The Human League

Album Artwork From The Past – Controversial Cover Of Debut LP ‘REPRODUCTION’ By THE HUMAN LEAGUE (1979)

Posted on by JL

12 July 2023

Band: THE HUMAN LEAGUE
Album: REPRODUCTION – debut
Released: October 1979

AllMusic said: “The trio of Ian Craig Marsh, Martyn Ware, and Philip Oakey all handled
vocals and synthesizers to create a set of grim, rigid tracks that revealed a greater lack
of humanity than even Kraftwerk. It’s a surprise that the Human League hit the British charts at all (with the single “Empire State Human”), since this could well be the most detached synth pop record ever released.” Score: 3/5.

Single

Artwork: The cover shows the feet of a man and two women seemingly standing above a number of naked babies. This was at the instruction of the band, but band member Martyn Ware described how the band’s brief was misinterpreted by the record company’s art department.

“We said we wanted an image of a glass dancefloor in a discotheque which people were dancing on and beneath this, a lit room full of babies. It was meant to look like a still from a film – like some kind of dystopian vision of the future – but it just looks like they’re treading on babies. We were quite upset but at that time, it was too late to change it.”

Album


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Back sleeve

THE HUMAN LEAGUE: Bio – Discography – Instagram

THE HUMAN LEAGUE -‘DON’T YOU WANT ME’ Was Their Only No 1 Hit In The UK – This Day 41 Years Ago

Posted on by JL

Great 7″ singles from the past

12 December 2022

Glam pop act THE HUMAN LEAGUE scored their only No 1 hit in the UK
with ‘Don’t You Want Me’ when it topped the chart on 12 December 1981,
40 years ago today.

It was the biggest-selling single of that year with over more than 1.560.000 copies.

But frontman Phil Oakey wasn’t really fond of the hit. After the release, he said
that he disliked the song so much that it became the last track on their masterpiece album Dare.

Here’s the original video clip…

THE HUMAN LEAGUE: Facebook

Golden New Wave Stars In Belgium This Summer At The 4-Days W-FESTIVAL

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Top acts/singles from the past…

6 April 2021

This summer – last days of August – Belgium’s renowned W-FESTIVAL ,
celebrates the golden decades (70s/80s) of new W-ave music for the fifth
time. The major event will take place on the beach in Ostend, the queen
of our native country’s seaside town, on 26-27-28-29 August 2021.

Over 4 days a series of new wave icons will boost the adrenalin-production
of thousands of die-hard fans with massive hits from their glorious past.

All info, tickets and COVID-19 measures right here.

To warm up Turn Up The Volume picked one
act per day with one of their classic crackers.

Let’s roll…

THE BOOMTOWN RATS (Bob Geldof’s band)
with ‘Looking After Number One‘ (26 August)

THE HUMAN LEAGUE with (of course) ‘Don’t You Want Me (27 Aug)

OMD with ‘Enola Gay’ (28 August)

THE HOUSE OF LOVE with ‘Shine On‘ (29 August)

W-FESTIVAL: Facebook

YESTERDAY’S CRACKERS – This Week: 25 Killer Tracks And 3 Top LP’s From 1978…

Posted on by JL

The best of the past…

Every week Turn Up The Volume! jumps into the past! Relive 25 Crackers and
3 Top Albums per year/per week. Here’s another fabulous year to remember: 1978.

The 25 KILLER TRACKS…

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The 3 TOP ALBUMS…

– ‘All Mod Cons‘ by THE JAM –

Stream here…

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– ‘Parallel Lines‘ by BLONDIE –

Stream here…

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– ‘This Year’s Model’ by ELVIS COSTELLO –

Stream here…

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See/hear you next week for the year of 1979…