Monday's Long Song

 

1979 is generally regarded as the year that marked punk’s breakthrough. What is often overlooked, however, is that electronic music was also exploring and breaking new ground. The Human League, for example, released Reproduction, a groundbreaking album in the dark wave/synth-pop genre.

This album fundamentally changed the way people listened to electronic music. Their deconstruction of conventional pop songs down to their essential elements enabled subsequent generations to refine this approach. They found success with driving, up-tempo tracks. But their greatest coup was that they broke down the ‘wall of sound’ classics by Phil Spector and the Righteous Brothers into robotic components, only to ultimately reclaim the magnificent melodic line.

The Human League - Morale...You've Lost That Loving Feeling

You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

These days Empire State Human by Human League shuffled up on my mobile phone when I was on the way back home from work. Listening to this very old song made me want to listen to their first record from 1979 once again. I bought this record without knowing anything about Human League because I was fascinated by the cover. The cover shows the feet of a man and two woman seemingly dancing on a number of babies. The music I got was far away from most I ever heard before. Strictly electronic sounds with a lot of rhythm and melodies got this record on heavy rotation in these days. Looking back after decades I have to say it was probably industrial before industrial was born.

Human League - You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling

And here is the original from 1964 by the Righteous Brothers: