when he created “The Ugly Truth,” a solid pop-rock ditty that peaked at #3 behind “Break It Down Again.” Sweet will appear in this space again before the decade is over, but continues to pad his resume with top-5 alternative hits with another decent track here.

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“World Class Fad” by Paul Westerberg (#4): “World Class Fad” is the first single from Replacements’ frontman Paul Westerberg’s first solo album, 14 Songs. It’s a pretty decent track, to be honest, a high-energy rock track that peaked at #4 behind Tears For Fears. The clip I posted below shows a full clip from MTV’s “120 Minutes” show talking with Westerberg, providing insights on what he did in his post-Replacements period, and then follows with the full video.

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“Human Behaviour” by Björk (#4): I just don’t get it, you guys. In her solo debut, Björk manages to get to a #4 peak on the Modern Rock Tracks chart with “Human Behaviour,” a track that contains a blissfully small number of obnoxious shrieks. One of the YouTube comments under the posted video reads: “It’s such a cool juxtaposition of how cute and innocent Björk looks, but how masterful and authoritative her artistic prowess is.” It’s marginally better than the Sugarcubes track I covered, but I’m not sure I’m getting much of the artistic prowess.

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“Stand Above Me” by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (#5): Outside of their biggest U.S. hit, “If You Leave,” I don’t know much about Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Given that limited exposure, it was interesting to hear “Stand Above Me,” the band’s biggest Modern Rock Tracks chart hit. It peaked at #5 behind Tears For Fears, and actually was a pretty rollicking rock-and-roll track, quite a bit different from the sound that made them household names in the U.S. in the mid ‘80s.

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“Someday I Suppose” by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (#19): I had to check the date and the chart to make sure this was correct, but it’s true. Several years before the big mainstream ska boom of the late ‘90s, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones premiered on the Modern Rock Tracks chart with “Someday I Suppose.” The track peaked at #19 behind “Break It Down Again,” but it’s weird to imagine MMBT and TFF peaking on the same chart at the same time, because it feels like two different eras of music. Nevertheless, here they are!

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