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The Human League's best single?


View Poll Results: Please pick a pair!
ALL I EVER WANTED - (47, AUG '01) 1 1.28%
BEING BOILED - (06, JAN '82) 8 10.26%
BOYS AND GIRLS - (48, FEB '81) 1 1.28%
DON'T YOU WANT ME - (01, DEC '81) 21 26.92%
THE SOUND OF THE CROWD - (12, MAY 81) 11 14.10%
FILLING UP WITH HEAVEN - (36, JUN '95) 0 0%
(KEEP FEELING) FASCINATION - 02, APR '83) 8 10.26%
HEART LIKE A WHEEL - (29, AUG '90) 1 1.28%
HOLIDAY 80 (EP) - (46, FEB '82) 1 1.28%
HUMAN - (08, AUG '86) 9 11.54%
THE LEBANON - (11, MAY '84) 3 3.85%
LIFE ON YOUR OWN - (16, JUN '84) 1 1.28%
LOUISE - (13, NOB '84) 5 6.41%
LOVE ACTION (I BELIEVE IN LOVE) - (03, AUG '81) 15 19.23%
LOVE IS ALL THAT MATTERS - (41, OCT '88) 0 0%
MIRROR MAN - (02, NOV 82) 12 15.38%
ONE MAN IN MY HEART - (13, MAR '95) 2 2.56%
OPEN YOUR HEART - (06, OCT 81) 10 12.82%
STAY WITH ME TONIGHT - (40, JAN '96) 0 0%
TELL ME WHEN - (06, JAN '95) 5 6.41%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 78. You can't vote on this poll right now - are you signed in?

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Old 18-12-2016, 00:35
Ænima
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Tell me when...I remember it very well as a child. Seemed to be played a lot during our school discos
I was going to post 'really'? and question if you were really born in 1986 (which'd make you slightly younger than me), but then I listened to it and it all came flooding back
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Old 18-12-2016, 12:30
Heanor_Man31
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Thanks, I'm off to sample that now - is this the one you mean?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atOUcEYHKnw

Also I hope that others will use the thread to write about the band, maybe you met one or all of them in the past, or write about their music because while I might have bought so many singles by a variety of artists at the time as I'm sure we all did and had a few posters on the wall, I find that I really knew very little about them. For example, The Smiths were a huge part of my life in the eighties. When I watched someone on Mastermind whose chosen subject was 'The Life and Times of Morrissey and The Smiths', I scored three points! So I have a thirst for knowledge and I'm here to drink.
That's the one I meant, yes! Sounds superb on vinyl. Wasn't my copy (sadly) but my friend still has it so am hoping I can loan it from her again now I own a portable record player.

Tell Me When is another great track and reminds me of being 9/10-I've never seen them live (yet) but have watched a few of their videos on YouTube and they never fail to get the audience going.
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Old 18-12-2016, 12:38
silentNate
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If you listen to the Best Of compilations then Being Boiled sounds so out of place. Personally I think it would have been great to see the band go in a direction closer to that song but alas it was not to be.

Arcana, mgvsmith, shackfan & vauxhall1964 all have great taste
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Old 18-12-2016, 12:42
Peter_Gazzard
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I voted for Louise and Human.I think Get It Right This Time ws a single too,like that song
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Old 19-12-2016, 10:32
SaddlerSteve
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The Lebanon is actually a decent song and was a brave attempt to do something unexpected rather than just repeating the "Dare" formula over and over again. The shock value of hearing a distorted guitar opening on a Human League track was very impressive for the time, even if in retrospect, the rest of the arrangement is fairly-dated sequenced synths and Linn Drum. The only thing that lets it down is the incredibly trite lyrics, which regularly appear in the "worst lyrics ever" polls.

That said, I voted for "Open Your Heart" as their best single!
Didn't the song end up pissing off both sides as well?
Israel for it being anti-Israel and Lebanon because it referred to them as "The" Lebanon which they don't like!
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Old 20-12-2016, 10:48
doogie1970
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'Being Boiled' and 'Open Your Heart' are the only Human League singles I've never tired of.

I may have voted for 'Together in Electric Dreams' if it had been included (okay it's not technically a Human League song, but Phil Oakey did the original vocals, and the Human League still perform it at their gigs).
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Old 20-12-2016, 12:33
Kid B
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'Being Boiled' and 'Open Your Heart' are the only Human League singles I've never tired of.

I may have voted for 'Together in Electric Dreams' if it had been included (okay it's not technically a Human League song, but Phil Oakey did the original vocals, and the Human League still perform it at their gigs).
Yes, only official League releases would get in, Together In Electric Dreams was a Phillip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder release.
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Old 21-12-2016, 06:36
Sarahsaurus
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All the Tell Me When fans, check out the video on YouTube around the 55 second mark.

Doesn't that bloke in the black beret look a bit like Jeremy Corbyn?

Except not as he'd have looked then, 22 years ago , but as he looks now...how did he get in that video?

I think there's something they're not telling us...
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Old 21-12-2016, 18:52
mistygal
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'Being Boiled' and 'Open Your Heart' are the only Human League singles I've never tired of.

I may have voted for 'Together in Electric Dreams' if it had been included (okay it's not technically a Human League song, but Phil Oakey did the original vocals, and the Human League still perform it at their gigs).
Oh yes I would have voted for that if it were there also. Love that song
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Old 22-12-2016, 06:20
Multimedia81
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My favourite is Open Your Heart followed by Don't You Want Me?. However, as the latter song is almost overplayed I voted for my 3rd fave instead, namely Life On Your Own.
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Old 22-12-2016, 08:12
Super_Furry
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The 12 inch version of the re-recorded Being Boiled is the best thing Oakey and Co ever did IMHO.
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Old 22-12-2016, 09:18
mushymanrob
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The 12 inch version of the re-recorded Being Boiled is the best thing Oakey and Co ever did IMHO.
i think theres a credible argument that would suggest 'being boiled' has aged the best, still sounding relevant without dating.
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Old 22-12-2016, 15:17
barbeler
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I can't believe someone's voted for The Lebanon. I remember squirming with embarrassment every time that came on the pub juke box.
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Old 22-12-2016, 16:15
Kid B
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I can't believe someone's voted for The Lebanon. I remember squirming with embarrassment every time that came on the pub juke box.
Three votes for it now!
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Old 23-12-2016, 14:05
philphilistine
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I was always quite taken with "Dreams of Leaving" on Travelogue. Great lyrics. As it wasn't listed however, I've voted for Love Action and The Holiday '80 EP
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Old 23-12-2016, 17:13
Kid B
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I've voted for Love Action and The Holiday '80 EP
Love Action is doing really well, just four votes behind at the moment with the poll closing on Boxing Day..

I have an urge to do a Madness poll next!
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Old 23-12-2016, 18:08
Kodaz
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I can't believe someone's voted for The Lebanon. I remember squirming with embarrassment every time that came on the pub juke box.
Save your shocked face in case a single person votes for "Stay With Me Tonight". I'm not surprised it hasn't got one yet, though, it... isn't their best.

Mind you, "Filling Up with Heaven" didn't get any either, and at least that's got some rather nice, warm-sounding 70s analogue synths on it.
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