Round 20: It shouldn't work, but it does

Darts Thrown: January 23rd 2019

Blog Written: May 22nd 2019

Highest Score: 120

Lowest Score: 2

Sixties: 19
100+: 3

Blogger's Note: Written in haste, so there will be spelling mistakes and slapdash grammar.

Look at the date this blog was written. A backlog, people. No specially selected book, as a backdrop with the piss-poor excuses for why I haven't read it. Just a the facts, mam. I have a lot of these to steam through. Maybe I'll provide the colour commentary once they are all on the blog.

. . .  And you just know that I will have mislaid at least one sheet.

But I will use the this rush through as a cheap excuse to post music videos from YouTube. Why not? I need a soundtrack whilst I do this. Next up is Men of North Country's cover version of the Human League's Mirror Man. I stumbled across this version on some Facebook group that I frequent, and I have to admit that it works - especially that guitar break in the middle - and that's something coming from me 'cos I'm usually steadfast in denying to like a cover version of a song that I love . . .  and I love this era Human League. They were so underrated. As someone mentioned in the Facebook comments to the original post, who knew Mirror Man was a lost Northern Soul classic? A good spot.

The Human League - Fascination! (1983)

Imposs-001

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield (Dutton 2010)

THE HUMAN LEAGUE

“Love Action”

1982

 Around ninth grade, my trusty clock radio began playing something weird. First, it went clink-clank. Then it went bloop-bloop. After the wrrrp-wrrrp kicked in, there came a blizzard of squisha-squisha-squisha noises. It sounded like a Morse code transmission from another planet, a world of lust and danger and nonstop erotic cabaret. What was this? It was the twitchy, spastic, brand-new beat of synth-pop. For those of us who were “Kids in America” at the time, it was a totally divisive sound. You either loved it or hated it. My friends and I argued for hours over whether it even counted as rock and roll. I remember hearing a DJ explain that the Human League didn’t have any instruments. No way—not even a drummer? ” “Not even a guitarist? I was shocked.

I rode my bike to the public library and checked out the Human League’s Dare. This album was a brave new world. The sleeve showed close-ups of their mascara eyes and lipstick mouths on a frigid white background. Nobody was smiling. All summer long, I worked mowing lawns, listening to that tape over and over, taking it on the subway ride to driver’s ed. I spent countless hours trying to fathom Phil Oakey’s philosophy of life.

I was moved by “The Sound of the Crowd,” where Phil urged me to “get around town,” to explore the forbidden places “where the people are good, where the music is loud.” I had never been to a place remotely like this. It sounded awesome. The lyrics were a bit obscure, what with all the arcane cosmetics references (“The lines on a compact guide / A hat with alignment worn inside”—huh?), yet I devoured them. If I cracked his code well, I too would grow up to be a Phil Oakey, getting around the world on an existential quest for love action.

The Next 30 Day Song Challenge - day 09

Day 09 - A song that references another song or artist 

Just struck me the other day that there's never enough mentions of The Undertones, The Human League and subbutteo on the blog. Today's task on the The Next 30 Day Song Challenge helps me cover all three.

The Undertones reference Human League in 'My Perfect Cousin:

And any old excuse to post my favourite Human League video, in case nobody knows them (aye, right):

The Human League - Love Action from Background X-Blitz on Vimeo.

Thank You Wiki (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)*

Never knew that. Procrastination sometimes has its own rewards.

Turns out that the bloke who produced the first two Duran Duran albums, Colin Thurston, also produced the following seminal records:

Human League's 'Reproduction'

Magazine's 'Secondhand Daylight'

Our Daughter's Wedding 'Digital Cowboy'

Talk Talk's 'The Party's Over'

KajaGooGoo's 'White Feathers'

Well, seminal records for me, I mean.

And people still insist on sneering at Duran Duran after all these years. Dismissing them as being nothing more than vacuous pretty boys. Pop culture harbingers of Thatcherism.

"Pretty boys"? Have you ever seen John Taylor in his natural light? Fulham's Jimmy Bullard scrubs up better. If it weren't for the tunes and Simon Le Bon's Sondheim-like lyrics, Nick Rhodes would still be second assistant at the bovril stand at the Holte End to this day.

*With regards to the title of the post; Yeah I know that Colin Thurston didn't produce that particular classic Magazine track, but the song was ringing through my ears whilst spewing out this post.

Finding 1981 in 2008

Sometimes I think when it comes to music matters and 2008, I'll only give it a glance when it concerns music dating from 1981. Sad but true.

Kissy Sell Out vs The Human League - 'The Things That Dreams Are Made Of' mp3

Hat tip to music blog, Paul's Ramblings.

Friday's Playlist #13

An ongoing series:

Heaven 17, 'This is Mine' (How Men Are)

The Sound Team, 'Back in Town' (Movie Monster)

Le Tigre, 'Les and Ray' (Le Tigre)

Propaganda, 'P-Machinery' (A Secret Wish)

Heaven 17, 'Soul Warfare' (Penthouse and Pavement)

Malcolm Middleton, 'No Modest Bear' (Into The Woods)

Elvis Costello and the Attractions, 'I Wanna Be Loved' (Goodbye Cruel World)

Japan, 'Gentlemen Take Polaroids' (Gentlemen Take Polaroids)

Human League, 'Brute' (Secrets)

The Chameleons, 'Singing Rule Britannia' (What Does Anything Mean? Basic)

Friday's Playlist #11

For that cheeky bastard, Reidski. A resumption of an ongoing series:

The Jam, 'Absolute Beginners' (Snap)

Human League, 'Seconds' (Dare)

Billy Idol, 'Dancing With Myself'

The Pretenders, 'Message of Love' (Pretenders II)

The Associates, 'Message Oblique Speech' (Fourth Drawer Down)

The Passions, '(I'm in love with a) German Film Star'

Dexys Midnight Runners, 'Plan B' (Too-Rye-Ay)

Siouxsie and the Banshees, 'Love in a Void' (Once Upon A Time)

Japan, 'Visions of China' (Tin Drum)

Soft Cell, 'Entertain Me' (Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret)

Why 1981? Why not.

Update 11/11/ 22

I wish I'd picked a better Associates song. And what's the deal with picking that song by Billy Idol? Did I lose a bet?

Spotify Playlist Link.