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While the Sex Pistols' early singles had been hugely important
in proving to Britain's youth that anyone could express themselves
in a rock 'n' roll band, The Human League's debut single, recorded
in a disused factory on a domestic tape recorder at a cost of
£2.50, demonstrated that anyone could make electronic
pop music. |
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Opening with what sounds like the long-overdue release of some
incredible pent-up pressure, the track begins its voyage through
a series of unearthly effects without ever losing sight of that
all-important pop sensibility. The almost incomprehensible lyrics
could only add to the sense of this being something new, something
original. An outstanding debut, by anyone's standards. |
| The
League later added some overdubs to the original track, including
a new vocal, and this version was distributed to record companies
on a demo cassette compilation. Another demo version was recorded
around this time, known as the 'dub mix'. Mainly instrumental,
it features possibly the most tedious introduction in recorded
history (the same riff repeated for about two minutes!) and
minimal vocals (Martyn intones just one line twice, "Listen
to the voice of Buddha"). Soon after this, the group recorded
the song for John Peel's BBC Radio One show, using a new keyboard
arrangement and a similar dance-oriented rhythm. |
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This formed the basis of a third demo version, with similar
rhythms but another new keyboard arrangement, which was more
forceful but perhaps a little over-ambitious in places. Many
of the ideas present in this recording would then serve as a
blueprint for the final version recorded in 1980 with producer
John Leckie. |
| Although
some complained that the 1980 version was too 'glossy', it took
the song to a new level. Gone were the lo-fi home-made electronics
- this version was perhaps the most sophisticated-sounding track
the early League ever recorded. The infectious rhythms, in-your-face
hand-claps and Funkadelic-inspired 'synthetic horns' by Martyn
and Ian (calling themselves the Boys Of Buddha) combined to
create a dynamic dance-pop classic. The recording of the 'horns'
was inspired by the experiments of Frank Zappa, who would record
instruments at half-speed to create new sounds, and the League
recorded the horn parts in this way, partly because they were
too intricate to play at full speed, but also to give the sounds
more 'attack'. |
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Incidentally, an alternate version has appeared on certain bootleg
tapes, which does not have quite so many layers; this version
lacks the 'synthetic horns' and certain percussive sounds such
as the hand-claps which were overdubbed later. |
| An
excerpt from the completed 1980 version was adopted by Radio
One DJ Richard Skinner as his signature 'jingle' in the early
1980s. In late 2000, Richard
X (as Girls On Top) mixed the music of the original single
version with the vocals from TLC's hit single No Scrubs
to create the much-sought-after bootleg single, Being Scrubbed
(Black Melody MEL 1), which featured a pastiche of the Fast
Product sleeve on its front cover - see Old
Imagery: Miscellaneous. Richard has since used Being
Boiled for another single, this time re-recording the original
music with pop group Liberty X singing Chaka Khan's Ain't
Nobody over the top, to create the March 2003 Virgin single,
Being Nobody. |
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The song has also covered by numerous other artists, including
Hybrid Machine's Kraftwerk-style arrangement on their 1994 album
Concrete Ground, and Garlands' version, recorded with
jangly 'indie' guitars (!) for March Records' disappointing
League 'tribute' album Reproductions in 2000. Simple
Minds also covered the song on a b-side in 2001, though with
limited success. |
| Martyn
and Ian nowadays often perform the song live with Heaven 17
and a recording of this is available on their How Live Is
album - see Miscellaneous
releases (part two). |
| Lyrics |
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John Peel session version unofficially released on In
Darkness
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second
and third demo versions and 1980 pre-overdubs version unreleased
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completed
1980 version released on Holiday '80 (double
single and single),
Travelogue
and Cash Cows - see Compilations
(part one), and as a bonus track on German 12" reissue
of Fast Product single (1988)
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| A
tongue-in-cheek piece of sci-fi, telling of an extraterrestial
record so terrifyingly bland that it numbs the minds of the
entire human race, taking control of the planet Earth. Along
the way, there are mentions for fictional hero Buck Rogers and
James Burke, who at the time was well-known in Britain as a
presenter of primetime science-based TV programmes. |
| Set
to a suitably futuristic backing track, this was a great and
original way to begin the second album, with highly effective
use of abrasive noise (used throughout the album) and no shortage
of drama. The track originally had a longer introduction which
was edited for the final version - unsurprising, as the deleted
section added nothing to the song. |
Incidentally,
this song apparently began life with a completely different
title (I Held You Underwater ),
though it's not known whether the track had lyrics at that stage. |
| The
Black Hit Of Space has been covered twice in recent times
- first by London's Ex-Rental
(download an MP3
of the demo version exclusively from this site) and also by
The Hidden Variable, on March Records' Reproductions
compilation. |
| Lyrics |
| Released
on Travelogue
and Machines - see Compilations
(part one) |
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An interesting
experiment by The Future. After the spoken introduction, the
three take turns to utter phrases composed of two words. The
first word each time is one of constantly repeating cycle
of four words (your, the, my and blank).
This is followed by one of a second constantly repeating cycle,
this time comprising seven words (face, clock,
mind, heart, thigh, pain and time
- though the fifth of these sometimes sounds more like fine).
This loop continues until the music ends, by which time all
possible combinations of words have been used at least twice.
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| The
music itself is a light (some would say insubstantial) mid-tempo
arrangement and is again a series of loops, not really going
anywhere and very nearly outstaying its welcome... |
| Lyrics |
| Released
on The
Golden Hour Of The Future |
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| One
of the League's earliest compositions, the original demo was
known as Optimistic Anthem
- an apt title, given the song's rejection of the nihilistic
attitude adopted by many punk bands at that time. The opening
line, "'No future', they say" refers to the closing
refrain of the Sex Pistols' God Save The Queen (Philip
once remarked, "I can't believe they're serious").
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| Although
the demo version didn't quite gel, a faster-paced recording
(subtitled [Progression]) was later made for John Peel's
BBC Radio One show. A similar tempo was also used for the second
demo version, which is perhaps the best recording of this song.
Although lacking some of the additional synthesizer melodies
used on the album version, the second demo featured a driving
rhythm track and highly energetic keyboard and vocal performances.
However, the group evidently decided that this approach was
a little too fast and recorded a slightly slower version
for their debut album. |
| Discussing
the group's lyrics, Martyn once commented, "I don't think
we've ever written a conventional lyric. I think the nearest
is Blind Youth, which is saying to the youngsters in
the audience, 'don't worry - your time will come'. I don't see
any reason to be depressed." |
| Lyrics |
| Original
demo version and John Peel session version released (unofficially)
on In
Darkness |
| Original
demo version also officially released on the 'Human
League cassette' and included on the 'Taverner
tape' |
| Second
demo version unreleased |
| Album
version released on Reproduction
and Canadian I
Don't Depend On You single |
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