History Music / TheHumanLeague

** They also covered the ''Film/GetCarter'' theme.

** The songs "Darkness", "Get Carter", "I am the Law", and "Seconds", are all homage tracks to the [=Mk1=] phase of the band ("I am the Law" actually predates ''Dare!'') Then there's what "Film/GetCarter" and "[[ComicBook/JudgeDredd I am the Law]]" are named after.

* HellIsThatNoise: Invoked in "Dreams of Leaving" in the form of loud noise that plays just a few seconds in, and also in "Introducing" with the sampled screams. Also scattered in various other songs due to tape errors with the backing tracks they used.

** 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).
* DudeLooksLikeALady: Philip Oakey in the early years of the band with his asymmetrical haircut and makeup. Oakley based the look on an advertisement from that era.

%%* BadassBaritone: Phil Oakey.

* ExcitedShowTitle: The ''Fascination!'' EP. Also, ''Dare'' became ''Dare!'' when it was released in the United States.

* '''''Reproduction''''' (1979)

* CircusOfFear: "Circus of Death" deals with this, also doubles as a ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'' FanFiction of sorts.

** ''Hysteria'' includes a remixed version of "I Love You Too Much" from ''Fascination!''.

* SequelSong: "Louise" is one to "Don't You Want Me" several years down the line.

* CanonImmigrant: After the "Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder" project fell apart, Oakey repurposed their hit "Together In Electric Dreams" as a Human League song, with it being on compilations and performed live.

* LighterAndSofter: ''Dare!'' abandoned the ominous, borderline [[Main/{{Industrial}} industrial]] sound of their previous works for a radio-friendly electronic pop sound.

** ''Crash'' was a US-oriented R&B album produced by [[Music/PrincesAssociates Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis]].

Despite their rocky history, the Human League are generally considered to be one of the most influential bands of the synthpop era, often being considered a TropeCodifier for the genre alongside Music/{{Kraftwerk}}. ''Dare'' and its associated singles are still fairly well-remembered as high points of 1980's pop music, and several of their songs have continued to find new audiences through inclusion in movies, TV shows, commercials, and video games. ''Reproduction'' and ''Travelogue'', despite underselling when released, became cult classics and have been continuously reappraised by critics as being ahead of their time.

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

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.

Despite their rocky history, the Human League are generally considered to be one of the most influential bands of the synthpop era, often being considered a TropeCodifier for the genre alongside Music/{{Kraftwerk}}. ''Dare'' and its associated singles are still fairly well-remembered as high points of 1980's pop music, and several of their songs have continued to find new audiences through inclusion in movies, TV shows, commercials, and video games.

* GreatestHits : Numerous releases.

* CutAndPasteTranslation:
** The Canadian and Australian versions of ''Travelogue'' move "Being Boiled" to the start (with the former renaming it "The Voice Of Buddha") and drop "Toyota City". 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 12" release of "The Sound Of The Crowd" 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.

* CallBack : On the "Love Action" 12", the song is preceded by "Hard Times" which segues into it-- hence the line "I've had some hard times in the past" (which also samples that song).

** ''Romantic?'' is notably the only one of the Virgin-era albums to be excluded from the band's remastering campaign in the early 2000s. 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.

** "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (by the Righteous Brothers) on ''Reproduction''.