The Human League - Being Boiled

I Know, I know, what are 'The Human League' doing on a mainly punk blog.

Well first of all I don't think a lot of people are aware of the very early 'Human League (before they went into all the crap "Don't you want me baby" stuff. This was their debut single back in 1978.

I actually bought this because it was on the excellent FAST label and as 'The Mekons' and 'Gang Of Four' were also on the same label, I thought It must be good. 'Being Boiled' is a little too cold and primitive for me, but the b-side 'Circus of Death' I actually like, and believe it or not I went out and bought a couple more of their early singles (I will post one more only - I promise).

The other reason I wanted to post this was a very tenuous link, and that was 'Johnny Rotten' was asked in 1978 what he thought of 'The Human League' and this debut single. He dismissed them as a "bunch of trendy hippies", made me laugh at the time.

Band: The Human League
Label: Fast
Year: 1978
Tracks:
1. Being Boiled
2. Circus Of Death
Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl:

If you like this then you will like this, their debut album(this is still nothing like their popular chart stuff, and does have some decent songs on it):

Reproduction

The Human League - Holiday '80

I said I would post one more Human League song, and this is it. I posted this one for three reasons, firstly I don't think the a-side version on this single is readily available, and secondly the a-side is a cover of a 'Gary Glitter' classic (shame he turned out to be a perv - kind of makes it bad to like any of his songs) and I wanted to tell a story about the best audience heckle I have ever heard. The third reasons will come at the end of this story.

I went to see Bauhaus at Guildford University circa 1980 and Gary Glitter was supporting, the audience was a mixture of punks and goths. Glitter blasted through all his songs to a pretty appreciative crowd (obviously it hadn't got out about his private life yet), when he came to 'The Leader of The Gang' he launched into it and in the chorus he is singing:

'I'm the Leader. I'm the Leader, I'm the leader of the Gang I am"

and then he stops, its totally quiet.....

..... he looks at the audience, waits for a while.....

...... and then shouts

"Whose The Leader?" (Expecting the audience to shout back "You're The Leader")

..... More quiet......

and then someone in the audience (I wish it was me) shouts....

"Not you, you Fat Bastard"

Well it made me laugh (still does).

So now I've told the story here is the third tenuous link to why I posted this.....

What's the best audience heckle you've ever heard? (In the comments please)

Band: The Human League
Label: Virgin
Year: 1980
Tracks:
1. Rock 'N' Roll
2. Being Boiled
3. Dancevision

Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl:


If you like this you can get another version of Rock 'N' Roll mixed with Iggy pops Nightclubbing (pretty good actually) plus the rest of the album (which is also very good), then get this:

Travelogue