written by Jo Callis, Philip Oakey and Philip Adrian Wright

produced by Martin Rushent

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When you consider synth-pop hits from the British invasion of the

’80s, this song basically has to be the monarch, a morsel of new

wave royalty to which few to no others of its kind can hold a candle.

And yet, as easy as they made it look to be the biggest ’81-’82 hit

single—with lasting acclaim in the ensuing decades, by the by—“Don’t You Want Me” by The Human League went through a couple of pre-release revisions and was the subject of one of lead singer Phil Oakey’s numerous altercations with Virgin Records. “Don’t You Want Me” was originally written with an edgier keyboard part which Philip Oakey very much preferred. When Virgin disagreed and had the song softened and smoothened out into the track we know it as today, Phil, at the time, absolutely hated it. He felt it was now far too poppy and just lousy-quality album filler. He sent the song straight to the end of the Dare! album to conclude it.

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Furthermore, Phil objected to Virgin’s releasing “Don’t You Want Me” as the fourth single from Dare! before 1981 was over. But the record company stuck to their proverbial guns, and Phil agreed, under the condition the single be accompanied by a full-color poster, not wanting the fans to be or feel ripped off. And so it’s logical that no one was more surprised than Phil by the song’s stellar performance over the better part of the following year. The fact that it was the best-selling single of the year 1981 (released in the late fall, no less, November 27th), and the fifth-biggest of the entire decade makes it undeniable.

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The song was originally written to be sung as a male solo. But this time, after thinking it over a second time, Phil thought it would be cool to make it a conflicted relationship duet with one of the band’s two backing female vocalists, Susan Ann Sulley, and have the other, Joanne Catherall, join him on chorus. This was one decision I’m sure he made right. Between his inspiration and the record company’s insistence on mixing the sound, we most likely wouldn’t have ended up with the milestone smash hit they were able to give us. Okay, so they disagreed on some decisions—some wrong, some right—but hey, let’s cut Phil some slack. He’s only “Human.”

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

music video

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The League’s official website