Recently, after passing them off as a novelty cheeseball act, I decided to give The Human League a chance.

Surprisingly, they're not that cheesy. They're cheesy enough, but it's sort of a "professional" cheesy; it's just their style. They are really catchy and make beautiful pop songs.

I like their music and wouldn't consider them 'cheesy' at all...

Mr. Darko...

...is there anything you don't find 'cheesy'...?

Mr. Darko...

...is there anything you don't find 'cheesy'...?


I don't think Linkin Park are that cheesy.

I don't think Linkin Park are that cheesy.


Give it a couple of years and I'll bet you'll change your mind... ;)

Unfortunately they will always be remembered as cheesy thanks to the awful 'Don't You Want Me'.

But, this was an exception to the rule as they did some great New Wave and Pop.

'Lebanon', 'Sound Of The Crowd', 'Being Boiled', 'Love Action' and 'Keep Feeling Fascination' I think are great tunes without the cheese factor.

Unfortunately they will always be remembered as cheesy thanks to the awful 'Don't You Want Me'.

But, this was an exception to the rule as they did some great New Wave and Pop.

'Lebanon', 'Sound Of The Crowd', 'Being Boiled', 'Love Action' and 'Keep Feeling Fascination' I think are great tunes without the cheese factor.


The Human League are surprisingly un-cheesy.

Yeah...you would expect them to be cheesy but aside from "Don't You Want Me" they're quite professional and masterful.

Yeah...you would expect them to be cheesy but aside from "Don't You Want Me" they're quite professional and masterful.


They are kind of cheesy, but in a very professional, intelligent way.

They are an ok band.

Line-up I -- Awesome!
Line-up II-- Awesome until they added guitars and drums. Then their work was spotty. The album "Crash" and the single "Human" was not really Human League. At that time they were just a front band for Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In other words, they were Milli-Vanillified!

Line-up I -- Awesome!
Line-up II-- Awesome until they added guitars and drums. Then their work was spotty. The album "Crash" and the single "Human" was not really Human League. At that time they were just a front band for Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In other words, they were Milli-Vanillified!


"Human" isn't Human League?

"Human" isn't Human League?

Well, it is and it ain't.  They did write and perform the song, but they were really trying to give their career a shot in the arm. "Hysteria" bore them no big hits in the U.S.  So the mega-hit makers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis became their svengalis of the soul-pop sound. "Crash" is a much smoother sounding album than "Hysteria," but it is bereft of the amateurish charm that made Human League likable. As I recall (I no longer own a copy) several of the songs on the "Crash" album were either written by, or co-written with, that production team.

The scheme worked, but only once.

You'll recall that the Human League's subsequent records went straight to the buck bin until nine years later when they made an attempt to return to what they had with "Dare" on the "Octopus" album with the hit single "Tell Me When." That was the first album/song since "Hysteria" that deserved any accolades!

Several clips of early Human League (the first line-up--Ian Craig Marsh, Martyn Ware, Phillip Oakey) are posted on YouTube. They're definitely worth downloading.
After the second Human League record, "Travelogue," the original line-up broke up. Oakey picked up the two girls and the other blokes and formed the Human League you think of when you think of the Human League. Marsh and Ware teamed up with singer Glenn Gregory to form Heaven 17, who had a whole raft of great singles and albums '81-'85. The 1984 album "How Men Are" is awesome, IMO, but it was a commercial and critical bomb. When H17 returned in 1987 with the "Pleasure One" album, I found them unlistenable!

Don`t you want me is most important songs for new wave/synth pop

I always thought except for their couple of big hits "Don't You Want Me Baby", "Fascination", and "Your Only Human" they were an underrated synch pop band. 

But I think they were one of the first gender bending bands to break.  After that it was ok for male members of a band to look like women and vice versa.

I always thought except for their couple of big hits "Don't You Want Me Baby", "Fascination", and "Your Only Human" they were an underrated synch pop band. 

But I think they were one of the first gender bending bands to break.  After that it was ok for male members of a band to look like women and vice versa.


Also, I think they opened up the 1983-1986 British Invasion of synth pop and pop-wave with "Don't You Want Me."

Human League are kind of like The Thompson Twins to some degree.

Don`t you want me is most important songs for new wave/synth pop


And sadly, the most overrated.  These days it always tends to be heard at wedding parties or birthday parties held at Manchester Working Mens clubs......you know the ones, where all the chav women point to their boyfriends and yell 'Don't You Want Me Baby....'  ;)

'Don't You Want Me' did nothing for me, and really makes me cringe every time I hear it.  Far more influential in terms of synthpop were Fade To Grey', 'New Life' and 'Situation' IMHO.

And sadly, the most overrated.  These days it always tends to be heard at wedding parties or birthday parties held at Manchester Working Mens clubs......you know the ones, where all the chav women point to their boyfriends and yell 'Don't You Want Me Baby....'  ;)

'Don't You Want Me' did nothing for me, and really makes me cringe every time I hear it.  Far more influential in terms of synthpop were Fade To Grey', 'New Life' and 'Situation' IMHO.




The best Human League song is "Fascination".

Someone else covered Fascination, and by reference the Fascination Improvisation remix.

But on the recent "songs for greed", I completely forgot to add Empire State Human and Things That Dreams Are Made Of to the list.  There's a Richard Stone Radio Mix from last year that sounds as up-to-date in 2007 -- and yet simultaneously faithful to the original -- that shows just how far ahead of their time the League was.

% Take a lift to the top of the Empire State,
Take a drive across the Golden Gate,
March, march, march, across Red Square,
Do all the things you've never dared... %

As a self-professed capitalist (even if not a particularly successful one at the rate the markets are imploding this month :), I'd be remiss if I kicked the bukket without doing that Red Square thing.  So it's on the List.  Got plenty of time left to do that.

Everybody needs love and adventure, everybody needs cash to spend, everybody needs love and adventure, everybody needs two or three friends...

Aw, who edited out that guests comments overnight?  I tried to post a reply yesterday and my machine went a bit screwy so I had to shut down.  I was doing abit of research for him and everything!

"Empire State Human" is one of my favourite songs by the group.

The synth line in the song "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of" is amazing!  I love that song.   Recently used by Richard X and Kelis in Finest Dreams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2RCjgAooDM