As far as opening lines to a song goes that opening line to the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me” has to be considered iconic. Nearly everyone of a certain age instantly has images of eyeliner and a woman in a trench coat spring into their mind when they hear those words. However popular that song has been throughout the years, in many ways “Don’t You Want Me” has over shadowed a body of work that shows the Human League were one of the pioneers of synth pop.

The Human League was first formed in 1977 in Sheffield, England but the version of the group that most people are familiar with came after a shake up of the band in the early 1980’s when Phil Oakey recruited two school girls - Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall - to join the Human League. From there, the Human League released a series of songs and albums that had an unmistakable signature sound. Yet, if you ask most people - especially those in the United States - to mention a Human League song they would only mention “Don’t You Want Me”.

The Human League back in the day

One of my first memories of enjoying popular music is of me walking up and down the sidewalk in front of my parent’s place having the Human League song “Human” stuck in my head. That song was released in the United States in 1986, so I would have been ten years old. Over the years I have come to realise that 1986 is the year that I fell in love with music or at the very least it is the year that my nearly autistic knowledge of 80’s music started.

Anyway, despite my first introduction to the Human League being a single from their 1986 album, “Crash”, I have since come to think that their best work was a bit earlier when their sound was truly fresh. The interesting thing about that era was that a number of bands were using the synths but they were all trying to figure out what to do with them so there was so many different styles that came out of the exploration. When I listen to early Human League, particularly a few songs off the 1981 album “Dare”,I hear a sound that was on par with other synth pioneers. For example, when I listen to “I am the Law” from “Dare” I can’t help but to think that it wouldn’t have sounded too out of place on a Depeche Mode album of the time. The two bands, of course, didn’t keep the same path but the starting point wasn’t that far off. A lot of that talent gets lost to those that haven’t looked beyond “Don’t You Want Me”.

There is nothing wrong with “Don’t You Want Me” beyond being over played and I am happy when otherwise underrated bands like the Human League do manage to have such a massive hit because it hopefully gives them something of a pension in their older years. It is a similar case for other artists of the time such as Gary Numan. Numan will forever be known to the masses for “Cars” and have the rest of his genius body of work ignored but at least every time you hear “Cars” played on a commercial you know he is getting some of the money he deserves.

The Human League is still around and kicking in a form with less members but at least they still have Phil Oakey who continues to show that there are some men that were just born to wear eyeliner..mmmm.

The Human League today

Anyway, my top five Human League tracks would be:

1. Mirror Man - Watch on You Tube
2. Keep Feeling Fascination - Watch on You Tube
3. Love Action (the ‘this is Phil talking’ line = swoon) - Watch on You Tube
4. Louise - Watch on You Tube
5. The Sound Of The Crowd  - Watch on You Tube
Honourable mentions have to do to :

6. I am the Law
7. The Lebanon - Watch on You Tube

Also..I feel a need to mention Together in Electric Dreams which technically isn’t a Human League song but was for the soundtrack to the film “Electric Dreams”.  Watch it on You Tube and just enjoy the smoothness of Phil’s voice.

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In most movies it would be a complaint to say that the leading actress is a bit wooden but in the 1987 film Mannequin it is more of a compliment. I was ten when Mannequin came out and I remember loving the movie from the start of the film down to the Starship power ballad in the end credits.

I grew up in the Philadelphia area and there was an extra layer of enjoyment added for me because the film was shot and based in Philly but in reality the real initial attraction to the film for me at the time was Andrew McCarthy. He was fresh from winning the heart of Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink and very much the dish of the moment for a 10 year old at the time (if you don’t could Kirk Cameron). It is odd that he was in so many films at the time but has more or less vanished to the land of TV bit parts these days. That is very unlike the female lead in Mannequin, Kim Cattrall, who has in recent years become shot to stardom through her roll as Samantha in Sex in the City.

Once I had actually seen the film though, the star of the film for me was Meshach Taylor playing Hollywood Montrose. Taylor played his roll with a kind of over camp style that was only forgivable in the 80’s and, thankfully, would be an embarrassment today. However, it was all a bit of fun and not meant to be insulting so no harm done. Taylor then went on to be better known for his roll of Anthony Bouvier on Designing Women.

The idea behind Mannequin is that Jonathan Switcher (McCarthy) is a starving artist type that can’t hold a job. He takes a job in a mannequin factory and creates a mannequin he feels to be more a work of art that a window dummy. Some time later he is walking by a store window and spots the mannequin in department store window. Somehow, Jonathan saves the life of the woman that owns the store and ends up working as a window dresser in the store. When he is alone with the mannequin she comes to life and it is discovered she is really an Egyptian woman from 2514 BC that is now a mannequin.

Yup, not really top quality script work but very 80’s and for a ten year old at the time very fun. I haven’t seen it in maybe ten years. It would be interesting if it still held the same appeal so many years on.

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By now you have probably figured out that I have a thing for men who frequently buy black hair dye and aren’t afraid of eyeliner. That may be true but what they really all have in common is that they all produced some excellent music in the 80’s and many have continued to do that even to this day. The Cure is one band that is certainly qualified to fit into those camps.

The first stirrings of what would be come The Cure started in 1976 when Robert Smith formed a band called The Easy Cure. They were signed to a small label but Robert Smith felt the band wasn’t getting the attention they deserved from the label and the band left. They renamed themselves The Cure and were signed to another label.

Their first single release came in 1978 and proved to be both a critical success and highly controversial. The single “Killing an Arab” was assumed by many to be a racist song when in reality it was based on a scene in a novel called L’Étranger written by the French author Albert Camus. The same book has been rumoured to have inspired Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Really, it is a prime example of people condemning without actually listening to the song.

The Cure back then

The Cure were prolific throughout the 1980’s and released an album or an LP nearly every year. They had a strong cult following in the United States but only managed to have one US top 10 hit - “Lovesong” which reached #2. In recent years though, The Cure is sited by many American bands as being a major influence and in 2004 MTV gave The Cure the Icon award.

Much like Depeche Mode, The Cure gained a reputation as a band with a gothic slant despite mainly because of the band’s appearance. Gothic or not one thing that is certain is that The Cure put out some of the best songs of the 1980’s 1990’s and aren’t about to give up . The Cure is still touring throughout the world (though rarely play London…grr) and in 2004 they released an album simply called “The Cure” that went straight into the top ten in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

A more modern The Cure

My top five The Cure songs would be:

1. Just Like Heaven - Watch on You Tube
2. Lovesong - Watch on You Tube
3. Killing An Arab - Watch on You Tube
4. Friday I’m In Love - Watch on You Tube
5. Lovecats - Watch on You Tube

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Every now and then there is a band whose sound hits all of my musical erogenous zones. I will admit that I came to Depeche Mode’s music later than I should have done. I was simply too young to appreciate them during their initial success but in the years since I have totally fallen for the Depeche Mode charms.

Depeche Mode started to take shape in the late 1970’s when Vince Clarke, a keyboardist from Basildon, emerged from the New Romantic period and formed a series of bands that would eventually finally become Depeche Mode in 1980 when Dave Gahan joined as lead singer. In 1981 Depeche Mode put out their first album called “Speak and Spell” which introduced the public to such retro classics as “Just Can’t Get Enough”. Vince Clarke’s song writing on “Speak and Spell” gave the album and different - happier - feel compared to the darker sound that would feature on future Depeche Mode albums. The main reason for this is that shortly after “Speak and Spell”, Vince Clarke became uncomfortable with the commercial success of Depeche Mode and decided to leave. He later formed other notable bands of the time such as Yazoo and then Erasure.

After Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode, Martin Gore became the main songwriter for the band. In 1982 they released their first album without Vince Clarke called “A Broken Frame” and Martin Gore’s writing proved to successful with songs such as “Leave in Silence” and “See You”.

In 1984, Depeche Mode finally started to become known in the United States when they had their first hit in the United States with the classic single “People are People”. An album called “Catching Up with Depeche Mode” was put out for the American market that gave them a sort of “best of” so they could find out what they were missing.

Depeche Mode in the early days

Every since then the people with musical taste on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world have embraced Depeche Mode and have seen them as brilliant carriers of the New Wave flag. Whenever I have thought that Depeche Mode are don they suddenly pop back up with a new album. In 2005, Depeche Mode returned once again with the “Playing the Angel” album and launched a massive world tour.

I have say that I was thrilled to finally get to see Depeche Mode live on this tour. For many years they had been one of the few remaining names on my “must see before I die” concert list but finally I got to cross them off. They were simply fantastic live and one of best - and longest - concerts I have ever seen. They, of course, played songs from the new album but they blended in so well with the classic tunes of the past that it wasn’t a case of having to sit through the boring to get to the great music.

To me Depeche Mode is near perfect music. There are other bands that I consider to be my favourite bands but I am in no doubt that without the influence of Depeche Mode many of those bands wouldn’t be half as good as I consider them to be. Dave Gahan has to up there with the sexiest ex-junkies ever and I don’t know many women (and some men) that wouldn’t .

Depeche Mode today

It is near impossible for me to pick just five songs out of an amazing back catalogue because I almost feel like I am cheating on a great song I have to leave off the list. However, it must be done so….

My top five Depeche Mode songs:

1. Blasphemous Rumours - Watch on You Tube
2. Personal Jesus - (possibly a perfect riff) - Watch on You Tube
3. Enjoy The Silence - Watch on You Tube
4. Little 15 - Watch on You Tube
5. I Feel You - Watch on You Tube

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