Exploring The Human League & Don't You Want Me | New British Canon

The Human League were revolutionary. Taking the anyone can play guitar sentiment of punk and applying it to a newly affordable array of synthesisers, in the late seventies the band pioneered the idea of fully electronic-pop in Britain, like a Yorkshire version of Kraftwerk. But then half the band left and the remaining members, their singer and slide projectionist, managed to pick up the pieces and conquer the world, with a focus on image that foresaw the future of pop. Their fourth single from 1981’s Dare was half cheesy synth-duet half vicious dissection of male ego, and arguably the first international synth-pop mega hit. And the band couldn’t stand it. This is New British Canon, and this is the story of “Don’t You Want Me”.

#thehumanleague #synthpop #musicdocumentary

Fact-checking by Chad Van Wagner.

00:00 Introduction
00:49 The Origins of The Human League Mk I
09:03 Here Comes The Human League Mk II
13:45 The Creation of Dare
19:16 Creating Don't You Want Me
25:50 The Lasting Legacy of The Human League

Soundtrack
Luar - Citrine (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)
Jesse Gallagher - The Golden Present
Luar - Anchor (https://soundcloud.com/luarbeats)

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Synth Britannia (2009) dir. Benjamin Whalley
A Very British Synthesizer Group Liner Notes by David Buckley, 2016, Virgin Records
Top of The Pops: The Story Of 1981 (2016) dir. Matt O’Casey
“Human League: The Humour League Have Not Broken Up” Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, Dec 1979
“Human League: The Kids Are Alright” Ronnie Gurr, Record Mirror, May 1980
“The Human League: Very Ordinary People With Very Odd Tastes” David Hepworth, Smash Hits, Jul 1980
“LADIES, GENTS, ANDROIDS, MUTANTS & BIOTRONS A BIG HAND For The Human League” Charles Shaar Murray, NME, Jul 1980
“Human League: Half A League Onward” Betty Page, Sounds, Mar 1981
“Amateur Power” Ian Cranna, Smash Hits, May 1981
“The Human League: In the Battle for Gallactic Supremacy — Humans Beleaguered” Charles Shaar Murray, NME, May 1981
“The Human League: Beautiful Dreamers” Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, Aug 1981
“TRUE, DARE KISS OR PROMISE" Lynn Hanna, NME, Oct 1981
“The Big League” Ian Birch, Smash Hits, Oct 1981
“The Human League: A Soap Opera” Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, Oct 1981
“The Human League: Human Nature” Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, Dec 1981
“Human League in the Studio” Tony Bacon, Electronics & Music Maker, Apr 1982
“The Human League - Feature“ Charles Shaar Murray, Vogue, May 1982
“The Human League Wants You“ Betsy Sherman, Boston Rock, May 1982
“Human League et al: Synth-Pop” J.D. Considine, Musician, Aug 1982
“The Human League: Phil Oakey's Five Minute Plan” Paul Morley, NME, Jan 1983
“Happy Days?” Ian Birch, Smash Hits, May 1983
“The Human Side of Phil Oakey” Nancy Culp. Record Mirror, Sep 1986
“Human League: Dynasty!” Tom Hibbert, Q Magazine, Feb 1987
“The Human League: Didn't We Used To Be The Human League?” Stuart Maconie, Q Magazine, Feb 1995
“Sympathy For The Devil” Eric Weisbard, Spin Magazine, Feb 1996
“Human Remains: The Human League” Paul Lester, The Guardian, Jul 2001
“The Human League: Are Friends Electro?” David Stubbs, Uncut, Sep 2001
“The Human League - Don’t You Want Me” Tom Ewing, Popular Number Ones, Feb 2009
“Classic Tracks: Human League ‘Don’t You Want Me’” Richard Buskin, Sound on Sound, Jul 2010
“Our album was great because we recorded it in same studio and at the same time as our main rivals, The Human League, admits Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17” Billy Sloan, The Daily Record, Sep 2010
“This Is Phil (And Jo And Sue) Talking: The Human League Being Grilled” John Doran, The Quietus, Feb 2011
“Hey Mr* Songwriter: Don’t You Want Me” Mark Blake, Q Magazine, Aug 2012
“Human League and the making of the ‘Dare’ album“ Neil Mason, Louder Than War, Oct 2012
“Greatest No. 1s In History” - Gavin Haynes et al, NME, Dec 2012
“Classic Album: Dare The Human League” Andy Jones, Classic Pop, Apr 2014
“A League… A Gentleman” Ian Peel, Classic Pop, Dec 2014
“Forget 1966, because 1981 was pop's year of revolution” Bob Stanley, The Guardian, Dec 2015
“The Human League – 10 of the best” Ian Wade, The Guardian, Aug 2016
“Dare To Be Different” Paul Lester, Mojo Magazine, Nov 2016
“The Human League’s Radical Future” Molly Lambert, MTV, Jan 2017
“The 100 greatest UK No 1s: No 7, The Human League – Don't You Want Me” Luke Turner, The Guardian, May 2020
“The Number Ones: The Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me”” Tom Breihan, Stereogum, Jun 2020
“‘I never worked in a cocktail bar’: How the Human League made Don’t You Want Me” Dave Simpson, The Guardian, Dec 2021
““You’ve ruined the song!”: The bust-ups, bickering, tantrums and tech that made The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me an ’80s anthem” Daniel Griffiths, Music Radar, Dec 2024

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