If you are of a certain age and went to 'alternative' club nights back in the early 80s, there's a good chance you danced to this, followed by Bowie's Queen Bitch and topping off with Iggy Pop's The Passenger. Those were indeed the days my friends.
Ah, just love the Human League. Great upload. I can't even begin to talk about how much vinyl I have of this band. Reproduction is one of the most underrated albums out there.
I actually had all the early Human League albums on vinyl and stopped following them when the two bints were taken on board. I now realise that I had litttle in the way of discernment back then but I was only 18 at the time. For me, the true pioneer of British synth music was John Foxx.
"with concentration, my size increased, and now I'm thirteen stories high"... no one, nothing? alright moving along. haha great reaction by the lead singer
My sisters era (7 years older than me) but I used to sneak into her room when she was out and dance about to her Human League and Duran Duran albums :-)
Live, there is a punky edge to their music which takes it beyond Kraftwerk cloning - it sometimes sounds like it’s all going to fall apart, the timing is imperfect, human (!) The song is almost certainly more influenced by the Doctor Who theme than Kraftwerk anyway. These guys are looking to scare us, not soothe. It’s fascinating that the BBC Radiophonic Orchestra would seed electronic music in the UK in a very different way to the rest of the world.
Just how character Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation discovered his favourite food was butter, I have discovered my favourite music genre is any tune containing stupid noises. It takes a lot to break away from mainsteam and hammer down your own interest for interesting and novel new sounds. Love the guy just hammering the keyboard, all of the sustains, all of the time, looked like they had fun putting that live version together.
I´m speechless. The early Human League was by far the best new wave/new romantic act that ever happened.I think their concept of sound and lyrics was mind blowing for this period.Hehe, what did the presenter say? "Inspiration for Gary Numan"? You better guess so :-) Great great clip, thank you very much for this gem!
Numan really stepped in and took over, these guys and others Ultravox, OMD were carving the path though.Hats off to Numan he saw an opportunity and took, respect to the forerunners!
Gary Numan: "... I get such a lot of credit for being a pioneer and I’m really uncomfortable with that because I’m very aware of how many people that were doing it before I was. Certainly in the UK there was Ultravox and Human League." At that time, many musicians were developing synthpop (or whatever you want to call it) in parallel... each, no doubt, influenced by the output of the others.
Numan started off with his band Tubeway Army in the mid 70's as 3 piece punk band so they would get a record deal (Numan has said this from the beginning). He discovered a synth in the recording studio and from then on with his music writing everything changed. He was a great influence and changed peoples perceptions of electrical music from what most people considered was a novelty way of making music (Also people thought it was a cheating way as you didnt have to learn how to play guitar), to an important part of our musical history. His popularity brought The Human League, OMD, Ultravox the acceptance and audience that without him they would never have had. There is also a strong argument that he led the way to the emergence of what was called 'The New Romantics'.
New Order, Human League, Soft Cell, Cabaret Volataire... you'd see any of them play live and there'd always be "accidents"... machines crashed... synths went funny (they were analogue and temperamental...) and there'd be half hour breaks where fans got pissed off and the band were frantically trying to restart everything again with the backliners. But... it was part of the atmosphere... we were looking at "the Furute", so these things were bound to happen.
They were visually interesting at a time when most bands had to jump around and get sweaty in order to appear so. Adrians slides were pivotal to their image. They were one of the most influential electronic outfits ever to come out of britain really. It was such a shame Ware and co split cos this was when the league were sonically and visually at their most interesting.
A huge influence for so many. I wonder if they see themselves as such. A real pity if they dont. I heard a book about Martyn Ware is forthcoming. Hope so. A vastly underated artist.
I dont think the League were a bad live band. There is a full one hour live cassette recording here on yt:"The Human League - Live, "Markthalle", Hamburg, 25.11.1980" Only some weeks after the split with Ware/Marsh. But with all the old songs of the first original League. And it is fantastic live.
@spikexmtz My guess is that Martin's Jupiter 4 was playing the main squarewave riff, while Ian's System 100 was doing drums. The tape player was probably used for the chunk-chunk-chunk bassline.
@spikexmtz - not 100% sure about Human League, but when I saw Depeche Mode from Jenkinsons bar in Brighton, they used the tape machine as a backing track, with live keyboards played over the top. No drummer on stage meant you needed to have some kind of backing. Only problem was when it came to doing an encore they had to rewind the tape!!! Wouldn't happen today. ;o) Would imagine the Human League were using the same principle, drums and additional synts on the reel to reel.
I've wanted to to see this video three years after it aired. Thank you so much for posting it. A friend of mine posted it on FaceBook for me today and I've been playing it all day!
If I remember the band history correctly, *this song* was written before the two founding members left (!) - leaving the lead singer, and associated musicians. Many were apprehensive of the Human League's future... but the lead singer (______, and featured here) pressed on, and immediately hired two female singers, to complete a scheduled tour. The tour was successfully accomplished, and soon, the hit's "Don't You Want Me", and "Fascination" came out, and the rest was history....
I have been a fan of The Human League 1995-1998 and 2012-present.Philip Oakey looked very young and very hot in this video.He was so brave when he had a lopsided haircut.
Since I was very young I realized I never wanted to be human size So I avoid the crowds and traffic jams They just remind me of how small I am Because of this longing in my heart I'm going to start the growing up I'm going to grow now and never stop Think like a mountain, grow to the top Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall With concentration My size increased And now I'm fourteen stories high At least!! Empire state human Just a bored kid I'll go to Egypt to be A pyramid Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall Brick by brick Stone by stone Growing till he's fully grown Brick by brick Stone by stone Growing till he's fully grown Fetch more water Fetch more sand Biggest person in the land Fetch more water Fetch more sand Biggest person in the land
as a 14 yr old running riot in St Helens this type of music was the future of electronic, but what when wrong with the Human League was commercialism, first two albums great , then the group split in half, and the rest is history.
@spikexmtz: The chunk-chunk-bassline sounds very much like it's coming from the MiniKorg 700S-synthesizer, and that's not on stage, so it must be on tape. The drum sounds are probably on there too - too dangerous to do that "live" on unstable equipment - how they synced drums and bass, I don't know ...
Most of their live sound was on the reel to reel tape machine. I've read interviews from Phil saying 'I had a microphone, and Ian & Martin would sometime play lines that were already on the tape anyway'
Hey this is ace! I'd only ever seen "Path of Least Resistance" before from this show. Phil's on the brink of losing it the whole time :0) The best bit is at the end when Martyn starts singing too (did he forget midway!? Sounds like someone was supposed to go "At least!" but forgot)
Heard this for the first time in 1979 at the only gay club in Hull at the time. I was back from Uni to meet some of my old 6 form mates. I still remember that moment - Truly blown away by this new sound
Whoa, is that a ginger 'fro? I wish I had that much hair now. It would certainly help cut down on the heating bills. I'd likely have more of a strawberry blonde pompadour though, because my hair has been wavy, but never that curly.
Let's see, we have Martyn on the left with his Jupiter 4, Ian in the middle cranking out the beats on the System 100, but who's all the way on the right?
Phil Oakley could never sing. He sang pretty well the last time I saw him. It’s an early tv performance and nerves probably played a part in it. It’s not that bad. So your point is that if you play in a synthesiser band it’s better that you can’t sing.
This song could be about the psychological danger of inflation, the seductive confusion of the transpersonal bigness of contents of the collective unconscious with the individual, personal ego.
From some of the lyrics it sounds like he's building sandcastles and pretending to be a giant. "Fetch more water. Fetch more sand . . ." It could just be about that. Or just wanting to be huge in other ways. But I still want it to be a metaphor about the dangers of inflation. 🙂
Isn't that Terence Alexander over Phil's right shoulder behind the keyboard. just before he went off to Jersey to join Bergerac? separated at birth (hey they were from the same area - check that birth certificate, ask your mum Martin over a cup of tea)
Such an iconic song. The first 2 albums are so brilliant ❤️🎶
Phil's look at 1:56 when somone (Martyn?) was supposed to say "at least" is hilarious
They were great live. The early line up is by far superior. They were super arty but with a pop flavour. Like a british kraftwerk really.
I agree.
While the more mainstream line up did have its moments, this is more artistic with ease.
If you are of a certain age and went to 'alternative' club nights back in the early 80s, there's a good chance you danced to this, followed by Bowie's Queen Bitch and topping off with Iggy Pop's The Passenger. Those were indeed the days my friends.
Ah, just love the Human League. Great upload. I can't even begin to talk about how much vinyl I have of this band. Reproduction is one of the most underrated albums out there.
I actually had all the early Human League albums on vinyl and stopped following them when the two bints were taken on board. I now realise that I had litttle in the way of discernment back then but I was only 18 at the time. For me, the true pioneer of British synth music was John Foxx.
Love this song, I remember it playing very loud as a floor-filling crowd favourite in a nightclub in Sunderland in 1980. Great.
Заканчивались 70е, начинались 80е! Золотой век!!! )))))
"with concentration, my size increased, and now I'm thirteen stories high"... no one, nothing? alright moving along. haha great reaction by the lead singer
My sisters era (7 years older than me) but I used to sneak into her room when she was out and dance about to her Human League and Duran Duran albums :-)
Live, there is a punky edge to their music which takes it beyond Kraftwerk cloning - it sometimes sounds like it’s all going to fall apart, the timing is imperfect, human (!)
The song is almost certainly more influenced by the Doctor Who theme than Kraftwerk anyway. These guys are looking to scare us, not soothe. It’s fascinating that the BBC Radiophonic Orchestra would seed electronic music in the UK in a very different way to the rest of the world.
>Live, there is a punky edge to their music which takes it beyond Kraftwerk cloning
Minimalism! )))
@@ussrwrestling Yeah but not like a polite and perfectly-played Steve Reich minimalism, more like the Scratch Orchestra!
Just how character Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation discovered his favourite food was butter, I have discovered my favourite music genre is any tune containing stupid noises. It takes a lot to break away from mainsteam and hammer down your own interest for interesting and novel new sounds.
Love the guy just hammering the keyboard, all of the sustains, all of the time, looked like they had fun putting that live version together.
@tompom89
YAY! Someone else in the world besides ME who LOVES watching the reel-to-reel tape machine!
Isn't it just DIVINE!
I´m speechless. The early Human League was by far the best new wave/new romantic act that ever happened.I think their concept of sound and lyrics was mind blowing for this period.Hehe, what did the presenter say? "Inspiration for Gary Numan"? You better guess so :-)
Great great clip, thank you very much for this gem!
@Randy Washington omd is better
they were so unpleasant to listen. They could not play any instrument.
Thats when i love them best!
Numan really stepped in and took over, these guys and others Ultravox, OMD were carving the path though.Hats off to Numan he saw an opportunity and took, respect to the forerunners!
Chris Hack numan started in 77 2years before human leagues first record. The presenter hasn't got a fucking clue what he's talking about
Gary Numan: "... I get such a lot of credit for being a pioneer and I’m really uncomfortable with that because I’m very aware of how many people that were doing it before I was. Certainly in the UK there was Ultravox and Human League." At that time, many musicians were developing synthpop (or whatever you want to call it) in parallel... each, no doubt, influenced by the output of the others.
Numan started off with his band Tubeway Army in the mid 70's as 3 piece punk band so they would get a record deal (Numan has said this from the beginning). He discovered a synth in the recording studio and from then on with his music writing everything changed. He was a great influence and changed peoples perceptions of electrical music from what most people considered was a novelty way of making music (Also people thought it was a cheating way as you didnt have to learn how to play guitar), to an important part of our musical history. His popularity brought The Human League, OMD, Ultravox the acceptance and audience that without him they would never have had. There is also a strong argument that he led the way to the emergence of what was called 'The New Romantics'.
@@votive3946 indeed, Foxx was his influence. He's said that in quite a few interviews over the years....
Human League bigger than Numan imo
Absolutely! A milestone and a masterpiece!
I just watched this 3x in a row. Brilliant.
Thought to put it up as people only seem to think they only did Path Of Least Resistance from this show....Ive had this for about 15 odd years now.
New Order, Human League, Soft Cell, Cabaret Volataire... you'd see any of them play live and there'd always be "accidents"... machines crashed... synths went funny (they were analogue and temperamental...) and there'd be half hour breaks where fans got pissed off and the band were frantically trying to restart everything again with the backliners. But... it was part of the atmosphere... we were looking at "the Furute", so these things were bound to happen.
Yeah_Sure "the Furute"? Don't you mean "the Future"?
Yeah_Sure when you're doing a powerpoint presentation, then your computer crashes
I saw the League (original line-up), and the Cabs, and neither time did anything like that happen.
And when you go to an Alison Moyet concert today she flunks s couple of words, and insists on starting the song over :-D
..don't forget Steve Strange
Это один из ОСНОВАТЕЛЕЙ Новой Волны и электронной музыки. Человек чувствовал электронику.
Умопотрясающе, это же 19*9 год !!!!!
Супер композиция.
They were visually interesting at a time when most bands had to jump around and get sweaty in order to appear so. Adrians slides were pivotal to their image. They were one of the most influential electronic outfits ever to come out of britain really. It was such a shame Ware and co split cos this was when the league were sonically and visually at their most interesting.
Support to Siouxsie & Banshees, 1978. Brill.
Amazing band - amazing song...a true classic Xxxx
Love it, i've lost count how many times i've seen the league now, they still do this one now.
A huge influence for so many. I wonder if they see themselves as such. A real pity if they dont. I heard a book about Martyn Ware is forthcoming. Hope so. A vastly underated artist.
Thank you for my youth...
Thanks for uploading the presenters intro too.
I dont think the League were a bad live band. There is a full one hour live cassette recording here on yt:"The Human League - Live, "Markthalle", Hamburg, 25.11.1980"
Only some weeks after the split with Ware/Marsh. But with all the old songs of the first original League. And it is fantastic live.
Great upload of this classic! Love the clanky old Roland at 2:48 ...
Another thumbs up here 👍
@spikexmtz My guess is that Martin's Jupiter 4 was playing the main squarewave riff, while Ian's System 100 was doing drums. The tape player was probably used for the chunk-chunk-chunk bassline.
@spikexmtz - not 100% sure about Human League, but when I saw Depeche Mode from Jenkinsons bar in Brighton, they used the tape machine as a backing track, with live keyboards played over the top. No drummer on stage meant you needed to have some kind of backing. Only problem was when it came to doing an encore they had to rewind the tape!!! Wouldn't happen today. ;o)
Would imagine the Human League were using the same principle, drums and additional synts on the reel to reel.
I've wanted to to see this video three years after it aired. Thank you so much for posting it. A friend of mine posted it on FaceBook for me today and I've been playing it all day!
Amazing track, Amazing video .. all fu&#ing incredible!
the presenter looks like Chris Evans with a curly wig.
Never seen this before.
Thanks for uploading
If I remember the band history correctly, *this song* was written before the two founding members left (!) - leaving the lead singer, and associated musicians. Many were apprehensive of the Human League's future... but the lead singer (______, and featured here) pressed on, and immediately hired two female singers, to complete a scheduled tour. The tour was successfully accomplished, and soon, the hit's "Don't You Want Me", and "Fascination" came out, and the rest was history....
I have been a fan of The Human League 1995-1998 and 2012-present.Philip Oakey looked very young and very hot in this video.He was so brave when he had a lopsided haircut.
It's even braver to have a ginger/blonde 'fro, like the presenter.
Since I was very young I realized
I never wanted to be human size
So I avoid the crowds and traffic jams
They just remind me of how small I am
Because of this longing in my heart
I'm going to start the growing up
I'm going to grow now and never stop
Think like a mountain, grow to the top
Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall
As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall
And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow
Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall
Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall
As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall
And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow
Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall
With concentration
My size increased
And now I'm fourteen stories high
At least!!
Empire state human
Just a bored kid
I'll go to Egypt to be
A pyramid
Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall
As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall
And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow
Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall
Tall, tall, tall, I want to be tall, tall, tall
As big as a wall, wall, wall, as big as a wall, wall, wall
And if I'm not tall, tall, tall, then I will grow, grow, grow
Because I'm not tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall, tall
Brick by brick
Stone by stone
Growing till he's fully grown
Brick by brick
Stone by stone
Growing till he's fully grown
Fetch more water
Fetch more sand
Biggest person in the land
Fetch more water
Fetch more sand
Biggest person in the land
Insecurity
🙏🏼 Merci pour les paroles. 🕺🏻🎼
Great song!
@senorverde09 Adrian Wright doing the Slides.
Amazing, seen them on the Dare tour. I would have loved to see the original line up live.
Amazing!
He lost a storey somewhere!;-)
This is great live.
as a 14 yr old running riot in St Helens this type of music was the future of electronic, but what when wrong with the Human League was commercialism, first two albums great , then the group split in half, and the rest is history.
Agreed. The first two albums were far superior to Dare.
awsome retro stuff many thx : )
Wow, truly a GEM. Thank you! :)
SO DAMN GOOD NEW WAVE FOR LIFE
What a complete GEM
class song
Brilliant xx
Trying to get to grips with the Akai MPK2 61 in Logic X.... Damn... if only Martyn Ware was here.... I could use his help right now.
@interjet thank you for uploading this. really.
Cheers for the post. Excellent.
Just love it!
@spikexmtz: The chunk-chunk-bassline sounds very much like it's coming from the MiniKorg 700S-synthesizer, and that's not on stage, so it must be on tape. The drum sounds are probably on there too - too dangerous to do that "live" on unstable equipment - how they synced drums and bass, I don't know ...
Most of their live sound was on the reel to reel tape machine. I've read interviews from Phil saying 'I had a microphone, and Ian & Martin would sometime play lines that were already on the tape anyway'
Check out Body Electric from Wellington NZ . Kiwi equivalent of Human League. Big Gaz' on vocals a full on size front rower' AB!!
Classic Human League. Should had been a Hit.
lol why doesn't Martin sing the backing vocals until the end? It's ahine!
And people say skrillex is doing something new..
Hey this is ace! I'd only ever seen "Path of Least Resistance" before from this show. Phil's on the brink of losing it the whole time :0) The best bit is at the end when Martyn starts singing too (did he forget midway!? Sounds like someone was supposed to go "At least!" but forgot)
this video is fucking awesome. thanks
Heard this for the first time in 1979 at the only gay club in Hull at the time. I was back from Uni to meet some of my old 6 form mates. I still remember that moment - Truly blown away by this new sound
Die magnetscheibe band Maschine
Whoa, is that a ginger 'fro? I wish I had that much hair now. It would certainly help cut down on the heating bills. I'd likely have more of a strawberry blonde pompadour though, because my hair has been wavy, but never that curly.
fetch more water, fetch more sand, biggest person in the land
rare as fuck,thanks for posting
Rare great upload
*Merci beaucoup* ♥
I loved the beginning especially the guys face right before Human League was introduced and started performing.. Phil's hair looks soft.
That's because he used Silverkrin ....now he just uses Mr Sheen.
@madcapoperator He's Andy Batten-Foster & now an empire state sized executive for the BBC. Probably earns a fortune !!
06 November 1979
If only Phil had been considered for Dr Who.
Cool aye.
early hml ,you cant beat them.
1:58 At least
man, is Phil Oakey not the coolest singer of that era in looks alone?!?
quality!
@nutster9000
Probably he expected it to be recorded..
WUNDERBAR!
In a word: Fuckingawesome!!!
the voice of youth,the presenter was still wearing flared jeans
Was this a music programme from the Open University? :)
Yup I remember this module being introduced by ginge on a sandwich course between Quantume theory of matter and the string theory and gravity.
Let's see, we have Martyn on the left with his Jupiter 4, Ian in the middle cranking out the beats on the System 100, but who's all the way on the right?
Adrian Wright on slides
The REAL Human League. Phil Oakey never could sing, but that's the point. This live version is bloody ace.
Phil Oakley could never sing. He sang pretty well the last time I saw him. It’s an early tv performance and nerves probably played a part in it. It’s not that bad. So your point is that if you play in a synthesiser band it’s better that you can’t sing.
great year the league..o.m.d...numan etc
I AM 26/8/1979
AT LEAST!!!
This song could be about the psychological danger of inflation, the seductive confusion of the transpersonal bigness of contents of the collective unconscious with the individual, personal ego.
Naa.. it’s just a pop song about a little guy who wants to be taller 😂
From some of the lyrics it sounds like he's building sandcastles and pretending to be a giant. "Fetch more water. Fetch more sand . . ." It could just be about that. Or just wanting to be huge in other ways. But I still want it to be a metaphor about the dangers of inflation. 🙂
Lollipop Chainsaw brought me here :D
The Human League were great in the beginning. Listen to Future Tapes, Reproduction, Travelogue
Fetch more water fetch more sand biggest person in the land
00:33 oh, yeah baby
@nutster9000 I'think phil looked that way because martyn ware forgot to sing it ;) he has a micro but never used it through the whole song?
Isn't that Terence Alexander over Phil's right shoulder behind the keyboard. just before he went off to Jersey to join Bergerac? separated at birth (hey they were from the same area - check that birth certificate, ask your mum Martin over a cup of tea)
How did they get a Planters CheeseBall to host the show?
Got a Electropop Remix of Raquel Josephs, "My Body." I done it using FL Studios 7. Hope yous listen to it soon. Thanks.
barnet on that dude
So er.. was this considered to be something that inspired Gary Numan? Was Numan less respectable than this at the time?
@tompom89 Real computers have wheels that spin.
big muff