Curt Smith

We rushed to finish the album when 'Mad World' became a hit. The pressure was on and it stopped being as enjoyable as it had been; in the end, it wasn't enjoyable at all.

Having lawyers involved never leads to good things.

In England, people get bored very quickly. People aren't satisfied with one thing. You can have hits, but to stay there you have to start doing new things.

American rock was, and still is to some extent, a closed shop. REO Speedwagon, Toto, Boston, Foreigner all those bands, and I wouldn't be able to tell which from which.

I hate touring beyond measure. I don't like all the travelling and the hotel rooms. But the hour and a half on stage each night keep me going.

We've always been slammed by most of the British press. They probably hate us because we're too normal and incredibly honest.

We were blessed that we were successful when we were. That enabled us to live in a comfortable fashion.

More than anything else, being famous just didn't agree with me.

My daughters prefer Tears for Fears songs as they're more upbeat and generic. Dad's songs are 'a little too sad' for them, which just means that they're harder to understand.

I think people forget even though we were labelled a synth band because of 'The Hurting,' but keyboards are not our native instruments. Roland's a guitar player and I'm a bass player.

We spent a year touring the world and it wasn't until it was over that we truly appreciated the upside and downside of our success.

For me, I didn't want to be famous and there was a desire to be me and not 'that guy from the band' so I was happy to see it all go.