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Crash
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Date Aired
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April 30, 2021
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Running Time
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22:18
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Sponsor[]
Todd (VO): Today's episode is brought to you by Curiosity Stream. Check out Curiosity Stream, a streaming service with thousands of documentaries and non-fiction titles on pretty much every subject you can imagine. Love cute animals? They've got that. Wanna learn more about quantum physics? Gotcha covered. Anything from the worlds of science, history, society, and more. Check out their many historical documentaries, like Frank Sinatra or America's Golden Age, about the life and times of the pop music legend. The best thing, it's just $2.99 a month. And for you guys, you'll get 26% off an annual subscription plus complementary access to Nebula if you use promo code: "Curiositystream.com/toddintheshadows" at sign-up. So click the link in the description and check them out now. Thank you, and on with the show.
We cut to a black screen, then the episode plays.
Intro[]
Todd: At what cost, a hit?
Montage clips of Oasis - "All Around the World"; Metallica - "Frantic"; Liz Phair - "Why Can't I"
Todd (VO): I've glanced at this a bit in other episodes, but you can absolutely have some of the biggest success of your career and still have it qualify for this show. Sometimes, your commercial success doesn't disguise a massive artistic failure. Sometimes, a short-term gain comes hand in hand with a long-term loss. The history of pop music is littered with Pyrrhic victories. Sometimes, it's just not worth it.
Todd: So, with that in mind, let's talk about synthpop.
Clip from The Young Ones
Rick: Okay, pop music, let's go! Anyone here like The Human League?
Video for "Don't You Want Me?"
Todd (VO): There are writers who've made the case that The Human League are what really kicked off the 80s; at least in America.
Montage clips of Devo - "Whip It"; Gary Numan - "Cars"; Steve Miller Band - "Abracadabra"
Other new wave acts had made inroads; Gary Numan and Devo had cracked the top 20, sounds of synth were seeping into mainstream pop.
Todd: But the moment it really arrived was "Don't You Want Me."
Video for "Don't You Want Me?"
Phil Oakey and Joanne Catherall: Don't you want me baby?
?Don't you want me, ooooohhhhhh?
Todd (VO): When "Don't You Want Me" became a UK number one hit in the winter of '81, and a US number one the following summer it was a real turning point. The first number one song of the 80s, from someone who couldn't have hit number one in the 70s.
Todd: And the hits, kept, coming.
Video for "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"
The Human League: Keep feeling fascination
Todd (VO): For a couple years The Human League were one of the biggest acts in the UK. And they were leading a second British invasion into America.
Todd: Every element from that initial burst of Human League hits; [clips of...] the synthesizers, the striking videos, the imposing robotic baritone, the makeup that looks like it was applied with a t-shirt cannon...
Clip of the Human League performing "Don't You Want Me" on Top of the Pops
Todd (VO): All these things would soon be widespread throughout the culture and define the 80s to this day.
Phil and Joanne: Don't you want me, ooooohhhhhh?
Todd: But by 1986, The Human League had fallen behind.
Video for "Louise"
Phil: Remember me?
Todd (VO): They were having real trouble making people keep feeling fascination. The making of their follow-up album "Hysteria" was, apparently, a pretty tortured and expensive process. And the result didn't exactly set the world on fire. And now the follow-up to that album wasn't going well either. Producers came and exited, months of work were thrown out, band members quit; shit just wasn't getting done. Band leader and front man Phil Oakey got called into a difficult meeting with his bosses about the future of the record, and that's when the label made a minor suggestion:
Todd: If they wanted to finish the album...
[Clip of Jam & Lewis at an awards show]
Todd (VO): Why not just work with the hottest and best producers alive?
Todd: Oh, of course; why didn't we think of that?! Having money problems? Just make a million dollars; it's that easy!
Video for "Human"
Todd (VO): Oakey didn't think there was a chance of this actually happening, but it did. The label made some phone calls and, improbably, they managed to pull in Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; the R&B funk masters of the 80s. This was a real pull because this was right as Jam and Lewis began their era of commercial dominance. And in no time at all they had worked their magic again.
Phil Oakey: I'm only human...
Todd (VO): Late that summer The Human League released their lead-off single from their new album. [clip of The Human League performing "Human" with a screenshot of "Human" atop the Billboard Hot 100] And by the fall they were back on top. That November, The Human League were again ruling the charts with their second number one hit.
Todd: And their last.
Video for "I Need Your Lovin'"
The Human League: I need your lovin'
Todd (VO): In hindsight the combination of the words "Human League" and "funk" should maybe have set off alarm bells. The weird partnership worked for a song. But the fundamental mismatch of these Prince-acolyte producers and these stiff-ass New Wave robots made about as much sense as [images of...] DJ Mustard producing the next Lumineers record. The album was called "Crash". And it would be fun to say that it indeed crashed but it didn't even do that; [screenshot of "Crash" stalling at #24 on the Billboard Top Pop Albums] it limped into the charts and then quietly slipped back out into obscurity, remembered only as an awkward curio, a miscalculation, and arguably even a death knell for new wave as a genre.
Phil Oakey: Born to make mistakes
Todd (VO): They're only human, and they're born to make mistakes. And boy; this was a big one.
Todd: The Human League crash out of the Eighties. This is Trainwreckords.
Trainwreckords intro featuring the album cover for "Crash"
A Dysfunctional League[]
Todd: I want to be clear that, that album cover is not a mistake on my part.
Album cover
Todd (VO): I didn't put up a low-res photo by accident; it just looks like that. That's actual blur on the actual cover.
Clip of the Human League giving an interview
Todd (VO): Apparently, they were going to do like a real fancy cover but the photographer was a dick who wanted the girls to do some inappropriate things and the band stormed out and they... [the front and back cover next to each other] they just took this quick out of focus shot later to meet deadline.
Todd: I'd be really pissed about this photo, especially if I were a band as concerned with visuals as The Human League, but it sounds like everyone involved just wanted it to be done and move on.
Clip of the Human League performing "Human" on Top of the Pops
Todd (VO): Like they brought in the new producers to finish the record but reports are that it just led to more fights, more power struggle, more dissatisfaction; eventually the band just flew home while the producers finished the album by themselves. The overwhelming sense that I get is they all thought the record would be shipped directly into [photo of...] a landfill, and that instead of promoting it they'd be spending the next few months [stock photo of a man leaning on top of a railing] contemplating their futures.
Todd: Perhaps they'd all soon be working as a waitress in a cocktail bar.
Clip of live performance of "Money"
Todd (VO): And even after it started to take off, the fact is I still don't think they believed in it. Once they had their big single, they did an interview with [cover of...] Melody Maker and the interviewer, who thought the album was straight crap (Caption: "Unadulterated disco drivel"), he even asked them "is this even a Human League record?" (Caption: "Yeah" says Phil. "It says Human League on the front".) "Well, it's got our name on it doesn't it?" Do you even like this record?! (Caption: "We took two years to write six songs" says Phillip, "and that means, if we hated this LP, what would we have done? We'd have to put it out anyway. That's why I say I think I like it, I HAVE to, I haven't got anything else") "I think so. I have to; I haven't got anything else." [Todd can only ooft, followed by a clip of Phil giving an interview] But for what it's worth, Oakey was also very quick to talk up Jam and Lewis and what a big fan he was of their work.
Phil: I thought they were the best, new producers in the world.
So, before we get to the album you need to know [clip of Jam & Lewis] these two guys in the Blues Brothers outfits.
Montage clips of live performance of "1999" by Prince; music video for "The Walk" by the Time; live performance of "Just Be Good To Me" by The SOS Band; live performance of "Saturday Love" by Cherelle and Alexander O'Neal
In the early-mid 80s, R&B blew up with what they call the "Minneapolis sound." The leader of that sound was Prince but, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis did almost as much for the Twin Cities as the Purple One. They had been members in Prince's opening act; funk legends The Time, but Prince fired them after they missed a gig while they were side hustling as producers. With production now their full-time job they started racking up R&B hits. But that was during a time when R&B wasn't really crossing over.
Todd: In '86 they finally found the artist that could bring them to the top.
Video for "Nasty" by...
Janet: It's Janet, Miss Jackson if you're nasty. Nasty!
Todd (VO): Janet Jackson, the forgotten kid sister of the Jackson dynasty, brought Jam and Lewis on to produce her third album.
Todd: The previous two albums had flopped; this one had five top ten hits.
Clip of Janet Jackson performing live with Jam & Lewis
Todd (VO): It was really an honor for The Human League that Jam and Lewis chose to work with them right after this triumph. [cover art for Janet's album, zooming in on the title] But the thing is, the name of that album was, Control.
Todd: And that was exactly what The Human League would have to give up if they wanted to save the album. So, let's look at what they made.
Only Human?[]
Video for "Human"
Todd (VO): This is the album's lead off single, "Human;" the one that went to number one. Second number one for both the band and the producers.
Phil: Come on baby dry your eyes
Todd (VO): "Human" is... I-I guess it's kind of a controversial song. Hasn't really been forgotten exactly; you still hear it sometimes, but it also hasn't become one of those enduring 80s classics. As far as its legacy goes, I have seen people say that they still really like it. I have seen critics say that they really don't. Here's my take on it:
Todd: If you like the Jam and Lewis sound, then, this is really just top tier stuff from them.
Lisa Keith: I am just a man
Todd (VO): Every note is immaculate; every synth line, every chord, every little keyboard glissando they throw in there. I'm just... in awe of it. You know, musically.
Todd: But, y'know, what is it about?
Phil: Never like to see you cry
Todd (VO): "Human" is an apology song. From a guy who cheated and is begging for forgiveness.
Phil: Please forgive me.
Todd: And uh... look...
Clips of Jason Derulo - "Whatcha Say" and Justin Bieber - "Sorry"
Todd (VO): As part of this job I have been exposed to quite a few shit-ass bullshit apology songs.
Todd: And on the bullshit-shit-ass-o-meter this ranks really high.
Clip of "Human"
Phil: I'm only human
Todd (VO): I mean I just love this guy's justification for what happened.
Todd: "I'm only human!"
Phil: Human. Born to make mistakes
Todd (VO): "People fuck up sometimes; I never said I was God!"
Todd: "Pobodies Nerfect!"
Phil: I wouldn't ever try to hurt you
I just needed someone to hold me
To fill the void while you were gone
Todd: "Honey I know I cheated on you, but it's only because I missed you so much." Fellas you will have better luck with saying, [brief clip of Shaggy's...] "it wasn't me", before you get away with that one.
Clip of Jimmy Jam giving an interview, followed by the Human League performing "Human" on TOTP
Todd (VO): For what it's worth Jimmy Jam has said that, all the reports of fighting in the studio are really exaggerated and that it was actually all really professional; the band flew out to frozen Minnesota and they came into this new mode of recording, they worked their hardest.
Todd: But there is one specific fight he admits to.
Clip of the Human League performing "Human" on TOTP
Todd (VO): Jam and Lewis knew this would be the single and they worked real hard on it but then Phil Oakey wanted the whole thing scrapped. [clip of Jam & Lewis performing live] Like, Jam and Lewis, their thing is, they- they do things the way they do them. Which includes their own session musicians and, [clip of Lisa Keith performing live with the caption: "Lisa Keith, Backing vocalist (1985-2001)"] crucially in this case, their own backup singers. [clip of the Human League giving an interview] The Human League, had their own backup singers.
Phil: I'm only human (Susan Ann Sulley fades in in the video with the caption: "Lip-syncing to someone else's voice".)
Clip of the Human League giving an interview
Todd (VO): And you know Phil had to stand up for his girls, especially since he was dating one of them, so he said he didn't want to do the song anymore. [clip of...] And Jimmy and Terry did not do all this work just to throw it all out, [performance of "Human" on TOTP, focusing on Joanne Catherall] so to keep the peace they compromised by giving Joanne Catherall her own spoken word section.
Joanne: The tears I cry, aren't tears of pain
They're only to hide, my guilt and shame
I forgive you, now I ask the same with you
While we were apart, I was human too.
Todd: They were both cheating. [shrugs] Hyuck.
Clip of live performance of "Human"
Todd (VO): At the time Jimmy Jam said he wrote it thinking about, the differences and how men and women handle their infidelities and, y-you know maybe it is partially, but it's funny knowing now that it was more about behind-the-scenes drama so they had to turn their gut-rending regret ballad into the goddamn "Piña Colada Song".
Todd: I-I just assumed this song ends on a freeze frame of them both laughing.
Joanne: While we were apart, I was human too. [cue laugh track]
Todd (VO): Why (did) Jam and Lewis, even write this for them?
Todd: I think Jam and Lewis saw the name and they were like, [image of the band name on the cover of "Hysteria"] "Human League? Well you know let's write about being human." Which is a bad sign. [screenshot of Stereogum article "The Number Ones: The Human League's 'Human'"] Like I first heard about this album from Tom Breihan's number ones column and he pointed out that the name [image of the band logo] "Human League" is essentially sarcastic.
Clip of the band performing "The Sound of the Crowd" on TOTP
Todd (VO): They pick that name because it implies the existence of an anti-human league. And also they got it from [photo of StarForce: Alpha Centauri with its contents unpacked] a sci-fi board game. Yeah, 20 years later, this band would have called themselves "Saving Throw"; that's the kind of band they are. They are not a very "human" sounding league. They cannot pull off a song that requires Phil to sound heartfelt. It's like if [poster for...] "The Notebook" starred [image of...] Kelsey Grammer.
Todd: Whatever; we have a hit. It's number one. [an '80s street photo] I'm a regular person in 1986, I watch [promotional photo of...] ALF, [stock photo of three men in stereotypical '80s workout clothing] I wear a headband, I like this song, I'm gonna buy the album. Let's put in the old record player and see what comes out.
"Money"[]
Live performance of "Money"
Todd (VO): OK, this is the opener, "Money."
The Human League: You can haaaaaaave my money
I don't need it anymore
Todd (VO): This is um... I guess it's fine.
Todd: It's not The Human League.
Clip of the band performing live, followed by a photo of the Melody Maker article
Todd (VO): In that defensive Melody Maker interview the reporter asks like, "what happened to you guys you used to sound so futuristic?". And Phil is like "you know we're still futuristic we're so far in the future you can't even see that we're in the future because you're so far behind!" (Caption: "We're EXTREMELY modern. That's why people don't like this LP, they've not caught up with us yet").
Todd: No. Nothing has ever sounded more like 1986 than this song. It was not the future; it was the present. And now it's very much the past. It's so dated. Especially that particular synth sound.
Synth solo plays
Todd (VO): Eugh. I know that we've been living and breathing Eighties nostalgia since like 2002, but that particular sound, has never come back and for good reason. Uh but I don't know; it's not the worst thing ever.
Todd: Why don't we check out the next song which is called... [image of the tracklist with "Swang" circled] "Swang". Whooof; I got a bad feeling about this.
It Ain't Got That Swang[]
Live performance with "Swang" playing over
Phil: Grab your partner, swang around
Swang that girl all upside down
And if that girl won't swang with me
I'll swang me another girl, yessiree
Todd: Whooooooof... yessiree...
Phil: Swaaaaaang
Joanne and Susan: Real city dancing
Phil: Yeah, yeah, yeah...
Todd: This is not good. It... I... do you even need me to explain it?
Phil: Swang, swang, swang
Todd (VO): I-it's, it's, the word "swang" should not be coming out of this guy's mouth!
Todd: Or my mouth for that matter! Neither of us should be saying it! I resent YOU for making me say it!
Todd (VO): I mean guys, were you prepared for this?! Like, were you prepared to have to belt out African-American vernacular?!
Interview with Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sully
Joanne: Not really it's, they really confused us at first by saying things like, "Hey man that record's kicking." And where we're going, "What?! Why is it kicking"...
Todd: You didn't know kicking? Like just through context...
Susan Ann: And you have to sing with "attitude"...
Joanne: ...attitude, now that REALLY threw us...
Susan Ann: ..."Get, get some attitude". And- and we're still going... "Well what's attitude?"...
Todd facepalms
Todd (VO): I give Phil credit; he's trying, but he cannot pull this off.
Todd: You should have put him in [stock photo of a man wearing...] a fake jheri curl wig so he could look as ridiculous as he sounds!
Clip of Jam and Lewis
Todd (VO): Jimmy, Terry; you guys clearly do not get this band and nothing you have works with them. You were on top of the world; you could have worked with anybody.
Todd: How did you pick The Human League of all bands?
Clip of Jam and Lewis giving an interview
Todd (VO): What they say is, you know they respected these guys as synth pioneers because they also worked with a lot of synth. And The Human League was trying to go in a funk direction, so Jam and Lewis were the right people to bring in. But there's also one big thing looming over this:
Todd: They wanted to go pop.
Todd (VO): You know they were R&B, they wanted to go mainstream. I think Jam and Lewis were looking at [clip of...] Nile Rogers;
Montage clips of Nile performing with Chic; video for Madonna - "Like a Virgin"; video for David Bowie - "Modern Love"; a Duran Duran live performance
Todd (VO): He was also a funk band refugee turned producer, and by then he was making giant smash hits for Madonna and David Bowie and Duran Duran. And Jam and Lewis, were probably thinking this could be their future but, [clip of an interview with Phil] look at this, look at this.
Todd: This isn't Madonna.
Todd (VO): One of the issues with this weird partnership is that The Human League were a real rock band who wrote their own music. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were Svengali producers who wrote all their own music. So they compromised by splitting the album like 60-40.
Todd: Jam and Lewis's crew wrote "Swang" and "Human". But, let's see what The Human League wrote in their attempts to "shake their groove thing".
Live performance with "Jam" playing over
Phil: But you know that you will go back, where you used to... Jam! Gotta get some jam!
Todd: Oh good god.
Phil: Gotta get some...
Todd (VO): Gotta get some jam? What, for your scones, you pasty Brits?! I don't know maybe people were saying that in the 80s but I've never heard anyone use the word "jam" like that.
Todd: He sounds like my dad trying to sound down with the youths.
"I Need Your Loving"[]
Video for "I Need Your Loving"
Todd: But those were all album tracks; let's check out the second single. It's called "I Need Your Loving."
The Human League: I need your loving, I need your kissing baby. I need your loving, I need your kissing baby.
Todd: [beat] This was a single?!
The Human League: Baby, now I see, I need your love. I need your loving...
Todd (VO): Yeah I'm gonna be blunt here, "I Need Your Loving" just straight up sucks. And not in a way I even find interesting to make fun of. If you were alive in '86, you probably heard six billion other songs like this on your drive to work in the morning. [clip of live performance of "Love Action (I Believe in Love)"] The Human League went from Kraftwerk-style innovators to [back to "I Need Your Loving"] a poor man's Wang Chung. This blows.
Todd: I honestly prefer "Swang."
Phil: Oh I need your love, so I can hug and squeeze ya tight.
Todd (VO): This is just inane. Phil is not Bobby Brown, and even if he was, he probably still couldn't make this work; half the lyrics to this song are "I need your loving".
Todd: And the record-buying public agreed.
Todd (VO): Unlike "Human" which hit number one, "I Need Your Loving" didn't even crack the top 40 in either country. The record limped into the charts but didn't crack the top 20. The essential shittiness of the album's foundation seemed to be catching up with it.
Phil Oakey[]
Todd: The problem is really just, Phil Oakey who is not that kind of singer.
Clips of "Heroes" and "Let's Dance"
Todd (VO): Like he always said he was inspired by Bowie, but clearly he meant Berlin Bowie, not Let's Dance Bowie.
Todd: In fact I kind of don't have a read on his musical vision.
Live performance of "Don't You Want Me"
Todd (VO): I went back to listen to Human League's biggest record, Dare, and that's the one that has the pop masterpiece "Don't You Want Me", so I expected the record to be a lot slicker than it was, but it's actually pretty garage rock, or whatever the synth pop equivalent of that is. It certainly isn't as polished as the music it inspired. I liked it a lot but, compared to [gameplay footage of After Burner on...] the polished NES graphics of the later Eighties, [gameplay footage of Breakout on...] "Dare" is strictly Atari.
Todd: And that's kind of how Oakey wanted it.
Clip of the Human League performing on Mainstream
Todd (VO): He started out as a hired singer for this band and then he just kind of inherited it when the other members quit.
Todd: And he remade it from an avant-garde act into a pop band.
Clips of videos for "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "Don't You Want Me" and "I Need Your Loving"
Todd (VO): But, he still liked how unpolished they were that, none of the singers were trained or that the synth players didn't play synth till they joined. In fact, he doesn't even seem to like "Don't You Want Me" very much; he thought the production was too slick. What happened? How did we get from this being too slick, to trying to be Kool and the Gang?
Todd: The fact is, I think he was worried because synth pop was dying.
Montage clips of video for Eurythmics featuring Aretha Franklin - "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves"; live performance of New Order - "True Faith"; video for Men Without Hats - "The Safety Dance"; video for The Human League - "Open Your Heart", live performance of "Money"
Todd (VO): The new wave bands that remained had either gone pop or got folded into the growing alternative movement. But the era of art school weirdos being big hit makers was disappearing. The rest of the world had taken their innovations and run with it. They had to adapt. Like there were tons of synth bands who mixed new wave with R&B, but I can't think of a worse band for it than The Human League; they just do not have that background, they didn't have the chops.
Todd: By this point it was clear that the hit was not moving the album at all. Which is why the third single I think was only released in the UK. Here it is; it's called, "Love Is All That Matters."
"Love Is All That Matters"[]
Video for "Love Is All That Matters"
The Human League: After all is said and done
Love is all that matters
Todd (VO): The song is, I believe it is best called, "inessential."
Todd: But, the music video...
The Human League: After all is said and done...
Todd (VO): Wow. It's a straight-up clip show. It's a compilation of scenes from old Human League videos. I have never seen that before.
Todd: And that's because... this is, technically, not a single off of [image of...] "Crash".
Todd (VO): Like, it's on the album, but it was released two years afterwards off of [image of...] a greatest hits record.
Todd: I think that pretty much says it all.
Outro[]
Clip of the Human League performing live
Todd (VO): It took the world all of three months to reject this album. The one hit was enough to keep the band alive but, Oakey seems like he just wants to wash his hands of it. [clip of Jewel - "Intuition"] I've covered sellout albums on this show before but, [back to the performance] what really gets me about this one is how half-hearted it is. [clip of Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera - "Moves Like Jagger"] Usually, when an artist goes pop, you can tell there's a lot of desire behind it. Even if it's only desire for fame and money. [back to the performance] This is the first time I’ve seen someone sell out solely out of exhaustion. And through that lens, its failure was entirely predictable. [slideshow of Jam and Lewis from Tamron Hall] Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis went on to great success but, as for going pop? Not really.
Montage clips of video for George Michael - "Monkey"; video for Janet Jackson - "Rhythm Nation"; video for Boyz II Men - "On Bended Knee"; video for Usher - "U Remind Me"; video for Mary J. Blige - "No More Drama"; video for The Human League - "Heart Like a Wheel" and "Tell Me When"
They made one big hit for George Michael, but for the most part, they didn't really wind up doing much with white pop stars, guess they just stuck with R&B and they turned that into the sound of pop. As for the Human League, they never really made any waves in America again and time has reduced them to a borderline one-hit wonder. In the UK they did better and they managed a mid-level chart run through the mid '90s and even one top 10 hit which is pretty impressive considering.
Todd: But they have also said that trying to keep a synth pop band going after 1988 was about as fun as it sounds.
Video for Goldfrapp - "Ooh La La"
Todd (VO): In the early 2000s, when electro-pop bands like Goldfrapp and Ladytron caught on, [clip of the Human League performing live] people started reevaluating The Human League and, their legacy as New Wave groundbreakers is pretty secure. [video for "Human"] But "Crash" remains a bad idea; an uncomfortable compromise, a clumsy patch job for a fundamentally broken project.
Phil: Won't you please forgive me?
Todd (VO): Oh I do forgive you Phil. I forgive you for the cheating.
Todd: But not for "Swang." Human or not, there's no excuse for that.
Video for "Human" plays on and fades to black
Ending music: Todd plays "Human" on piano
THE END
"Crash" is owned by A&M Records
This video is owned by me
THANK YOU TO THE LOYAL PATRONS!!