In September 1982 Tears for Fears released Mad World, it wasn’t the first single from their debut album but was the first successful one in the UK. Graham and I loved Tears for Fears. Mad World has been used in films and covered several times. Their first album, The Hurting, is an album around the theme of childhood trauma and abuse.
TFF had two more very successful albums in the 80s – with Everybody Wants To Rule the World and Sowing the Seeds of Love as the biggest hits from them. Their third album is the second best and The Year of the Knife is a big favourite of mine.
In the Autumn of 1982 I went to Royston for a 24 hour sponsored Dungeons and Dragons game. I think the money was being raised for a school trip for students at Meridian. I usually got lifts to Royston from family members but this time I got a bus to Colchester, then a National Express to Cambridge and then another bus to Royston.
Graham had arranged this event and the next day we started just after 9am. We played three dungeons in that time – Graham led off, then John and finally me. There were so many people with the first two we actually had two dungeon masters so we could have two strands running. By the time we got to mine several people had wimped out and we were down to John, Graham, Paul Ashby, Alan Curtis and Martin Walker.
We had a ball with John and Graham’s dungeons – good music and food as we went along. Using pre-set up characters meant there was huge scope for characters to interact, people had secrets and different missions. John had set it up so Graham hated Elves and I hated Dwarves. Despite Joanna trying to broker peace a fight broke out where I was blinded and Skids was deafened. I accidentally saw Paul’s character sheet showing that he was really an assassin I had to promise to keep quiet, which was what had set it all off. We were interrupted late at night by the police who were worried that the school had lights on and had driven across the school field. Graham tried to explain Dungeons and Dragons to them, they gave up and went off again. I guess that we sounded too geeky to be villains, shame the female players had already gone home. That was my first negative encounter with the police.
I do not know how Graham, John and Alan kept order with so many people, but it was a bloody amazing time.
I messed up my dungeon as I was in pain after jumping off a frame in the drama studio without shoes on, it was not that high but without shoes to cushion it the pain went all the way up my legs. I almost destroyed the party with a fireball, but as I was dicing the damage I realised I was being a dick and lied about the damage.
We made it through the 24 hours and went to bed after breakfast. We were playing again by 3pm, though it was the first time that Martin Walker was ever late for a D&D game. We went back into John’s unfinished dungeon with our own characters. It was less of a challenge.
This track is from The Hurting – a classic album that should be listened to as a whole.
Pale Shelter
Playlist
- The Hurting
- Mad World
- Pale Shelter
- Suffer the Children
- Watch Me Bleed
- Everybody Wants to Rule the World
- Head Over Heels
- Sowing the Seeds of Love
- Advice for the Young at Heart
- Year of the Knife
Five Miles Out 