The Human League is a British synthpop group whose main rise to fame was in the 1980s with the triple platinum success of Dare (1981 UK 1982 US).
In 1977 Phil Oakey was asked to join a duo called The Future. The band was never signed although they produced a series of demos. By 1978 The Future had changed its name to The Human League and signed to Fast Records. The Human League released its first single to a Britain dominated by punk, but the music press appreciated the fresh sound. The first EP, The Dignity of Labour (1979), started a bidding war which was won by Virgin. The relationship with Virgin was turbulent, but despite this, the relationship resulted in the albums Reproduction and Travelogue. However, the friction caused the band to fracture with two of the members, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, going on to form Heaven 17.
With Oakey the sole owner of the Human League name and debts, he had to work quickly to pull together a band in order to fulfil prior commitments. Joanne Cathrell and Susan Ann Sulley were schoolgirls recruited from a Sheffield nightclub dancefloor and Ian Burden brought on board for his synth skills. The resultant band was not instantly successful but went on to become huge with the release of Dare. The stellar performance of the track “Don’t You Want Me” resulted in sales of over two million for the single alone.
The follow-up album Hysteria (1984) did not perform as well as had been hoped and for the third album, Virgin again tried to massage the creative process and the recording sessions were acrimonious. The resulting album, Crash (1986) had a different sound, having had much intervention from production team, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Though it performed well in America, it failed to make the impact of Dare. The failure of Romantic? (1990) marked the end of the contract with Virgin, leaving the band without a label and with mounting debts and growing critical rejection. The band, by now a three piece, didn’t approach record labels for another two years.
The signing with EastWest Records in 1994 promised a less fraught relationship, and the band released Octopus (1995) with the blessing and backing of the label. Unfortunately, the contract with EastWest was cancelled in 1998 as a result of changes within the company, but a fresh interest in all things 80s brought the band to public attention again early in the new millennium, helping Secrets (2001) to make a minor impact.
The band continues to perform today, though is currently without a record deal.
