Being a teenager is tough. We all have those albums that we went to for solace when we were slogging through our teen years that helped us to realize that we’re not alone in our awkward gloominess. Rob submits this one as his go-to teenage angst record; Tears For Fears’ 1983 debut album The Hurting. With Graeme and Shannon, our questing Deeper Cuts trio explore the themes of emotional states of mind reflected in the music, how lyrics connect with an audience, and how a once treasured album holds up (or doesn’t) all these years later.
> “my English friends would call ‘Sixth Form Poetry”
Actually Rob, your English friends would probably call it ‘Sixth Form Poetic Wank’ 🙂
> “only reason I knew Mad World had such interesting poetry going on within it was because of the Gary Jules cover”
I find that’s one of the greatest strengths of a good cover version: causing you to re-evaluate your feelings about the original. For example, I’d entirely written off Oasis until I had my head turned by this gem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy1ueZf1WMQ that strips it back and provides a new interpretation (and yes… I’m mostly serious)
> something that sounds brooding and almost passive sounding but is seething with rage
I love songs like that. The Beautiful South were always good at that too… lovely jaunty pop tunes with really bitter and twisted lyrics.
Hey Jon,
I think the early 80s were a time when these kinds of contrasts were all over the radio, as well as being a big part of post-punk in general. In some ways, it was the optimal time to be an early teen – full of emotion and without the vocabulary to put it into perspective due to a lack of life experience. That’s why pop music of that era was so *important*, for me particularly with this record.
Thanks for comments, Jon. Nice to see you over here! And thanks for listening, too. Tell your friends, etc, etc, shill, shill, shill …
Rob.