History Music / TheHumanLeague

* NewSoundAlbum: Several, though ''Dare'' (with the addition of female vocals and poppier structures) and ''Crash'' (A US-oriented R&B album produced by [[Music/PrincesAssociates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]]) are most notable.

* ContemptibleCover: ''Reproduction'' features a crowd of dancers on a glass floor above a group of nude, crying babies.

** The single "I Don't Depend On You", by a re-naming of the Human League known as 'The Men', has been mostly forgotten as a {{Disco}} track which is rarely mentioned by the band outside of it's inclusion on the ''Travelogue'' CD.

** A medley of "Rock n Roll" (by Music/GaryGlitter)and [[Music/TheIdiot "Nightclubbing"]] (by Music/IggyPop) on ''Holiday '80'' (which also made for the League's first ''Series/TopOfThePops'' appearance); the medley was later included on all CD releases of ''Travelogue'' as a bonus track, even ones issued well after Glitter's convictions for multiple sex offenses against minors.
** "Only After Dark" (by Music/DavidBowie sideman Mick Ronson) on ''Travelogue''.

** "Creator/TomBaker" is heavily inspired by the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme song, with a still from the show being used as its official artwork on the back of the "Boys and Girls" sleeve.

* BadassBaritone: Phil Oakey.
* BaldOfAwesome: Again, Phil Oakey, since 2001.

** The single "I Don't Depend On You", by a re-naming of the Human League known as 'The Men', has been mostly forgotten as a Disco-track which is rarely mentioned by the band outside of it's inclusion on the ''Travelogue'' CD.
** ''Romantic?'' is notably the only one of the Virgin-era albums to be excluded from the band's remastering campaign in the early 2000's. The album represented the band's career at its nadir (which the band themselves commented on in "The Stars Are Going Out?"), generated only a modest UK hit in "Heart Like a Wheel", and undersold, leading both the band and Virgin to ignore its existence outside a couple Japanese reissues.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: During the 80's, the Mk. II incarnation frequently denoted their singles as "red" or "blue," be it through the color of the logotype or a worded label; red singles denoted dance tracks, while blue singles were pop.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Done on the band's 12"s of "Hard Times/Love Action" and "Open Your Heart/Non-Stop", which feature the listed songs mixed into medleys rather than having dedicated 12" mixes for the single track. The "Love And Dancing" remix album mimics the flow of the former 12", although with largely instrumental mixes.
** This was soon after done on the album Dare in which the minute long "Get Carter" serves as a prelude to "I Am The Law", leading to many not even noticing they're separate tracks. This then fades into "Seconds".

** ''Romantic?'' is notably the only one of the Virgin-era albums to be excluded from the band's remastering campaign in the early 2000's. The album represented the band's career at its nadir (which the band themselves commented on in "The Stars Are Going Out?"), generated no real hits, and undersold, leading both the band and Virgin to ignore its existence outside a couple Japanese reissues.

** "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (by Music/TheRighteousBrothers) on ''Reproduction''.

** "Only After Dark" (by Mick Ronson) on ''Travelogue''.

** The general point of ''YMO Versus The Human League'', which features the band covering "Behind the Mask", "Kimi Ni, Mune Kyun", and "Tong Poo" by Music/YellowMagicOrchestra; the latter is also conjoined with a performance of "Firecracker" by Martin Denny, which YMO famously covered on [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestraAlbum their own debut album]] (which "Tong Poo" also hails from). The [[Music/SolidStateSurvivor "Behind the Mask"]] cover is specifically based on Music/MichaelJackson's then-unreleased cover, which included new lyrics that turned the mostly-instrumental track into a pop song more in the vein of Jackson's oeuvre; this version had previously been covered by Greg Philanges and Music/EricClapton before the Human League got a hold of it. The "Kimi Ni, Mune Kyun" cover also marked the first English-language version of the song (the YMO original was entirely in Japanese), and it would later be included as a BSide to some versions of the "Tell Me When" single.
* CutAndPasteTranslation: The Canadian and Australian versions of ''Travelogue'' both differ to those released elsewhere. Both of them move "Being Boiled" to the start and drop "Toyota City", with the former version renaming it "The Voice Of Buddha". The Canadian version adds "Rock And Roll/Nightclubbing" to the B-Side, whereas the Australian version adds the single edit of "Rock And Roll" plus an otherwise unreleased alternate version of "Marianne" (which has never been released on CD). Furthermore, the Canadian version uses the cover art of Holiday '80 rather than the standard Travelogue artwork.
** The Canadian release of The Sound Of The Crowd 12" single adds "Boys And Girls" and "Tom Baker" from the band's previous UK single, and the track "Dancevision" from the Holiday '80 EP. None of these had been released there before.

* NewSoundAlbum: Several, though ''Dare!'' (with the addition of female vocals and poppier structures) and ''Crash'' (A US-oriented pop album produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) are most notable.
* ProtestSong: "Being Boiled"... sorta. Read literally, the song is a condemnation of the silk industry, which involves boiling silkworms to death to harvest their cocoons (hence the song title), though it can just as easily be read as metaphorical in a number of other ways, from the perils of capitalist exploitation as a whole to general abuse.

* RevolvingDoorBand: Phil Oakey, Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley have been the only constant members of the band since the mid-1980s.

** "Creator/TomBaker" is heavily inspired by the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme song.

** In earlier Versions of Marianne, Phil would speak some lines after his singing parts
* StealthParody: Most of their older pop songs tend to be parodies of then current trends, like some of the songs on Reproduction and Travelogue.

* CanonDiscontinuity : The single "Boys And Girls" was an unfinished song rush-recorded and released to fulfil record company demand, and has never been performed live after the tour it was released during. It is available as a bonus track on the ''Travelogue'' CD and the ''A Very British Synthesizer Group'' box set, but has never been on a Greatest Hits release.
** The 4-track EP "Dignity of Labour", an instrumental [[ConceptAlbum concept album]] about Yuri Gagarin, has never been played live and has been rarely mentioned by the Band overall, besides being included on ''A Very British Synthesizer Group'' and the ''Reproduction'' CD. The flexi disc included with it, however is notable enough as a piece of Meta-Fiction.
** The single "I Don't Depend On You", by a re-naming of the Human League known as 'The Men', has been mostly forgotten as a Disco-track which is rarely mentioned by the band outside of it's inclusion on the ''Travelogue'' CD.

* UpdatedRerelease: CD and digital reissues of ''Reproduction'' and ''Travelogue'' respectively include the Fast Product releases and the non-album Virgin releases from the pre-''Dare'' era of the band as bonus tracks[[note]]''Travelogue'' includes "Boys and Girls"/"Tom Baker", which was the debut release of the Mk. II band but is closer to the Mk. I era's DarkWave approach[[/note]]. Since the early material wasn't successful on initial release, this was likely considered more economical than a dedicated rarities compilation, something the Mk. II era ''did'' get.

* '''''Travelogue''''' (1980)

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Their early work is quite dark and minimalistic and lacks the female vocals and the rhythms.

* ShoutOut: "Creator/TomBaker" is heavily inspired by the ''Series/DoctorWho'' theme song.

* StealthParody : Most of their older pop songs tend to be parodies of then current trends, like some of the songs on Reproduction and Travelogue.

* '''''Dare''''' (1981)

* ProtestSong: "Being Boiled"... sorta. Read literally, the song is a condemnation of the silk industry, which involved boiling silkworms alive to harvest their silk cocoons (hence the song title), though it can just as easily be read as metaphorical in a number of other ways, from the perils of capitalist exploitation as a whole to general abuse.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: During the 80's, the Mk. II era incarnation frequently denoted their singles as "red" or "blue," be it through the color of the logotype or a worded label; red singles denoted dance tracks, while blue singles were pop.

The Human League are a synthpop band from Sheffield, England. They formed in 1978 when the experimental synth duo The Future (consisting of Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh) teamed up with singer Phil Oakey to write pop tunes. At the point they formed, synth music was often in the proggy vein (e.g. Music/{{Kraftwerk}}, Music/{{Vangelis}}) or in the disco vein (e.g. Music/GiorgioMoroder), but the group took note of the DIY punk aesthetic to create their own dark style of synth music with poppy structures.

While the success of ''Dare'' would be something of a miracle for the band at the time, it would later become an albatross around their necks, as each following album [[ToughActToFollow failed to meet the expectations]] their 1981 album established. By 1990, the group were generally regarded as has-beens among the general public, something the band themselves [[{{Lampshading}} lampshaded]] with their song "The Stars Are Going Out". Their 1995 album ''Octopus'' would be seen as a return to form, and their following album, 2001's ''Secrets'', was praised by fans and critics to almost ''Dare''-levels, but it flopped on store shelves. Their next album, 2011's ''Credo'', would receive middling reception from fans and critics.

* AscendedFanboy: Joanne and Susan were already fans of the group and owned their first two [=LPs=], which was part of the reason they agreed to join the reformed group despite not having any prior musical experience.

** The general point of ''YMO Versus The Human League'', which features the band covering "Behind the Mask", "Kimi Ni, Mune Kyun", and "Tong Poo" by Music/YellowMagicOrchestra; the latter is also conjoined with a performance of "Firecracker" by Martin Denny, which YMO famously covered on their own debut album. The "Behind the Mask" cover is specifically based on Music/MichaelJackson's then-unreleased cover, which included new lyrics that turned the mostly-instrumental track into a pop song more in the vein of Jackson's oeuvre; this version had previously been covered by Greg Philanges and Music/EricClapton before the Human League got a hold of it. The "Kimi Ni, Mune Kyun" cover also marked the first English-language version of the song (the YMO original was entirely in Japanese), and it would later be included as a BSide to some versions of the "Tell Me When" single.

* DudeLooksLikeALady: Philip Oakey in the early years of the band with his asymmetrical haircut and makeup.[[note]]based on an advertisement from that era.[[/note]]

* EldritchAbomination: "The Black Hit of Space" implies this.

->''"Hi, I'm Jason Taverner, and I'm here to introduce this third demonstration tape by a\\
great group of guys, the Human League."''

[[caption-width-right:350:The best known lineup post-1980 lineup of the group. From left to right: '''Philip Oakey''' (singer), '''Susanne Sulley''' (vocalist), '''Joanne Catherall''' (vocalist).]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The best known lineup post-1980 lineupof the group. From left to right: Philip Oakey (singer), Susanne Sulley (vocalist), Joanne Catherall (vocalist).]]

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px_human_leaguemk1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220: Original lineup, 1978 - 1980 [[note]](Left To Right), Phil Oakey, Adrian Wright, Ian Marsh, Martyn Ware[[/note]] ]]

Releasing two albums, an EP and several singles, the original lineup split in late 1980 due to CreativeDifferences, with Ware & Marsh walking out and going on to form BEF, and soon after, Heaven 17. Oakey and their visual director Philip Adrian Wright had to honour touring agreements so added Jo Callis and Ian Burden to the lineup. Additionally, Oakey hired female vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley initially as backing vocalists though the songs got written around their vocals later. This lineup of the group recorded their album ''Dare'', which made them a household name with several singles, most notably "Don't You Want Me".