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Songs from the Big Chair

by Tears for Fears

• Buy it at Amazon.com

Considering that Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, the English duo known as Tears for Fears, were avid followers of Arthur Janov, father of the Primal Scream form of mental therapy, it wasn't surprising that one of their biggest hits was titled "Shout." What was surprising was how the two managed to take all their deep-rooted inner turmoil and make such positively buoyant music. Case in point: their other Songs from the Big Chair-spawned, No. 1 hit, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," was a meditative contemplation of the struggle for power within interpersonal relationships as a metaphor for global supremacy--which, thank god, had a good beat so you could at least dance to it. --Billy Altman