The Human League | Dare

On October 18th, 1981 The Human League released their third studio album Dare. The record was recorded between March and September of 1981 following the departure of the band’s founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who went on to form Heaven 17.

On Dare, The Human League’s lineup consisted of  Philip Oakey, Philip Adrian Wright, and newly enlisted dancers/backing vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. Session keyboardist and guitarist Ian Burden was brought into the fold as well, elevating the band’s sound with his experience as a trained musician, composer, and songwriter.

Dare, produced by veteran producer Martin Rushent atGenetic Sound Studios in Reading, was a shift from The Human League’s avant-garde electronic music style akin to contemporaries such as Cabaret Voltaire, and towards a genre-defining synth-pop sound fitting with the burgeoning New Romantic scene.

In fact, Dare would produce four hit singles, notably the international hit “Don’t You Want Me”, which is perhaps one of the most recognizable songs of the 1980s. This ultimately led to the album reaching number 1 in the UK and selling over 3 million copies.

“Don’t You Want Me”

“Sound Of The Crowd”

“Love Action (I Believe In Love)”

“Open Your Heart”

Side 1:

1. “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of”
2. “Open Your Heart”
3. “The Sound of the Crowd”
4. “Darkness”
5. “Do or Die”

Side 2:

6. “Get Carter” (Instrumental) Roy Budd 1:02
7. “I Am the Law” Oakey, Wright 4:09
8. “Seconds” Callis, Oakey, Wright 4:58
9. “Love Action (I Believe in Love)” Burden, Oakey 4:58
10. “Don’t You Want Me”