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Human League
The Human League was founded in 1977 by Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, neither of whom
had any formal musical experience. Both were computer operators who saw a future for
electronic music, and had a desire to be a part of that future.
The group was rounded out by 'singer' Philip Oakey and 'visual director' Adrian Wright,
forming a quartet that relied far more on slides and other visuals than their music.
Still, the group's creative performances resulted in a cult following and good word-of-mouth,
to the extent that they were asked to tour with Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1979.
Eventually these unorthodox live shows would be their undoing, as they were dropped from a
1980 Talking Heads tour when news leaked out that they would be presenting visuals and pre-recorded
music while the band members mingled with the audience.
In October the group split, with founders Ware and Marsh leaving to establish the British Electric
Foundation, and later, Heaven 17.
Instead of scrapping the Human League's upcoming tour, Oakey called friend Ian Burden to fill in on
bass and keyboards, and added Joanne Catherall and Susanne Sulley to sing back-up, dance, and distract
attention from the overall lack of music.
The addition of guitarist Jo Callis in 1981 completed the band's quick recovery, which resulted in
1981's synth-pop classic, Dare.
Some 14 months after what looked like the end of the Human League, the new line-up had an international
number 1 in "Don't You Want Me." While Heaven 17 scored a couple hits with "(We Don't Need This) Fascist
Groove Thing" and "Let Me Go," Human League continued to churn out successful, increasingly cheesy
synth-pop tunes, "Mirror Man" and "Fascination" being among the cheesiest.
By 1986 the line-up had been reduced to Oakey, Sulley and Catherall, who without the benefit of any formal
musical training between them scored their second number 1 with "Human"
Human League song lyrics...
Dont You Want Me
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