My Human League Top Five

Here is my Human League top five (only five). In the time when they dominated the charts along with Kraftwerk, I would sit in my room in Cambridge YMCA and try to make sure they heard Travelogue in Trumpington.

My love goes even further back though, to the name itself. Before Dungeons and Dragons was released, I had come up with a roleplay game of my own. It changed a bit but eventually, I adopted rules from the SPI boardgame, Space Marines. The game had several factions for players to be including two separate human factions: The Pan-Human Hegemony and the Human League. Any band picking that name would have my attention.

SO here goes.

1) WXJL Tonight - a thoroughly disturbing track in which a DJ is plugged into the system so that it HURTS when the ratings fall. I hate the idea of popularity bing that important because there is no world in which I could be popular but this song, this song I love.

2) Dreams of Leaving. Repetitive electro-beat with a melodic sound over the top, then chaos for a second before refugee status arises. But of course, being a refugee is not a solution and the second half of the song shows this. Magnificent.

3) Being Boiled - I bought this when it first came out, solely on the basis of a review in Sounds. I didn't even have a record player so I had to wait until I got my own from my mum's house before I could play it. I liked it so much, I've stood on stage and done an acoustic version.

4) Empire State Human - first because I identify with this and second because I've used it as a lullaby for the kids.

5) Sound of the Crowd - This is a representative of the later stuff. I preferreed the old stuff, of course I did, but Dare made the Human League popular, and also paved the way for the magnificent Heaven 17, so I refuse to reject it. This is my favourite example of the later stuff. 

Hurts to leave out "Crow and a Baby", "Don't You Want Me", "Tom Baker", "Austerity".

Hope this works this time