This duo were followers of the American psychological school of Primal Therapy. This song was inspired by this form of treatment, which worked by getting people to face their fears by screaming. Fun Fact: John Lennon also went through Primal therapy in 1970. Many of the songs he wrote immediately afterward were inspired by his experience in therapy.
One half of today’s duo says this song was also always about something bigger: "A lot of people think that [this song] is just another song about primal scream theory...It is actually more concerned with political protest. It came out in 1984 when a lot of people were still worried about the aftermath of The Cold War and it was basically an encouragement to protest."
This song is another case where the writer of the song didn't see what they had. The lead singer explains: “The song was written in my front room on just a small synthesizer and a drum machine...I played it to...our keyboardist...and the producer. I saw it as a good album track, but they were convinced it would be a hit around the world."
And it was! In fact, This was a HUGE international hit, especially in the US, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and the UK.
Curt and Roland, the duo that make up today’s band are still friends and still together. In fact they marked the 36 year anniversary of this song in November with a throwback facebook pic of the young english lads recording today’s song.
However it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.They had an acrimonious split in 1991. Roland retained the bands name as a solo project, they reconciled in 2000 and released an album of new material, Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, in 2004. The duo have toured consistently since then.