Human League

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The Human League are an English synthpop band formed in 1977, who, after several changes in line up, achieved great popularity in the 1980s and a limited comeback in the mid-1990s. Originally a synthesiser based group from Sheffield, England, the only consistent band member since the Human League formed in 1977 is vocalist and songwriter Phil Oakey.

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Original line-up

Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh were both working as computer programmers in 1977, and combined a love of pop music (such as glam rock and Tamla Motown) with avante garde electronic music. They acquired a Roland System 100 synthesizer and began to create music in their own rehearsal facility. Initially they formed a group called The Future with Adi Newton. Newton left to form the outfit Clock DVA. Ware and Marsh searched for a vocalist, but their first choice, Glenn Gregory (who would be the lead singer of their later band, Heaven 17), was unavailable. Ware instead decided to invite Philip Oakey, an old school friend, and a hospital porter at the time to join the band, "apparently by leaving a note stuck to his door". Oakey accepted the invitation, despite never having been in a band before. Shortly after, they decided to call themselves The Human League. A collection of demos from this period was released on CD in 2002, title The Golden Hour of The Future, compiled by Richard X.

The name "Human League" derived from the game Starforce: Alpha Centauri, which was the second professionally published science fiction wargame, by SPI. In the game, the Human League arose in 2415 A.D., and was a frontier-oriented society that desired more independence from Earth and the terraforming of systems not naturally habitable.

The Human League released their first single, "Being Boiled" c/w "Circus Of Death" on Bob Last's Fast Product record label in 1978, which caused something of a stir on the independent scene. Adrian Wright joined the group, projecting slides during their live performances.

In 1979, they signed up a recording contract Virgin Records, keeping Bob Last as their manager. Initial releases were disco single "I Don't Depend On You", under the pseudonym "The Men", and experimental instrumental 12" "The Dignity of Labour". The group then proceeded to record two albums for Virgin, Reproduction and Travelogue. Despite some favourable press (for example, David Bowie called them the "future of music"), and regular live shows, commercial success appeared to be eluding them (the single "Empire State Human", for instance, only reached number 62 in the charts), whilst meanwhile other electronic acts following in their footsteps, such as Gary Numan, had begun to enjoy huge commercial success. Tensions grew within the group, mostly between Ware and Oakey, until finally Marsh and Ware left to form Heaven 17, leaving Oakey and Wright with the group name, but a contractual obligation to perform a European tour.

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The 1980s

Following the split of the original line-up, Wright & Oakey released another flop single, "Boys and Girls". In order to fulfil their European tour commitments, they recruited bass player Ian Burden, and fronted the band with two singers, Susanne Sulley[1] and Joanne Catherall, schoolgirls whom they had met in a Sheffield nightclub, and managed to complete the tour.

In 1981, Virgin records paired them with former Stranglers producer Martin Rushent, and the first result was the single "The Sound of the Crowd", which saw them at last achieve success in the singles chart. Guitarist Jo Callis (formerly of The Rezillos) was now recruited to the band, and with Rushent at the helm, The Human League recorded their most successful album to date, Dare. It achieved huge success, fuelled by its further hit singles, "Open Your Heart", "Love Action" and most famously "Don't You Want Me", which reached number one in the UK charts during the Christmas of 1981 and was one of the biggest selling singles of that year, and it also charted at number one in the US during the summer of 1982. These three releases were accompanied by striking promo videos ("Love Action" based on the movie The Graduate.)

The band also had a number of other hits but their success faded towards the mid-1980s. Arguably, one problem was the length of time the band took to make a record. Dare! was followed by the six-song EP "Fascination" (featuring hit singles "Mirror Man" and "Fascination") as a stopgap, and it took three years to release a full-length follow-up album, Hysteria.

In 1985, outside of the Human League, Oakey scored a huge hit single in collaboration with one of his idols, synth pioneer Giorgio Moroder, with the single "Together in Electric Dreams", taken from the film soundtrack to Electric Dreams. The pair proceeded to record an entire album for Virgin, Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder, but this met with rather less success.

In 1986, the group found themselves in creative stagnation, struggling to record material to follow up on their previous success. Key songwriter Jo Callis departed, replaced by drummer Jim Russell, and Virgin paired the League up with cutting-edge American R&B producers Jam & Lewis. The result was the Crash LP. The album featured much material written by Jam & Lewis' team, and showcased their distinctive DX7-led sound, making it quite a departure from previous Human League material. It did provide an American number one single, "Human", but other singles made smaller chart impact.

In 1989, the band released their last album for Virgin Records, Romantic?. Longstanding members Adrian Wright and Ian Burden, together with newer recruit Jim Russell, had by now left the band (although Jo Callis did return to play on some of the sessions and co-wrote two songs, including the minor hit single "Heart Like a Wheel"). New to the line-up were keyboardist Neil Sutton (who co-wrote over half the album's songs), and guitarist/keyboardist Russell Dennett, who (along with Oakey) made a cameo appearance in Reeves & Mortimer's 1992 comedy TV pilot "The Weekenders", playing in a club as "Electric Russell". The Romantic? album did not re-capture the group's huge commercial success of 1981 (with its second single "Soundtrack for a Generation" flopping), and Virgin chose not to renew their recording contract.

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1990s and beyond

The Human League made a surprise comeback in 1994, now signed to EastWest, with the single "Tell Me When" giving them their first major hit since 1986's "Human", and the accompanying album Octopus going silver. On the album credits, cover artwork and in videos, the group was now presented simply as a trio of Oakey/Catherall/Sulley. In reality however, half a dozen other musicians had input to the record, including producer Ian Stanley (former Tears For Fears keyboard player), continued playing and songwriting contributions from Neil Sutton and "Electric Russell" Dennett, and Oakey co-writing one track with Jo Callis. The next single from the album, "One Man in my Heart" (sung by Sulley), and a remix of "Don't You Want Me", were also UK hits, however the subsequent "Filling up with Heaven" and the non-album "Stay with me tonight" (from the greatest hits compilation in 1996) performed poorly and the band parted company with EastWest.

The band did not release their next album, Secrets, until 2001. The band was still presented as the "Phil & the girls" trio, however Neil Sutton was credited with keyboards, and co-wrote most of the material with Oakey. Despite being extremely well received by critics (the music climate at the time seeing a new interest in electronic pop music with the electroclash movement), the band's new record label, Papillion (a subsidiary of Chrysalis Records), went bankrupt shortly after the album's release, leading to poor promotion and sales.

Throughout the years following, the band have continued to tour, enjoying success as a live act, and releasing a DVD of a Brighton show in 2003. They have also participated in a number of '80s revival tours, Oakey now describing this as being in a Human League tribute band.

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Human League's catalogue

Image:Humanleg2.jpg

  • Early singles:
    • "Being Boiled" (single, Fast Product, 1979)
    • "The Dignity Of Labour Pts 1-4" (Fast Product, 12" only, instrumental)
    • "I Don't Depend On You" (single, released under the name of The Men)
  • Reproduction (1979. Later re-released with 'The Dignity Of Labour Pts 1-4' Ep, the B-side of the 'Empire State Human' single (called 'Introducing'), the Fast Product label 'Being Boiled' single and an in-studio conversation titled 'Flexi Disc')
    • "Empire State Human"
    • "Holiday '80' " (Double EP, later reissued as two single EPs, includes new version of "Being Boiled")
  • Travelogue (1980. later reissued with the "Only After Dark" single, "Holiday '80" EP, "I Don't Depend On You" and other tracks including "Tom Baker" and "Boys and Girls")
    • "Only After Dark" (single)
    • "Boys And Girls" (non-album single)
  • Dare (1981)
    • "The Sound of the Crowd"
    • "Love Action (I Believe in Love)"
    • "Open Your Heart"
    • "Don't You Want Me?"
    • "Being Boiled (Re-boiled)" (cash-in reissue released by EMI, not Virgin. Same version as the 1978 single, but runs for an extra 35 seconds and fades out rather than cutting out abruptly as on the original release)
  • Love And Dancing (dub mixes of tracks from Dare, credited to League Unlimited Orchestra)
  • Fascination (six-song EP with two mixes of "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "Mirror Man", and three other songs)
    • "Mirror Man"
    • "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"
  • Hysteria (1984. Reissued on CD in 2005 with extended versions of singles)
    • "The Lebanon"
    • "Life On Your Own"
    • "Louise"
    • "The Sign"
  • Crash (1986. Reissued on CD in 2005 with extended versions of singles)
    • "Human"
    • "I Need Your Loving"
    • "Love Is All That Matters" (released to promote Greatest Hits LP)
  • Greatest Hits
  • Romantic? (1990)
    • "Heart Like a Wheel"
    • "Soundtrack For A Generation"
  • Octopus (1995)
    • "Tell Me When"
    • "One Man In My Heart" (Lead vocal by Susan Sulley)
    • "Filling Up With Heaven"
  • Greatest Hits (Reissue with three extra tracks)
    • "Don't You Want Me" (Remixes)
    • "Stay With Me Tonight"
  • The Very Best Of (By Ark 21, not EMI. Compilation from 1981-5 tracks)
  • Secrets (2001. The Japanese version has three bonus tracks)
    • "All I Ever Wanted"
    • "Love Me Madly?" (Nukove Records. Released on CD and vinyl)
  • The Golden Hour Of The Future (compilation of early recordings, credited to The Future + The Human League)
    • "Dance Like A Star" (EP of early recordings)
  • The Very Best Of (2003. EMI, 2 CDs, CD2 is all remixes, also on DVD)
  • Live at the Dome (2005. DVD)
  • Live at the Dome (CD containing tracks from same concert as DVD; contains three video clips. Released July 2005)
  • Original Remixes & Rarities (CD with extended versions from 12" singles and CD singles, and some B-sides. Released November 2005)

Unofficial releases

  • 'Human League Cassette' (1978)
  • 'Taverner Tape' (1978)
  • 'In Darkness' (a bootleg demo album)
  • 'The Future Tapes' (unreleased)
  • 'The Human League Promo Mix CD' (not available)
  • 'The Human League Interview'
  • "Together In Electric Dreams" was a solo single for Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder rather than the whole League, but has been included on Human League albums as if it were by the whole band.
  • "1st Man In Space" (1999) was a single by fellow Sheffielders The All Seeing I and featured Oakey on guest vocals.
  • "L.A. Today" (2003) was a single from Alex Gold, also featuring Oakey on vocals.
  • "Rock And Roll Is Dead" (2003) was a single from fellow Sheffield band, Kings have long arms, that paid tribute to Oakey and eventually was re-released with Oakey doing some guest vocals.
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Chart positions

Year Title Chart positions Album
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. Club Play U.S. Mainstream Rock UK
1979 "Empire state human" - - - #62 Reproduction
1981 "The sound of the crowd" - #27 - #12 Dare
1981 "Love action" - #37 - #3 Dare
1981 "Open your heart" - - - #6 Dare
1982 "Don't You Want Me" #1 #3 #4 #1 Dare
1982 "Being boiled" - - - #6 Travelogue
1982 "Mirror Man" #30 - #22 #2 -
1983 "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" #8 #1 #14 #2 -
1984 "The Lebanon" #64 #19 - #11 Hysteria
1984 "Life on your own" - - - #16 Hysteria
1984 "Louise" - - - #13 Hysteria
1986 "Human" #1 #1 - #8 Crash
1986 "I need your loving" #44 - - #71 Crash
1988 "Love Is All That Matters" - - - #41 Crash
1990 "Heart Like a Wheel" #32 - - #29 Romantic?
1995 "Tell Me When" #31 #15 - #6 Octopus
1995 "One man in my heart" - - - #13 Octopus
1995 "Filling up with heaven" - - - #36 Octopus
1995 "Don't you want me (remix)" - - - #16 -
1996 "Stay with me tonight" - - - #40 -
2001 "All I ever wanted" - - - #47 Secrets
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Trivia

  • George Michael adapted Love Action in his 2002 single Shoot the Dog, using the song's synthesizer track as the base of the song, as well as including the speech-only portion of the song (from "I believe, I believe what the old man said").
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See also

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External links

es:The Human League fr:Human League it:Human League nl:The Human League ja:ヒューマン・リーグ no:Human League pt:The Human League fi:Human League sv:The Human League

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