#MusicalOddities: H is for The Human League.
The #MusicalOddities series is an alphabetical blog series by Molly and Bradley Hall. The series curates the lesser known works and personal stories of and about prominent musicians. You are welcome to join in or respond, using the #MusicalOddities hashtag.
I met a girl once who asked me to go see The Human League. They had been supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees - I hadn’t taken much notice of them because The Banshees were so big at the time, eclipsing most others.
It was 22nd June 1979, I was only sixteen and had just left school. For me, this was the last year of punk; people had stopped dressing like Sid Vicious and fashion was changing. I had a pair of suede chelsea boots, black pegs and a Jesse James shirt, a copy of one sold at PX in Covent Garden.
Anyway, The Human League were formed in Sheffield in 1977 by Philip Oakey, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. Oakey was a former hospital worker who sang almost part time for the band - a paid singer. The other two, the creators of the group, were creative students.
The Human League was the UK’s answer to Kraftwerk. They were a cross between them, glam rock and funk. But they had a wide range of inspirations: soundtracks from A Clockwork Orange and John Carpenter’s horrors; Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’, (co-written by Giorgio Moroder); Eno’s input on Roxy Music; Bowie’s ‘Low’; Joe Meek’s production values. All of these influences culminated in them being the UK’s first true electronic group.
They were playing at the Marquee which was on Wardour Street, Soho, which was really different back then, full of sex shops, movie and music stars but empty by 7pm. It was a little venue where bands played every night, often with big shots from the music industry in the audience looking for new talent.
It was £1.50 to get in. First up was a band called Spizzenergi, a band from Birmingham who changed their name every year. They were a mix of electronic and guitars, a perfect opening act.
The Human League came on, no other band at the time were like them. Unusually, they had two keyboard players (Marsh and Ware) and Oakey was very tall, in platform boots, an asymmetric ‘wedge’ haircut: barely any hair on one side, very long on the other. They also had a visual director (Philip Adrien Wright) who played slides and projections during the performance that reminded me of George Orwells’ ‘1984’. The dark and moody set matched their equally shadowy earlier work. They played ‘Being Boiled’, their future hit, rumoured to have only cost £2.50 to make.
They were a breakthrough band on the electronic scene alongside Gary Numan, Ultravox, Visage. But they needed to have hits. The band split into two halves. Oakey and Adrien-Wright kept the name and had two members join them. The others made Heaven 17.
Being there was special. I saw the original, industrial band before they became a worldwide pop group; a part of musical history which many people were not privy to.
