And We Danced

Artists

Top Dance Hits

• October, 1986 - Human (A&M)
• June, 1983 - (Keep Feeling) Fascination (A&M)
• March, 1982 - Don't You Want Me (A&M)



Human League began in the late 1970s as the brainchild of two computer operators, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, from Sheffield, England. They tried a number of names including Dead Daughters and The Future until settling upon Human League after former hospital porter Philip Oakey joined the group. Adrian Wright joined shortly thereafter to prepare slide shows for projection during the group's live performances.

The first single, Being Boiled, was released in 1978 followed by the group's album Reproduction which did not make the charts. The release of the single Holiday 80 took them into the UK charts in the spring of 1980. As a result of this success Human League's second album Travelogue made the Top 20 of the U.K. album chart.

By 1980 some division in Human League emerged between the pop music favored by Philip Oakey and Adrian Wright and the more austere electronic sounds favored by Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware. In October 1980 the group split in half. Ware and Marsh left to begin a project called the British Electric Foundation whose first spinoff was the group Heaven 17 and their hit (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang. Of the remaining Human League pair, only Philip Oakey was a performer. With determination to complete a European tour, Adrian Wright began learning to play synthesizer and two female singers, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, were recruited from among the dancers at Sheffield's Crazy Daisy disco. Bassist Ian Burden was also added as a temporary group member.

Early in 1981 the new Human League began working with producer Martin Rushent in what would be a very fortuitous endeavor for each. By July the League had broken into the U.K. top 5 with the Electronic Pop single Love Action (I Believe in Love). Ian Burden became a permanent member and synthesizer player Jo Callis was recruited from the group the Rezillos. This lineup completed Human League's breakthrough third album, Dare, often considered a masterpiece of New Wave. Dare was released in the fall of 1981 and its first single, Don't You Want Me, quickly reached the number one spot on the U.K. Pop chart. Don't You Want Me became Human League's first Pop hit in the U.S., topping the U.S. Pop chart and placing in the top 3 of Dance charts in the spring of 1982.

Human League's all-synthesizer sound revolutionized 1980's pop music. By the mid-1980's Synth-Pop was difficult to avoid. Late in 1982 the group and Martin Rushent released a primarily instrumental album containing remixes of many of the songs on Dare. Along with Soft Cell's Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing it was one of the first albums of material remixed specifically for Dance clubs. The artist name used for the album, League Unlimited Orchestra, was a play on Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra, widely credited for creating some of the first identifiable Disco recordings.

Human League had a difficult time putting together an album to follow Dare. Their singles success continued with the catchy Mirror Man and dancefloor smash (Keep Feeling) Fascination in 1983 but a full-length album was not released. Finally Hysteria appeared in May of 1984. The album was a success in many countries, but the League began to lose their following in the U.S. The Lebanon was the leadoff single and failed to make a significant dent on Pop or Dance charts.

Another long period with no new Human League material ensued in the mid-1980s. Philip Oakey worked with producer Giorgio Moroder on the soundtrack to the computer love story film Electric Dreams. As Human League returned to the studio, recording became a long, drawn-out affair with multiple studios and multiple producers. The new album Crash was finally completed with R&B producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Released in the fall of 1986, Crash featured an elegant Pop sound. The gorgeous lead single Human was a massive worldwide success in clubs and on the radio. It was their biggest hit since Don't You Want Me? and brought Human League their second number one Pop and Dance hit in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the new success was short-lived. It took Human League another 4 years to release their 6th full length album of 13 years of recording. Romantic?, released in 1990, sounded dated. The Synth-Pop revolution had passed. Human League began to fade into obscurity. In 1995 another new album Octopus was released. The League's music showed some renewed energy but commercial success did not return.

Human League hit the road on tour with ABC and Culture Club in late 1998. 3 years later Human League moved forward into the 21st century with the release of 2001's Secrets. Updated technology brought their engaging mixture of romanticism and electronics forward into the present. Late in 2002, the album Golden Hour Of the Future featured a number of previously unreleased recordings from the 1970's by The Future, one of the first incarnations of the group that became Human League. The recordings were made just after Phil Oakey joined.

The current growth of the Electroclash movement built on references to 80's Synth-Pop has acknowledged Human League as a primary influence. A 2003 tour helped solidify their reputation with Electroclash adherents. 25 years after formation Human League remains one of the most influential bands creating electronic Pop and Dance music.