(Go to www.curiosityst... for a special deal!) The Human League recruit Janet Jackson's producers and try to get funky. Yes, the "Don't You Want Me" band. Yes, it's as awkward as it sounds. Support Todd on Patreon! / toddintheshadows
Best Worst Lyrics from each Trainwreckord: "We love Spam in America" (Jewel) "I'M KEEL ROY! KEEL ROY!" (Styx) (honorable mention to "modren man") "A Tribe Called Quest is a bad investment" (MC Hammer) "I've got my magic pie" (Oasis) "Word to the wisdom tooth" (Van Halen) "This here'll take the stain out and won't mess your hair" (CCR) "Jesus died for somebody's sins, I've got my HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROIN" (Billy Idol) (honorable mention to "I am the neuromancer and I'm trancing") "Rebel, rebel, rebel, rebel [said in the least rebellious tone possible]" (Lauryn Hill) "I'm drinkin' a soy latte, I get it double shotte, it goes right through my body and you know I'm satisfied" (Madonna) "Dancin' on my tippie toes, my tippie toes :)" (Robin Thicke) "We are the Claaaaaaaaaaaaash" (The Clash) "I'd love to hurt the population >:(" (Hootie and the Blowfish, the world's least threatening band) "It's a Love thing" (The Beach Boys) "I had to take the brother out for bein' rude" (Arrested Development) "I luv making luv to u
"I had to take the brother out for being rude" isn't actually from the Arrested Development album that was covered. A better one would be "After I scold you, I hope I can mold you".
"Go to the counter to pay for me and my friend / A homeless man pulls out a roll, says it's on him." - Jewel "But you had an abortion..." - Arrested Development "I drive my Mini Cooper / and I'm feeling super duper / and they tell me I'm a trouper / and you know I'm satisfied" (HM goes to: "Couldn't take the loneliness, I couldn't take the phoniness / my father had to go to work, I used to think he was a jerk." - Madonna "Drifting from the way, she got turned down one day / now she thinks that she's bisexual." - Lauryn Hill "Did you ever sigh when a homeless walked by / or changed the channel on a starving child"; "THE CANDY MAN / YEAH, THE CANDY MAN CAN!"; "Open your mouth, and say aaaaahhhh-men! / Rinse cup and spit again." - Van Halen "My husband doesn't let me buy those tabloid magazines because he says it makes me fight with him more! / Positive people like positive people." - Liz Phair "Nyaaah, nyaaah, nyaaah, nyaaah, nyaaah" - Oasis "Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tock." - Metallica "I'm going to get me a big, big, big, great, big car / and I'm gonna drive, drive, drive, I'll drive so far; "Fingerpoint's gonna pop tonight / I'm gonna point at the best girl in sight"; "I shout 'I am a dirty punk!' / Gonna rock your neighborhood" - The Clash
Honestly, the moment I heard Todd read that was the moment where I knew that this was gonna be a way more tragic story than what you'd be able to parse just from reading the album's Wikipedia article. I knew the Human League's story past 1981 wasn't a pretty one considering that this is the same band that later wrote "The Stars are Going Out" (arguably the strongest track on the otherwise mediocre follow-up to Crash), but just hearing Phil Oakey openly admit to how trapped the band became with that album and its sunken costs is just painful and does a lot to contextualize how dire their predicament really was.
That's correct, jam and lewis produced the singles "Wait & See (Risk)" & "Addicted to You (Up-In-Heaven mix)" for Hikki's 2nd J-pop album "Distance" in 2001 on that same album Hikki also collab with Rodney "Darkchild" Jenkins on the single "Time Limit" As a long time Hikki fan, they have work with different very notiable Western Producers. On they're English language album "Exodus" Hikki had production by Timberland and Danja, on they're 2nd English album "This Is The One" they had Stargate and Christopher "Tricky" Stewart. The KH3 opening song "Face My Fears was done with Skrillex and Poo Bear, they 2018 album "Hatsukoi" had drumming done by Grammy Winner Chris Dave. Even They're recent album "Bad Mode" last year a few of the songs on that album were produced by A. G. Cook of PC Music and Sam Shepherd A.K.A Floating Points.
i'm just imagining giving a gut-wrenching speech of regret and guilt to your girlfriend about how sorry you are that you cheated, and she lets you get through all of it without saying a word and is like "yeahhhh.....funny thing about that".
This album sounds like watching a relationship that isn’t working any more, and the only reason the two people are still together is, because they own pets.
That used to be referred to as an Irish Divorce (back before we could actually do that as a thing) where you're both just waiting for the other one to kick the bucket stewing in your mutual bitterness and stubbornness.
something very satisfying about the symmetry of jimmy jam and terry lewis being like "human league? i dunno, call the song human" and the human league being like "we're working with jimmy jam? guess we have to call one of the songs jam?"?
16:13 It seems strangely poetic that Jimmy Jam co-wrote a song called "Human", and the Human League wrote a song called "Jam". Real creative energy flowing in _that_ studio, let me tell you.
@@afterdinnercreations936 oh don't get me wrong. Thanks to trainwreckords I learned about "calling occupants" by carpenters. And that was my fav song for a good 3 months. Still love it.
I know right, to think that it’s something he’s only started doing in the last few years, I can’t imagine his channel with out it. It’s become one of my favourite RU-vid series.
I really don't know anyone who thinks Every Breath or The One I Love are love songs. The one's like an in joke that everyone knows like Born in the USA. The second doesn't even *sound* romantic. Careless Whisper though. "Should've known better than to cheat a friend" is right there in the chorus but people still think it's the perfect slow dance tune. How? It's a friggin dirge. Human... I don't know anyone outside this video who cares enough to analyze the lyrics.
Upon review... It was written as Ross, it became Chris Titus and Erin from "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding" and the accompanying episode of "Titus". Which... ended poorly in hindsight.
@@maxpowr90 We'd probably have to wait about seven years (10-year rule) unless Todd makes an exception like with Robin Thicke's Paula. I think Timberlake is still doing his own thing, but I guess we'll wait and see what happens.
"I'll swang me another girl, yessiree." Added to the legend of bad lyrics featured on Trainwreckords. I look forward to those even more than watching clips of trucks hitting the 11-foot-8 bridge!
Hate to say it but I'm pretty sure the 11 foot 8 bridge has been adjusted to accommodate the heights of the penske trucks. So we're not going to be getting any new crashes
If he was enthusiastic about them, it would sound incredibly jarring. Todd still does these videos "in character" to a degree, albeit much less than he used to, and that character is a bit of a sadsack. Iif he'd actually sounded engaged and then switched back to asking "....at what cost a hit?" in a tone of impending doom, it would have been...weird.
There's a moment with each TRAINWRECKORDS where I think "Oh God no." For this, it was when I found out the Human League had to sing a song titled "Swang".
@@lukeh465it's not really a comment on their skin color but on the cultural differences and the awkwardness of hearing new wave pros use lingo they obviously don't know
@@lukeh465 I don't know if it'd be "allowed" but it would be very much be on brand for Brits to make disparaging remarks about skin color and ethnicity. Honestly most the world would have been happy if the Brits were just openly racist but left everybody else alone.
@@grfrjiglstan I think that worked because the beat was still very cold and robotic, so the emotional vocals layered over it created a weird balance. Kinda like vaporwave.
I can't help by find it utterly adorable hearing these white British girls like Joanne and Susan Ann be confused and dumbfounded over the meanings behind hip-hop vernacular.
Its not even hip hop, its like general "Hip' American vernacular that had been around for years before that lmao But I knew girls "like that" growing up, its very much an intentional refusal to read context. Because, you know, they're above it 😒
I was embarrassed on their behalf when I saw that clip but tbf when they joined the band they were literally teenagers picked up on a night out so. I guess you can't really expect better
"Human" played every day at the gas station I worked at 7 years ago. I got tired of it but I've realized that the song is just polished to perfection. Its a good song but not something I'd listen to everyday
Yeah, as a massive fan of Prince and Minneapolis sound in general, I can forgive the lazy lyrics and just appreciate how gorgeous the production on Human is.
"Human" sounds like a Phil Collins ballad, which makes me wonder if the Human League would have had more success in Adult Contemporary. That to me sounds like a more obvious sellout move than going R&B.
To me it sounds quite a lot like the R&B ballad-ish cuts Jam and Lewis did with Alexander O’Neal, like A Broken Heart Can Mend, Saturday Love and Crying Overtime. Synthetic but warm-sounding synths, energetic drum machines and vocals quite heartfelt with some spoken bits. I admit Oakey’s voice mightve lent itself well to AC though.
@@SamAronow am I sounding that much like Patrick Bateman? If so, yes quite a lot, although I don’t find Fore their most accomplished album like he does 😂
I mean, I understand how you could feel that way. Me on the other hand, as a retail worker putting up with the most obnoxious assortment of big band music and boring pop rock music, I would do anything to hear "Human" in the daytime again.
As a fellow grocery store worker, I think we all have a certain few songs that really drive us up the wall. For me, its Always Something There To Remind Me, god i cant stand that song
I know the pain. When I worked retail, it was Manic Mondays. For some ungodly reason it would repeat about 4 times an hour, which sucks for an 8 hour shift. Drove me near batty and now I cringe whenever I hear it.
I cant stop looking at the lead singer. Depending on the light and angle he can look like John Travolta in his forties, nic cage in his 30's, or a potatoe.
I honestly think he got better-looking when he got older; the increasingly thin buzz-cut from the mid-90's onwards holds up much better than that "80's Skrillex" look from the Dare era.
It's unfortunate that the rest of the album doesn't hold up to its lead single. As Todd discussed, the production, instrumentation, and vocals on Human are gorgeous and quintessentially 80s
Yup. That song is *brilliant.* It's a Jam & Lewis classic! I also think Phil does a GREAT job singing it. On that song, the collaboration works beautifully! As for the rest of the album... well... the less said the better...
@@Splattermeltright, he pretty much hinted at it when discussing Human, and Jam and Lewis. But if you liked that sound the album was.....fine?? Sure definitely of the time, but perfectly fine none the less.
I mean, its a good song. I'd say that it'd been better if they saved it for another band though, because while Oakey sings it perfectly, his little "compromise" (which almost caused the whole song to get trashed) is easily the worst part of the song and it isn't close. I spent so long looking for a version of the song without that spoken word part at the end.
To be fair, the name "Human League" was chosen by the original band, before they left and had Phil deal with contract obligations. It's actually a weird story...
@@ratherbedealingarms No, because why would I subject myself to that? Between Rae Sremmurd and The Human League, maybe people should just stay away from that word, especially as a song title.
I love a lot of what Jam and Lewis did. Their sound likely got me into R&B, based on what they did and what I was listening to. But I have to say, not letting the female members of a band do their own vocals is beyond a dick move.
The "Human" song perfectly suited Phil Oakey's distinct vocal range, as did Electric Dreams, that's why it was a huge hit. The problem with the rest of the Crash album was that the other songs didn't, apart from "Love Is All That Matters" which at least did sound like a proper Human League song. Of course, Crash wasn't helped by the over-produced funk and jettison of the cold-synth pop feel of their earlier work.
After watching this video I looked up and discovered that “Human” and “Love Is All That Matters” are the only songs on the album by Jam and Lewis as a songwriting team (along with credits for a six-way collaborative effort w/ some frequent associates on “I Need Your Loving”), which feels like a significant piece of the puzzle - they made their name writing stunning pop songs that lived up to the promise of all that futurist holographic sound design, and when they used other people’s material it was usually with an ear for something that would benefit from the futurist-holographic-sound-design treatment… which is maybe something you could say of the _Dare_-era Human League’s work, but less so of their five-years-later burnt-out scraps of a failed album. There just wasn’t enough chasing-off of whatever it was that kept the League from finishing this record on their own, especially when Jam and Lewis gave as many of the surrounding slots to their former Flyte Tyme bassist (author of “Swang”) as they did to themselves.
When 80s nostalgia came back, I was completely baffled because I remember people back then complaining that music wasn’t organic anymore and everything sounded so cold and plastic fantastic. (Think of Bill Hicks’ stand up bit against Debbie Gibson and Rick Astley)
@@littlekingtrashmouth9219 The thing about music is, after a certain amount of time, the mediocre and bad stuff tends to go away in people's memories even if they sold a bunch of records. This happened to a lot of smash hits from the 60s and 70s, too. If you go back and look at the Billboard Hot 100s, there are very few bubblegum and teen idol tracks from that time period that have stood the test of time outside of the truly solidly-made stuff like Everlasting Love. Almost nobody listens to The Osmonds or Captain and Tennille these days, but they sold TONS of copies back then. It's almost unthinkable now, but Led Zeppelin never made any Billboard Top 100 year-end list in the 70s. Yes are prog rock legends but they only charted once on the Billboard year-end 100 during the 70s, and even then, "Roundabout" was only the 92nd most popular song of 1972 at the time. Even pop records that are widely considered untouchable classics today, like Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours", didn't chart all that high on the Billboard 1977 year-end single lists: Dreams was #33 (it was No. 1 for only a very short time in 1977), Don't Stop was #52, and Go Your Own Way was #94.
This is also the reason they alienated a lot of their original fans who just dropped their jaws in disbelief when they first heard it. It sounded *nothing* like The Human League, which in itself would have been a minor problem if the songs were good. They weren't. Hate to say this but American commercial radio was at an all time low during the mid 80's. The only thing that mattered were college radio stations where they played all the good stuff. This album was produced as the "hot ticket" to be played on American commercial radio (shivers) when they should have hired a producer who could make them played on college radio. I don't care what Jam and Lewis produced back then or how well it did. Most of it is dated today and R&B is probably the most intellectually dead music style these past 40 years. There were a whole heap of good producers who could have produced a good Human League records and they(?) picked some guys who made "funky rhythms" ? I'd say the record company and their "tin-eared accountants" (taken from Dead Kennedy's "MTV - Get off the air.") who insisted on this was the culprit.
Yeah, I only know that song and “Love Action,” although I’m aware they were pretty important in the early 80s as a new wave act, which is one of my favorite genres.
Ironic because Moroder also got a shot at producing for Janet Jackson on the album before _Control_ and whiffed it almost as bad as Jam & Lewis did with Oakey
Has "Human" ever been sampled in vaporwave? Because that is a perfect vaporwave beat. I could see someone like Saint Pepsi or Luxury Elite doing a lot with that beat
@@Splattermelt This is one of the many offshoots of vapour. This would be early telepath. A really good current example of this would be desert sand feels warm at night.
I can absolutely confirm that to Brits in the mid 1980’s “jam” was known by most people only in the context of fruit preserves. Not until Technotronic in 1989 did that start to change and even then many of us considered that song to about filling doughnuts (why else would you be pumping jam?).
But, George Harrison’s 1970 album All Things Must Pass came with a bonus disc called ‘Apple Jam’. Did it really take two decades for Harrison’s home audience to get the pun?
The only other clipshow videos I can think of are Queen's "Innuendo" and "The Show Must Go On," and they were done that way because, by that point, Freddie Mercury was too sick to film anymore videos.
From what I can tell it tends to be most commonly done either out of necessity (e.g. Queen, the Human League, the second video for Devo's "Post-Post Modern Man"), or to acknowledge the end of an act, be it through dissolution, retirement, or death (e.g. Michael Jackson's "Love Never Felt So Good", Talking Heads' "Lifetime Piling Up", the Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86", and even then those three all get more creative with the format, as does the Devo video). The only true exception to the pattern that I can think of is the video for the 1990 remix of "Fame" by David Bowie, largely because that was meant to be part of the lead-in to an unprecedentedly huge reissue campaign.
Also, 2000 Light Years Away by Green Day, but - It's not a clipshow of music videos but rather old performances - It was done for the release of a greatest hits record in 2017 which included the song in spite of it being from their second album Kerplunk which had no singles or music videos
@Mister Metokur Basically the first video got rejected because MTV wanted to use a different version of the song, so a new one had to be slapped together at the last minute. The band weren't available to shoot new footage because of how suddenly it had to be made, so the director just shot a Home Shopping Channel parody with other actors and stuck in clips from old Devo videos that matched the fake products.
“Pobody’s nerfect!” Thank you, Todd. Thank you for giving me this riposte to anyone who plays that card. No one expects other people to be perfect. We only expect you to account for your behavior.
So it’s a line from a Simpson’s character? I have not watched that show in decades, so I would not know. In any case, thanks to whoever came up with it.
@@amandahaynes7030 When they go to Australia, Lisa wants to buy a digeridoo as a souvenir, but Marge tries to convince her to buy a “pobody’s nerfect” hat instead.
Swang reminds me of All Night by Def Leppard, an equally ridiculous song by another Sheffield band. But nobody aside from the diehards (raising hand) will remember that song as they were way past their hit making era by that point.
You know, i always make the joke that Magneto loves David Bowie for "make way for the Homosuperior", but now I am gonna also pretend he hates the Human League in a similar principal.
As a Brit who grew up watching reruns of Top of the Pops with my ex-goth Mum, this is insanely eye opening. Literally like, all of these songs are anthems imo. Love is all the matters and Tell me when are classic Human League songs, but apart from Human I'd never heard of anything from Crash. Says it all really
I'll say one thing and just one thing: "Human" is my favourite 80's ballad ever. I just echo what Todd himself said: musically, everything is perfect. The lyrics... what lyrics?
The song “Human” was featured on a compilation called “Hipertensao” which was put out by a Brazilian Portuguese label called Som Livre and it was a soundtrack to a Portuguese soap opera of the same name as it was shown on Rede Globo, a Brazilian TV channel in 1987.
The more I listen to this, the more the singers sound like they just want to go home and take a nap, but they're stuck trying to pretend this wasn't a bad idea.
This is a really interesting period of The Human League's history trying to find their place in a changing world. They are still perhaps the best pop band ever in my mind.
As a high school junior in 1986, I loved the new direction that Human League took with "Crash." Maybe it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but those guys could've taken a page out of the Depeche Mode playbook and stuck with what got them famous. Either that or stayed focused on the UK. Also, George Michael's "Monkey" was a remix and actually produced by Jam and Lewis. "Love is All That Matters" was released here in the US, but never charted.
It helps that they were probably the best synth act at evolving thier sound as the 80’s wore on. The difference between Power Corruption and Lies in 1983 and Technique in 1989 is pretty stark.
I would say the albums from the 2000s was kind of a weak period for them since that whole alt rock trend didn’t suite them luckily their recent album Music Complete got them back on track again
@@patricklauer4452 Incidentally I would say Waiting for the Sirens' Call would make a good Trainwreckords episode. It has its fans, sure, but it's still one of the band's most divisive albums (rivaled only by Lost Sirens and Republic, the latter of which I'll admit to liking), and its incredibly hostile production (which makes Republic's making look amicable by comparison) directly led to the hiatus that killed the band's massive early 2000's comeback in its tracks. Get Ready though is a solid album, I definitely understand why that briefly put them back on the map for all of four years or so.
@@musyarofah1 To be fair, the band's first album without Hook's involvement was a pretty big step up from the last two Hook-era albums (Waiting for the Sirens' Call and Lost Sirens); I've heard stories about how Hook was the direct instigator for a lot of the studio hostility that led to him leaving the band (among other things he bought the full rights to the Hacienda behind everyone else's backs out of spite), and considering that plus the fact that he was the one who pushed hardest for New Order to be a rock band (just look at how he was dressing by the late 80's compared to everyone else), something tells me that Sumner taking the reins of the band in 2011 was for the better. Plus Music Complete still gives credit to the full band for every track, so it's likely that they're still pretty collaborative despite Sumner being their main creative director now.
I actually don't have a problem with the girl having cheated as well in "Human". I get the impression either one of them was traveling and they both gave in to loneliness or they have a bad fight at some point and turned to someone else in their sorrow. It's at least something different for an apology song instead of one person cheating and giving an apology that can't possibly sound anything but halfhearted in song form at least.
as much as phil oakey has a robot-like singing voice, i can not think of any other singer singing human. it perfectly fits his own voice and in my opinion is a great song, despite the stupid lyrics
Wow, Todd, i can't believe you can't appreciate the "while you were gone, i was human too" part. That hits sooooo hard. I remember when this song dropped. It was such a beautiful peice. Everyone songs about being sorry and wanting their lover back. This is the only song that has both of them saying sorry. It's fantastic. It's sweet and a satisfying ending to the song.
It might have been that he heard the story about the backstage drama before the song, and that swayed his opinion. Or maybe it really did just remind him of the Piña Colada song, which he absolutely despises.
ngl, out of all the Trainwreckords episodes I've watched, this is definitely the saddest one, this isn't an album mired by conflicting members or changing trends, it's just a band with no ideas left and are just going through the motions until they inevitably disappear and dissipate, especially the quote "I HAVE to like it, its all i've got" is especially sad.
For many years, I thought that Human was a Spandau Ballet song for some reason. I kind of have to keep reminding myself it's a Human League song, despite the fact that part of the band's name is literally in the title.
I’ll be honest, if “I Need Your Lovin” tried a little less to be about being a sexy lover man it might actually round the corner and be a pretty good Talking Heads album track.
@@nah....6151 Heck, in Talking Heads' hands, the repetitive lyrics of "I Need Your Lovin'" wouldn't sound too out of place next to the repeated samples of radio DJs and anonymous politicians on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Maybe Jam & Lewis should've tried working with them instead of the Human League if they wanted to get some crossover appeal. Then again, considering that Talking Heads was kinda falling apart by 1986 (among other things being strong-armed by their label into re-recording the soundtrack to True Stories), how well that theoretical collaboration would've worked is a bit up in the air.
God, the idea of being a work-for-hire, except everyone who founded the operation quitting, leaving you to keep it going. Christ, that's like a part-time cashier being left the owner of a store they didn't even like.
13:00 "I know that we've been living and breathing in 80's nostalgia since like 2002, but that particular [synth] sound has never come back, and for good reason." It's back in style now than ever thanks to Metro Boomin's flip being the centerpiece of Hip Hop right now, Metro Boomin and Future's "Like That" featuring Kendrick Lamar. I just thought of this so much over the past month.
One of my favourite things Todd does is contextualising clashing/different musicians and producers from the past with 21st century examples. The DJ Mustard and Lumineers comparison sent me lol.
m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SlCvlGCuQBE.html Here you have another example. This is a creative take to compile many videos of an artist, in this case, Elvis Costello. And this is an official one.
I seem to remember Simply Red (You don't know me by now) and Culture Club (I think it was "It's a Miracle" but could be wrong) had music videos that were *part* clip shows of their previous videos, but even those at least had a framing device.
Well that's different. That was when Freddie Mercury was dying of HIV/AIDS, so he technically couldn't do a video for the track. Apparently he was lucky to even record it in his state and have it come out as well as it did. So the video was technically a tribute to him and his contribution to the band. With that Human League song, it's more or less like a last-minute single that they weren't able to make a new video for, so they just had to Godfrey Ho one together for it.
Ever hear this version of the original? It's a tweaked version of the John Peel session. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HrYwPuTyfKg.html
I kinda miss that phase where KMFDM had a weird cover of some relatively obscure song on every album. Being Boiled and Mini Mini Mini were especially great.
