The Human League Young Guns Go for It

# Young guns, having some fun

# Young guns, having some fun

# Young guns! Heads up off! Go for it!

# Young guns! Heads up!

# Young guns! Heads up! Go for it!

# Young guns! Heads up!

# Young guns! #

The manifesto. Scenario: summer 1977, The Human League was formed,

in order to channel its members' immense talents.

Background: none of The Human League have any orthodox training,

seeing compositions as an extension of logic, inspiration and luck.

Conclusion, manifesto: interested in combining the best of all worlds,

they aim to improve the future by close attention to the present,

allying technology with humanity and humour.

# Don't you want me, baby...? #

The Human League's manifesto was written by three art-school boys during the heady days of punk.

It wasn't fulfilled until singer Philip Oakey went to a local disco

and asked two schoolgirls to join his critically acclaimed

but commercially unsuccessful synthesizer group.

A few weeks later, Philip and the girls were on Top Of The Pops.

The Human League became one of the biggest groups of the early '80s.

The Human League's success hasn't sustained throughout the '90s,

but the trio of Philip, Joanne and Susanne

have remained loyal to the group and to their home town of Sheffield.

I'm just proud that we stayed together and we're still doing it.

It's hard being in a group for nearly 19 years, and being able to keep your sanity.

Although I'm sure there'd be a few doubters along the way!

The Human League didn't begin with Philip and the girls. In the beginning, there were no girls

and the music leant far more to the avant-garde than to pop.

HYPNOTIC SYNTHESIZER MUSIC

# Faced with the choice

# What would you say?

# The path of least resistance

# It seems the only way

# But can't we look a little further...? #

The band had been formed in 1977 by two computer operators

with a passion for Kraftwerk and science fiction.

I started my first well-paid job. I thought, "How shall spend my cash?"

I could have learned to drive, which I've still never done -

bought a second-hand car.

The first cheap commercial synthesizers were just coming on to the market.

So I went and bought one.

I was always into all things science fiction.

In Sheffield, you're surrounded by strange sounds, with the steelworks.

You're surrounded by "musique concrete".

The drop forges hammering away at night.

-A natural environment. They sounded like natural sounds.

-Yeah. Not alien.

We grew up with the sound of machinery

We thought, "We need a vocalist," and Martyn...

Basically, I went to school with Phil from the age of 16, and he looked like a pop star.

I ended up doing four years as a hospital porter at two different hospitals,

which is a great job, but absolutely no prospect of promotion.

If you work very hard for 15 years, you get to be deputy head porter.

I'd have been lost without the group.

# To level four I think

# Softly is the answer

# And not another drink

# They say it might be the only way... #

I thought it would be a bit of a hobby.

I was surprised they asked me. Everybody was trying to be in bands, but I wasn't.

They played me their tapes. I'd say, "You're doing fantastic stuff,"

which probably helped my prospects with them.

Still, when we were doing it, it seemed so left-field.

that we'd mess around with our tape recorders for two or three years

and then go and do what we were gonna do.

This is Psalter Lane Art College - our first venue.

I was so nervous, I sang the same verse over and over.

I couldn't remember the verses. I'd never been on stage in my life.

Neither had we.

The tape recorder - this is the very one -

would be placed centre-stage, where a drummer would be.

The rhythms and bass were on there. We had keyboards. Philip had a mike.

The show started with us walking on and turning the tape on.

Stuff started without us playing anything, which was provocative.

Adrian Wright was in the audience. He liked the gig.

He approached us afterwards. He was at the art college, doing film and photography.

# ..The flight into space

# Sucking in the human race

# How can it stay at the top...? #

They said, "We've heard about your slide collection." I said, "How?" They said, "I don't know."

They said, "We're boring on stage."

I said, "Yes, you are. I saw your first concert."

They said, "Will you project your slides behind us?"

# Big on the town

# And the gleam is an iron red

# Said my father was a prole

# Now I once more... #

It was just not like a band should be. Everyone did laugh at us.

We were a joke in Sheffield. We were an affront to their sensibilities.

People wanted to hit us.

Someone threw beer over Martyn and his keyboard, which is shocking.

We had no insurance. We thought, "God!

"We're gonna have to do something."

I built a cage to protect my synth.

Which the writers thought was a statement of alienation.

-They did. That's what they all said.

-In fact, it was a beer guard.

-In fact, it was...

-A beer guard.

It was to stop the invalidation of the hire-purchase agreement.

# You're trying hard not to show it

# Baby

# But, baby

# Baby, I know it

# You've lost that loving feeling... #

I was taken with their version of You've Lost That Loving Feeling.

They were very original.

Phil Oakey looked extraordinary with his hair... Which side did it go on?

I attempted immediately to sign them and was successful.

They were avant-garde.

Would they be a commercial success?

Human League's first two albums, Reproduction and Travelogue,

hovered around the lower reaches of the charts.

They made it into the top ten in January 1980,

with their enigmatic single Being Boiled.

I remember a review of Being Boiled.

They'd got John Lydon reviewing singles.

-I think it started...

-Two words.

-"Trendy hippies."

-Yeah.

# Listen to the voice of Buddha

# Saying stop your sericulture

# Little people like your... #

They'd done a good backing track. I didn't know if I was good enough for the group.

I took a tape home, wrote some stuff. They said, "It's all right."

I sang it to them, which was one of the scariest things I've ever done.

-They said, "That's all right."

-I thought it was brilliant.

-Jaw-dropping!

However, one question remained to perplex the record buyer.

WOMAN: What is Being Boiled about?

Here's your man.

It was... I'd got some religions mixed up.

I thought that, like, Buddhism was the same as Hinduism.

It was sort of a plea for vegetarianism,

against killing silkworms to make socks, or something.

I got confused about it.

# He'll say carry on your slaughter

# Who cares for the little children?

# You can slice with no conviction... #

Even those who got the silkworms

were frequently confused by the group's appearance -

particularly Philip's.

We turned up to a festival, I think in Vienna. I think once in France.

In one of them, the booklet said, "England's leading gay group."

I thought, "OK. That's worrying." I don't think any of us ever were gay.

It's unlikely, when you think about it. But it wasn't a gay thing.

It wasn't effeminate. It was somewhere in between.

I had ten or 15 years when I didn't wear men's clothing, but it wasn't really women's clothing either.

I was just somewhere else.

Human League had made considerable progress with the music press,

but were becoming frustrated at their lack of mainstream success..

Our intention was to become the first popular synthesizer band

that was doing vocals, as opposed to experimental stuff.

We released things that could do that.

Nothing ever quite became a hit. Then Gary Numan came along

and stole our glory by suddenly... Out of nowhere.

He used to be a rock act.

He suddenly took on our clothing and became incredibly successful.

We were quite miffed.

# Here in my car

# I feel safest of all

# I can lock all my doors

# It's the only way to live

# In cars. #

It was like a kind of cusp for the group.

Until that point, it had been a laugh and art.

We'd assumed we'd break through.

That point really broke the morale, looking back, of the band.

All we could see stretching into the future was being...

All right, we were mentioned as being influential,

but we weren't earning any money -

I think that was the engine that drove the split.

Ian and Martyn formed Heaven 17, taking their musical expertise.

Philip and Adrian were left with only the name - The Human League.

I was terrified - I can't play anything.

Martyn and Ian were the players. It was me and Adrian.

It didn't help that Melody Maker had headlines like "The Creative People Have Gone".

It looked like we would fall flat on our faces and be laughed around Sheffield.

The Human League were contracted to a European tour in two weeks' time.

If they failed to show, Philip and Adrian would be sued for £250,000.

They had to act fast.

We needed a group so Philip said, "I know. We need some girls."

He said, "I've been thinking. Two girls."

So he went out that night to this nightclub.

And I went down another nightclub.

And he found these two girls.

We saw Joanne and Susanne who were sort of dancing with each other,

dressed as Gary Numan or something.

But they weren't...

..they weren't too tied to style, too extreme.

The way they dressed WAS stylish, but in ten years' time, you probably wouldn't be laughing.

They were the same as the people we were trying to sell to - more closely even than we were.

We'd liked people from a generation or two before of music.

But they were right there - they liked Gary Numan and Japan, they knew exactly what was going on.

I came off the dance floor.

And he said, "I'm Philip Oakley from The Human League."

We knew because we liked the group.

He said, "Look, we're doing this tour.

"You and your friend looked good together.

"What do you think?" He gave me a list of dates and his phone number.

We'd actually bought tickets to go and see the group in Doncaster on that tour we ended up playing at.

Adrian Wright progressed from slides to synthesiser.

Ian Burden was drafted in to play another and they were ready to tour.

Our parents had to check with the school that it was all right.

The school thought we could study lots and get to see lots of different places.

But we didn't study at all!

The Human League was an all-male band. They did not take well to two females.

We got full cans of beer thrown at us

and just people coming up to us after shows and saying, "You're crap!"

It was just... They just didn't like us.

I suppose, to be fair, they were expecting a different tour.

They were expecting the original line-up with Ian and Martyn.

They didn't get any warning that it would be different.

They played the Hammersmith Odeon. It was half full.

It didn't look good. But there was a very good feeling afterwards.

I was so relieved because there had been so many things about that gig that didn't go right.

So many people doubted that they could be successful again.

There was a groundswell of interest in this music.

SUSAN: Within weeks, my mum was running round the schools,

knocking on classroom doors, getting us out of school.

"I've got to get them because they've got to go to London to do Top Of The Pops."

# Get around town, get around town

# Where the people look good Where the music is loud... #

MAN: At the time, we were very much considered by Virgin, not by Simon,

as the fag end of The Human League.

Phil had negotiated to still retain the name.

But the ones they were looking at were the other lot. They thought Martyn Ware would do it.

"Phil's the singer and Adrian's the slide operator. What can they do?"

So I think Sound Of The Crowd was just, "Bung them in and see what happens."

But Simon Draper had another view of it.

Once they heard that, and particularly when it charted, it was, "Let's go the whole way."

-# The lines on a compact guide

-Pass around... #

Martin Rushent was very important to the success of this new group, effectively.

Before this, they had quite good ideas but didn't sound convincing.

With Rushent's production, they were a quasi dance band with a great sound.

This was a tremendous signpost to what was about to happen.

# Add your voice to the sound of the crowd

# Oh

# Oh... #

Now The Human League's image centred around Phil and the girls.

Philip and Joanne embarked on a romance that lasted for eight years.

I don't think it affected the group.

It was just something that was happening for eight years while the group was going.

And that was it. Yeah.

It just meant that more people came to our house cos there was two of us there.

It was sort of convenient, really.

It saved money on hotel rooms!

It just happens. People DO meet in the workplace. And it was our workplace.

I think there was often the resentment against Joanne and Susan generally.

Because they don't write any songs, they were thought to have more of an influence than they needed to.

But they were very good at knowing which paths to take.

They were the ones who would hear five tracks and know which one would sell.

# ..Just looking Watching your love action... #

Although Phil and Joanne are matter of fact about their relationship now, it inspired their second hit.

# I believe, I believe what the old man said

# Though I know that there's no lord above

# I believe in me, I believe in you

# And you know I believe in love

# I believe in truth though I lie a lot

# I feel the pain from the push and shove

# No matter what you put me through

# I'll still believe in love

# And I say

# I love your love action

# Love's just a distraction

# No talking, just looking... #

In March 1981, Jo Callis, guitarist and songwriter with the Rezillos, joined the group.

The Human League had a proper musician,

even if their manifesto insisted on the synthesiser, not his guitar.

They were in a transitionary period, trying to cement a new line-up,

and I sort of came on board,

initially to help out with songwriting.

I got more and more involved as time went on, really,

and became the missing piece of the jigsaw.

With Jo on board and Martin Rushent producing,

The Human League set about making one of the key albums of the decade.

# And when it hurts You know they love to tell you

# How they warned yo-o-ou

# They say don't be surprised at someone's lies... #

Phil's visual image and presentation of The Human League

was more clearly defined in his mind than the music was.

He was quite laissez faire with the music.

It was, "Yes, Martyn. Yes, Jo, if you feel that'll work, OK."

That was his general attitude.

When it came to imagery, it had to be like THIS.

You had to wear THAT.

He was very clear on what the band should look like and be seen to be.

# ..And so you stand here with the years ahead... #

The rest of us didn't understand, but he picked the girls for a reason.

That was apparent when you saw the photos on the sleeve of the album -

a pastiche of the Vogue cover.

I'm still not clear about his vision to this day, but it worked.

# ..You better change it back or we will both be sorry

# Don't you want me, baby?

# Don't you want me, o-o-oh?

We didn't really know what we were doing.

It was as big a surprise to us that we had a million selling album.

# ..Don't you want me...? #

Don't You Want Me was number one in a lot of other countries as well.

The single was number one in America.

It did well there. And Iceland, apparently!

And Iceland! Yes, we went to Iceland.

JOANNE: You'd go into town and go to a shop, and they would close off shops for us.

As soon as people heard that we were in a shop, a thousand people would be trying to get into it.

I remember going to see Teardrop Explodes and having to be rescued out of the audience.

We'd go to a concert at Sheffield City Hall and we'd get mobbed to the extent that it was very frightening.

Dare sold five million albums worldwide and transformed British pop music.

This massive, but unexpected success proved hard to follow.

Two interim singles, Fascination and Mirror Man, made the top 20

but tensions arose in the two years it took to finish Hysteria.

We came back and did start doing a new record with Martin Rushent.

But...it wasn't the same.

It got to the point where no-one knew what to do.

We'd had all this success and...

Well, we did know what to do but we couldn't do it.

# Winter is approaching There's snow upon the ground

# It's good of you to visit me I'm glad you came around... #

Producer Martin Rushent departed to be followed by two other producers.

Hysteria contained three hit singles - none matched the success of the group's previous output.

Then we tried to make another record, I've forgotten who with now,

and that was a real disaster.

We just could not get a song finished. We couldn't do it.

Me and Philip weren't as close as we were before, for whatever reason,

so I didn't know what was happening.

Simon Draper teamed The Human League with American R'n'B producers Jam and Lewis.

The group went to the studio in Minneapolis to record.

# I'm only human

# Of flesh and blood I'm made

# Human

# Born to make mistakes... #

The collaboration with Jam and Lewis produced a number one in the States with Human.

But the album Crash sounded manufactured.

After four years, their next record was ominously dubbed a comeback.

# Calling up the promised land

# Jonny Seven's coming over the sea... #

By the time Heart Like A Wheel and the album Romantic were released in 1990,

only Philip and the girls remained from the team that made Dare.

All three of us are very loyal people in a way most people aren't.

I only see it when I come across people who don't stick together.

Perhaps because it was so obvious to get Joanne and Susanne in for one LP to give a bit of spice...

Then we'll drop them for another group and the lads will go on

and maybe think of some other novelty.

I didn't want to be accused of that.

They're proper people who should be treated as such. Also, they're extremely loyal to me.

They've never said a word against me, or made a move against me.

In 1992, the group and Virgin Records parted company.

Back in their own studio in Sheffield, but without a recording contract,

they began sending demos to record companies.

There was a lot of baggage with The Human League.

The business had changed, and we felt maybe we should be investing in a brand new act

rather than a dinosaur.

But it was the songs. The songs on the tape were impressive.

# Tell me when

# Will I see you again

# Tell me when

# Will I see you again

# Tell me when

# Will I see you again Na-na na-na na na na... #

Octopus was a very successful album. It was top ten for a long time.

It did pretty well in America.

We'd brought them back, so by the end of '95,

The Human League were high in the public consciousness.

But they were taking a long time to think about the next record.

After I left East West Records, a new regime came into the company

and they were actually let go.

We were going through another one of those transition periods.

The majority of those at the record company when we first started

thought we'd probably be a one-album wonder.

They thought that's all it would be.

INTERVIEWER: Why have you stayed in Sheffield?

Big fish in a little pond?

Wouldn't stick out much in London, would we?

You walk down the King's Road, there's Paul Young walking one way, George Michael the other.

Fear of authority.

All sorts of things.

We never...I never felt adequate

against the people running the business - that happens to a lot of people from the provinces.

I don't know how to use my knife and fork properly.

I feel inadequate, so I hide here.

Human League are now on an '80s revival tour

playing second on the bill to Culture Club.

We'd much rather still be doing the old stuff because we're proud of it.

But we'd like to do new things, too. We don't really want to be considered a "retro" band.

-But you get caught up in it.

-This tour's work, isn't it?

They're paying us the money, we're doing the job - like Shane Ritchie doing a Daz ad.

It's not what we would choose to do.

If you want the '80s, you'll get the '80s.

# As if we were still lovers

# And though they talked for just a little time

-# Before she said she had to go

-Ooo-oo-oo-oo-ooh... #

-You once said, "We won't stop till we're bankrupt".

-Yeah. That's the way we're heading - the dole queue!

# And so Louise

# Waved from the bus

# And as she left She gave that smile

# As if they were still lovers. #

Subtitles by Matthew Singh-Toor and Elena Ounsworth, BBC - 1999