Human League originally started in 1977 as an all male group and pioneering what we knew then as synth pop. The band were from Sheffield and the band was set up by Martin Gore and Ian Craig-Marsh in which they played local gigs with there electronic equipment but felt the the time was right to get a lead singer. There first choice Glenn Gregory (he later went on to join them with Heaven 17) was not available so they contacted Phil Oakey purely on his persona as he had no musical training.
They adopted the Human League name from a Science Fiction game and went to work on gaining a record contract. They released Being Boiled and this became a success and on the back of that they played live sets mainly at Sheffield University. As the stage was all electronic keyboards and cables there look on stage needed spicing up, so they worked with Phil Oakeys friend Philip Adrian Wright to become director of visuals and make the set more futuristic with films and photography in the background.
After the initial success they signed to Virgin records but sales of records and a lack of interest in ticket sales saw much conflict within the band and subsequently they were overtaken by Gary Numan, Visage and Ultravox as the leading players in this genre of music. Before they undertook a UK tour Ware and Oakey clashed over many things forcing Ware to leave the group and and along with Craig-Marsh departure they went on to form Heaven 17.
With the departure of the two Phil was left with picking up the pieces and a UK tour to complete as they faced heavy lawsuits. It is regarded as folklore that Phil went out with his girlfriend to pick up a backing singer and spotted two girls dancing in a nightclub at Crazy Daisy's in Sheffield. He approached them purely as dancers and background singers to go on tour. They accepted his offer and after parental permission (the girls Jo Catherall and Susanne Sulley were only 17 & 18) they hit the road. However, the tour was not a great success with many expecting the all male group and the group and in particular the Girls came in for undue criticism but stuck with it they did.
They were still heavily in debt to Virgin records and had to do something or face a perilous future. Success was around the corner with the release of the album Dare which spawned the huge hit Don't you want me. Buoyed by this they followed up with The Sound of the Crowd and Love Action. Virgin unexpected sales from the album Dare saw another huge hit Open your heart hit the top. The Dare album went triple platinum and spent 77 weeks in the charts with four weeks at number one. The single Don't you want me sold over 2 million worldwide and this firmly put the band in the public imagination.
The hard work didn't stop there as a follow up was needed to Dare album, Mirror man and keep feeling fascination were successful singles and finally Louise charted just outside the top 10 and this was all on the album Hysteria which didn't quite match the heights of Dare. Further singles followed with the politically charged The Lebanon and Life on your own failing to hit the top 10.
To lick there wounds they went off to America and the result of the album was Crash which the huge hit Human graced our ears. Although a number 8 hit in the UK it went to Number one in the USA. The band capitalised on this by touring extensively for 2 years and the eighties ended on a high note for the band.
The Human League were pioneers and more say by the complete shift in what was a completely male orientated genre to taking on two girls and shifting peoples opinions. It was a brave act but one that paid off and to this day the Phil Oakey, Jo Catherall and Susanne Sulley are still together and touring and that's the biggest compliment you can give this band.
To view the bands work in the eighties click on the song title. Enjoy!
Being Boiled
Don't you want me
The Lebanon
Open Your Heart
Keep Feeling Fascination
Love Action
Sound of a Crowd
Recommended Purchasing/Listening- more details click on album title
Dare
Hysteria
Crash
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