Kanye West brought Tears for Fears into the world of hip-hop with one song
Kanye West is no stranger to bringing inspiration into his music, and he is well-known for sampling songs from the early days of his career. As he’s done with many of his albums, Ye pushed the boundaries of hip-hop with his 2008 album 808s and Heartbreak, which brought fans into the world of electropop, art pop and synth-pop.
The final track on the album, ‘Coldest Winter‘, pays tribute to his late mother, Donda, who passed away in 2007. In the chorus, he sings, “Memories made in the coldest winter/ Goodbye, my friend, will I ever love again?”
The record interpolates the 1983 song ‘Memories Fade’ from British band Tears for Fears, which appeared on their album The Hurting. The lyrics on the original only slightly differ: “Memories fade, but the scars still linger/ Goodbye, my friend/ Will I ever love again?”
No ID, who produced the song alongside Kanye and Jeff Bhasker, brought Tears for Fears into Ye’s universe. At the time, the Chicago producer was practising a branding experiment by growing his beard and hair, wearing sunglasses, and diving into ’80s pop music. He discovered and played the song for Kanye; the rest is history.
“I’d sit around listen to all of these ’80s records, and one day I came across Tears for Fears’ ‘Memories Fade’ and I immediately knew, ‘That’s it. Right here,’” he told Complex. “So I played him the whole section, and Ye said, ‘I would just change one word.’ I had no idea he’d keep it as is. I knew it was something as soon as I heard the song. I knew it was special.”
Despite Kanye using one of their classic songs, they struggled with receiving royalties. Tears for Fears member Curt Smith told Electronic Sound, “It was initially flattering… until he didn’t want to pay us. He’s a dick.” Roland Orzabal added, “He did it without permission. I had this phone call from his agent. I was in an airport – I think it was Languedoc – and he said, ‘We have to get clearance on this immediately’. I said, ‘Well, can I hear it?’”
He added, “I know it’s just the way Kanye West rolls, but now my youngest son refers to that song as ‘Coldest Winter’ not ‘Memories Fade’, because that’s what he knows.”
Following ‘Coldest Winter’, Drake, who has cited Kanye as one of his inspirations, sampled ‘Ideas as Opiates’, also from The Hurting, on the song ‘Lust for Life’ from 2009’s So Far Gone mixtape. Nas also sampled their 1985 track ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ for ‘Rule’ with Amerie off 2001’s Stillmatic album.
“I wasn’t aware another rapper sampled us after [Kanye]!” they told NME. “I knew Nas sampled ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’, and I know Kanye’s version. We had issues with the Kanye one, because he thought he deserved 80% of the publishing when all he did was steal the entire song and change the lyric.”
He continued, “But the Nas version, I liked. I don’t know the Drake song. I would have thought my children would have played that to me, but clearly they’re not on the ball!”
The Weeknd is another artist who has paid homage to Tears for Fears, sampling the band’s 1982 single ‘Pale Shelter (You Don’t Give Me Love)’ for ‘Secrets’ off 2016’s Starboy album.
“It’s incredibly cool that R&B artists like Kanye and The Weeknd, who from a completely different genre to us, have tapped into The Hurting,” they said to the Herald Sun. “It’s very interesting. I knew Abel [Tesfaye] was a big fan, he’s mentioned he loves the band before, I’m a big admirer of his work too.”