And You Thought It Would Fail: Virgin insisted on releasing "Don't You Want Me" as a single, even though Phil Oakey thought it was the weakest song on Dare. It turned out to be their first No. 1 single on both sides of the Atlantic.
Many reviewers thought this after the group changed their lineup, and especially due to the blandness of the "Boys And Girls" single...but they had to eat their words when "Don't You Want Me" proved to be so successful.
Audience-Alienating Era: Crash and Romantic? are often seen as this by fans, the former for its painfully clumsy attempt at shifting to a Prince-inspired pop-soul sound in a bid for the American market and the latter for being a middle-of-the-road attempt at returning to the style of Dare and Hysteria. While Crash generated the band's second No. 1 US hit with "Human", sales of the album dropped off quickly, and Romantic? undersold so badly that Virgin Records dropped the band. Of note is that Hysteria used to be regarded as part of this slump for a while, but it being Vindicated by History years later brought it out of this status.
Awesome Music: While Crash is generally disliked by fans and critics, "Human" is widely thought of as its diamond in the rough, and not without reason. The track sounds so immersive, and it is a beautiful song to listen to. Hear it for the first time, and you will most certainly cryTears of Joy. Having Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as producers and writers help too.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Two in their Mark 1 era— "The Dignity Of Labour EP", which is an entirely instrumental release of four uncommercial ambient tracks, and "I Don't Depend On You", a single released under the name "The Men".
Epic Riff: The guitar solos from both "The Lebanon" and "Together in Electric Dreams". Also, the first several seconds of instrumental music of "Don't You Want Me" and "Heart Like a Wheel".
Hilarious in Hindsight: The notion that the Human League played with other Sheffield Bands like Def Leppard in the 70s comes off as strange for people who started with their Mark 2 era. Even better, they disliked most other bands of the time having guitars, so them having guitarists in their lineup eventually is hilarious.
The idea that they played alongside Industrial Groups like Clock DVA and Cabaret Voltaire, who are obviously much noisier and harsher.
Misaimed Fandom: Many of the people who made "Don't You Want Me" a hit seem to have thought it was a romantic love duet, whereas it's actually about a woman breaking away from an emotionally abusive and arrogant man.
In a similar way, the whole point of "Louise" is that the narrator is pathetic.
Narm: Somewhat blamed for the failure of their Mk I incarnation. While fellow synth innovator Gary Numan had a hit with his David Bowie -esque image and social alienation song Are "friends" Electric, the Human League had this number◊ as their album cover. Even worse, their lead single was a profoundly silly song about a guy who is tired of being small and thus grows to be as tall as a building simply by "concentrating." Ironically, Bowie himself praised the Mk. I Human League and feuded with Numan over accusations of copycatting. Nevertheless, after the dismal failure of the first lineup, Oakey made sure to give the second incarnation of the band a more conventional pop image and release singles with more conventional themes.
Older Than They Think: For the people who remember them for their songs during the '80s, they're in for a big surprise when they find out they were originally a '70s experimental group.
Signature Song: "Being Boiled" and "Empire State Human" for the Mark 1 incarnation of the band, "Don't You Want Me" and "Human" for Mark 2.
Sophomore Slump: While it was technically the band's fourth album, the change in lineup between the second and third records meant that Hysteria was considered this for the Mk. II incarnation for the longest time. Compared to Dare, Hysteria was commonly considered as lacking the same sense of energy, with the backlash against the use of guitar on "The Lebanon" and the presence of not one, but three different attempts at nodding back to "Don't You Want Me" (the lyrics of "Louise" and the titles of "Life On Your Own" and "Don't You Know I Want You") making the band come off as having run out of steam very quickly. However, after the album got Vindicated by History, this sentiment has more or less dissipated, and Hysteria is now considered not only a good album in its own right, but also a worthy follow-up to Dare.
"Introducing" is one of the demo "Overkill Disaster Crash". "Don't You Know I Want You" is a reworking of the instrumental "Total Panic". "Rebound" samples "I Am The Law". On a similar note, Heaven 17's "We are going to live for a very long time" uses the same percussion track as "Marianne"; given that Heaven 17 was formed from former members of the Mark I iteration of the Human League, this isn't too big of a shock.
Tear Jerker: "Human" can invoke this reaction, as it's about a man desperately begging his wife/girlfriend for forgiveness from his unfaithfulness to the point where she's driven to tears... which we then learn is from the guilt she has from her own infidelity.
Lyrics aside, the music itself counts as this. The synth instruments sound very beautiful, and they hit hard.
From the original lineup: Marianne, which is about the crumbling demise of a father-daughter relationship, Dreams of Leaving, which is about an escape from apartheid, and WXJL tonight, a ballad about the death of a local radio station.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The reaction to the female vocals from older fans, to the point where the Mk. II lineup was constantly booed during their first shows. Some people didn't like the use of guitar in "The Lebanon" either, given that the Mk. I incarnation had previously sworn off the instrument.
Tough Act to Follow: Suffice to say, they were never able to quite recapture the immense critical and commercial success of Dare. "The Stars Are Going Out" from their 1990 album Romantic? quite bluntly reflects on this, describing just how heavily the band fizzled out in the years after Dare's success.
Vindicated by History: In its time, Hysteria was considered a huge Sophomore Slump for the Mk. II incarnation, being viewed as vapid and uninspired compared to Dare and the start of the band's artistic slump pre-Octopus. However, as time went on, public perception of Hysteria largely cooled down, and the album slowly but surely garnered a reputation as an underrated classic in the band's back-catalog. Nowadays, while still not placed in the same, erm, league as Dare, Hysteria is now widely considered the Human League's last good album before the slump rather than their first bad one.
is widely thought of as its diamond in the rough, and not without reason. The track sounds so immersive, and it is a beautiful song to listen to. Hear it for the first time, and you will most certainly cry Tears of Joy. Having Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis as producers and writers help too.
