Genre: Synth pop
Places I remember: Jacky's record collection
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Things That Dreams Are made Of
Gear costume: Don't You Want Me, Seconds
Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: The Things That Dreams Are made Of
Gear costume: Don't You Want Me, Seconds
They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6; Part 7
Active compensatory factors: I can remember three records Jacky had when I met her in 1983: The War of the Worlds, a Duran Duran album and The Human League's Dare.
Active compensatory factors: I can remember three records Jacky had when I met her in 1983: The War of the Worlds, a Duran Duran album and The Human League's Dare.
It was hard to avoid The Human League in the early eighties. Their singles were all over the radio: The Sound of the Crowd; Love Action; Open Your Heart; and the megahit - Don't You Want Me.
Those radio friendly, catchy pop hits weren't really me, as such, but they were (and remain) extremely catchy, commercial pop songs.
The AllMusic critic makes a good point: The self-conscious detachment enhances the postmodern sense of emotional isolation, obsession with form over content, and love of modernity for its own sake. That's why Dare! struck a chord with listeners who didn't like synth pop or the new romantics in 1981, and why it still sounds startlingly original decades after its original release -- the technology may have dated, synths and drum machines may have become more advanced, but few have manipulated technology in such an emotionally effective way.
Where do they all belong? Dare remains the only album in my collection by The Human League. Jacky and I are still married btw.
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