History Music / TheHumanLeague

** 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 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.

* EldritchAbomination: Black Hit of Space implies this.

* {{Leitmotif}}: The Dominion Jingle appears between every track on their demo album The Taverner Tape, and also at the start of "Circus Of Death" on Reproduction.

* MetaFiction: Some copies of "The Dignity Of Labour" included a bonus Flexidisc featuring a track called Flexidisc, which is a conversation between the group members about what to include on the Flexidisc.

** 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 "Kimi Ni, Mune Kyun" cover would later be included as a BSide to some versions of the "Tell Me When" single.

* 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).
** ''Hysteria'' has three songs that are this to previous hit "Don't You Want Me" - these being "Louise" (in which the ex-lovers meet again several years later), "Life On Your Own" (which derives its theme from Don't You Want Me's line "Now I think it's time I lived my life on my own") and "Don't You Know I Want You" which is obviously a tongue-in-cheek rewrite.

** "King of Kings" and "Reach Out I'll Be there" from their 'Golden Hour of the Future' demo as ''The Future''.

** A medley of "Rock n Roll" (by Gary Glitter)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.

* SiameseTwinSongs: The Mk. I incarnation's covers of "Rock 'n' Roll, Part 1" by Gary Glitter and [[Music/TheIdiot "Nightclubbing"]] by Music/IggyPop, largely thanks to CD re-releases of ''Travelogue'' packaging the two together as a single track (which became something of a necessity for the 2003 remaster in light of Glitter's conviction for possession of child pornography).

* LeftHanging: The song "Human" is all about a guy who [[YourCheatingHeart cheated on his lover]] and is remorseful and asking her forgiveness. At the end she does forgive him, then admits she cheated too and asks for the same charity from him. The song ends without saying whether he did or not, although one would certainly hope so, as he'd be a world class hypocrite otherwise.

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 to almost ''Dare''-levels, but mainstream critics eviscerated it and it flopped on store shelves. Their next album, 2011's ''Credo'', would receive middling reception from fans and critics.

* LeftHanging: The song "Human" is all about a guy who cheated on his lover and is remorseful and asking her forgiveness [[spoiler: at the end she does forgive him, and admits she cheated to and asks for the same charity from him. The song ends without saying whether he did or not, although one would certainly hope so, as he'd be a world class hypocrite otherwise.]]

* 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.
* BadassBaritone: Phil Oakey

* CircusOfFear: Circus of Death deals with this, also doubles as a Hawaii'O'Five fanfiction of sorts.

Releasing two albums, an EP and several singles, the original lineup split in late 1980 due to creative differences, 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".

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

* CallBack : ''Hysteria'' has three songs that are this to previous hit "Don't You Want Me" - these being "Louise" (in which the ex-lovers meet again several years later), "Life On Your Own" (which derives its theme from Don't You Want Me's line "Now I think it's time I lived my life on my own") and "Don't You Know I Want You" which is obviously a tongue-in-cheek rewrite.

* CallBack : Hysteria has three songs that are this to previous hit "Don't You Want Me" - these being "Louise" (in which the ex-lovers meet again several years later), "Life On Your Own" (which derives its theme from Don't You Want Me's line "Now I think it's time I lived my life on my own") and "Don't You Know I Want You" which is obviously a tongue-in-cheek rewrite.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The early Human League is quite dark and lacks the female vocals and the rhythms.
* EldritchAbomination: Blank Hit of Space implies this.

* {{Expy}}: Martyn and Ware asked Glenn Gregory to [[WhatCouldHaveBeen join the original lineup]], though he declined, so they asked Phil Oakey (who had a similar voice) instead. After the [=MK1=] group split, Martyn and Ware asked Gregory to join their new group Heaven17, and this time he agreed.

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 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 to almost ''Dare''-levels, but mainstream critics eviscerated it and it flopped on store shelves. Their next album, 2011's ''Credo'', would receive middling reception from fans and critics.

** A medley of "Rock n Roll" (by Gary Glitter)[=/=]Nightclubbing (by Music/IggyPop) on ''Holiday '80'' (which also made for the League's first ''Series/TopOfThePops'' appearance).

** "River Deep Mountain High" (by Ike And Music/TinaTurner) on their 1980 tour.

** 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!'')

* TheRival: [=MK2=] to Heaven17. The two sides ultimately patched things up, and even toured together in 2008.

* 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 glitches with the backing tracks they used.

* TropeCodifier: While not as 'Industrial' as Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire, there earlier recordings from the 70s are very much a mixture of Electronic and Industrial Music, which is explained by the fact that The Human League and Cabaret Voltaire specifically took notes from each other.

!!Discography
* ''Reproduction'' (1979)

* ''Travelogue'' (1980)
* ''Dare'' (1981)

* ''Hysteria'' (1984)
* ''Crash'' (1986)
* ''Romantic?'' (1990)

* ''Octopus'' (1995)
* ''Secrets'' (2001)
* ''Credo'' (2011)

** "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (by the Righteous Brothers) on Reproduction,
** A medley of "Rock n Roll" (by Gary Glitter) / Nightclubbing (by Iggy Pop) on Holiday '80 (Which also made for the League's first TOTP appearance).
** "Only After Dark" (by Mick Ronson) on Travelogue
** "River Deep Mountain High" (by Ike And Tina Turner) on their 1980 tour.
** "Rock Me Again And Again" (by James Brown and Lyn Collins) on Hysteria.
** "King of Kings" and "Reach Out I'll Be there" from their 'Golden Hour of the Future' demo as 'The Future'

* LateExportForYou: "Toyota City" was first released as an exclusive for the Japanese version of the Holiday '80 EP, and due to the fan interest, was added to Travelogue, released a month later. However, for its Travelogue release it was edited two minutes shorter for time reasons. The single "Only After Dark" does include the original long version as a b-side, but this received such poor distribution that [[RecursiveImport importing the Japanese EP]] is more common.

** The Cabaret Voltaire track "Eastern Mantra" has the phrase "Human League" backwards said throughout the entire track.

* Techno: Austerity, being a proto-techno song made before the genre even existed