The Human League

History

In 1977, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware were both computer operators who had first met at a youth arts project called Meatwhistle. Their music mixed pop styles like glam rock and Tamla Motown with avant-garde electronic sounds. Because electronic components became cheaper in the mid-1970s, synthesizers grew more affordable. Marsh and Ware bought a Korg 700S together and taught themselves to play it.

Word of their music got around, and they were asked to perform at a friend's 21st birthday party. For that gig, they formed a loose band named The Dead Daughters. After a few more small private shows, they decided to make things official. They brought in their friend Adi Newton and another synthesizer, a Roland System-100, and started a new band called The Future.

They rehearsed in an old cutlery workshop in central Sheffield. Newton soon left to start his own group, Clock DVA. Ware then decided they needed a singer instead of a third keyboard player. Their first choice, Glenn Gregory, was not available—he later became the lead singer of Heaven 17.

So Ware reached out to an old school friend, Philip Oakey, who worked as a hospital porter and was known around Sheffield for his unusual fashion sense. Oakey had no musical background, but Ware thought he already looked like a pop star and would be perfect as the frontman. Ware left a note on Oakey's front door asking him to join The Future. Oakey agreed, but the early practices were rough.

He had never sung in public, could not play keyboards, and owned a saxophone he could barely handle. While listening to one of Marsh and Ware's demo recordings, Oakey came up with lyrics that eventually became the song "Being Boiled."

Musical style and legacy

In the UK, The Human League were key figures in early synth-pop, with Nightshift calling them, Gary Numan, and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark the genre’s “holy trinity.” They also belonged to the early 1980s new pop movement; Pitchfork deemed them its “essence,” noting their music was “strikingly modern at the time, bright and tuneful beyond belief.” Their track “Don’t You Want Me” made history as the first number one on the UK singles chart to rely solely on a drum machine. In 2000, the tribute album Reproductions: Songs of The Human League arrived, featuring 16 covers by acts like Ladytron, Lali Puna, Momus, Future Bible Heroes, Stephin Merritt, and the Aluminum Group. Moby and Little Boots have also been longtime admirers. The band’s Fast Product era is explored in the 2015 documentary Big Gold Dream.