Posted January 16, 200718 yr Influenced more by the pioneering electronic sound of Kraftwerk than the nihilism of punk, computer operators Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware formed the Human League. Recruiting Adrian Wright and Phil Oakey they quickly built up a following through their visually impressive live performances. However growing artistic differences led to Marsh and Ware leaving to form Heaven 17. Oakey recruited 2 teenage girl vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley, bass player Ian Burden and guitarist Jo Callis to form the line up which gave us the top selling record of 1981 “Don’t you want me†and the huge selling album “Dare†almost 5 million copies worldwide. They sometimes dissappear for a few years before reappearing with new material, although never quite reaching the heady days of 1981/82. Any other fans?
January 16, 200718 yr 'dare' is a superb album, the human league in general tried out electronic music ... but in reality did they really succeed?.. i mean heaven 17 were not that great, and the human league soon sold out... they are remembered for 'dont you want me' which is probably their worst ever track! loved 'being boiled', 'ewmpire state human', 'open your heart', 'love action', but my fav and possibly the best track from the whole era.. 'sound of the crowd'... i love it! to me its the epitome of the genre/era... one of my personal all time top ten singles.
January 17, 200718 yr Love them, especially the Travelogue LP and the original line-up stuff. Dare's great too, and 'Don't You Want Me' is probably the weakest thing on it. When I spoke of other band's deserving the chart success Gary Numan had in the other thread I had this lot in mind when they were on Fast Records and before they signed to a major.
January 17, 200718 yr While it's mostly reviled or forgotten, Octopus was one of my favorite albums back in the mid-90's. I think it was really ahead of its time in terms of a pop album.
January 20, 200718 yr Yes, they made great some great music in the early 1980s. Dare is a classic album - the first of the trio of classic New Romantic albums released in late 1981/early 1982 (ABC - Lexicon Of Love & Duran Duran Rio's being the others). My fav track of their's is: -Uv9xqBAa90 The Things That Dreams Are Made Of (Amateur video)
January 23, 200718 yr I like them. Have a lot of their songs and a video (I think it's either live or the singles).
January 24, 200718 yr my fav track is circus of death Tune! Actually, from the same era I love 'Empire State Human' and their cover of 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' is almost as good as Paul Shane from Hi-De-Hi's!
January 24, 200718 yr Tune! Actually, from the same era I love 'Empire State Human' and their cover of 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' is almost as good as Paul Shane from Hi-De-Hi's! omg.... paul shane singing that on pebble mill at one, or summut like that... the worst ever rendition of that classic tune.. even mariah carey couldnt have destroyed that track worse!
January 29, 200718 yr i love 'Together in Electric Dreams' Edited January 29, 200718 yr by This Charming Man
January 29, 200718 yr indeed :P i haven't listened to it for years (dad's cd in Mallorca 2 years ago) :blush:
January 31, 200718 yr loved 'being boiled', 'ewmpire state human', 'open your heart', 'love action', but my fav and possibly the best track from the whole era.. 'sound of the crowd'... i love it! to me its the epitome of the genre/era... one of my personal all time top ten singles. i like this which is Richard X, Being Boiled and New Order all squished together: KResW_vIxOU must get first two albums. supposed to be good. wont bother with the rest, esp if they are supposed to be an 80s northern version of abba. and esp since i nearly was violently sick listening to Robbie William's Rudebox album at the point of the song Louise*. if he cant do a .5 decent cover the original material must be a bit $h!tty as well.
February 10, 200718 yr Yep! I was. In fact they were my fave band of the 80s. They came from Sheffield and the way Joanne & Suzanne got into the band was not on vocal talent but on their dancing ability. Phil Oakey spotted them dancing in a Sheffield disco and invited them to join the band. Being the gentleman thet he is, Phil went personally to ask their parents if they could join. At first they refused by eventually they relented. I even had a crush on Joanne myself. I have 4 of their albums: Reproduction - Travelogue - Dare - Crash. I even have 2 of their first 3 singles (before the girls joined) and they are original copies of Being Boiled and Empire State Human both on the FAST label. Also I have a copy of Only After Dark which also did not chart. Their first single to chart (apart from the re-issue of Empire State Human reaching #62 on the Virgin label) was Boys & Girls - peaking at #48. Then came Sound Of The Crowd peaking at #12 and the big time. Many people also think that Don't You Want Me was also their only US #1 but this is wrong as HUMAN was also a US #1. Edited February 10, 200718 yr by Euro Music
February 10, 200718 yr Tune! Actually, from the same era I love 'Empire State Human' and their cover of 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' is almost as good as Paul Shane from Hi-De-Hi's! Circus Of Death was actually the B-side of the original FAST release of Being Boiled
February 11, 200718 yr My favourite band of the 80s, Dare is a classic album Love Action, Being Boil, Sound Of The Crowd and their No.1 single are my favourite tracks, listening to Human League, The Police, and Blondie, is how I got into the love of music charts
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