Cool backstory about the 1981 hit single, 'Don’t You Want Me' by Human League:
Excerpts:
: “You were working as a waitress in a cocktail bar…” is easily one of the most recognisable opening lines in pop, oft-heard at karaoke bars and wedding parties the world over. The hit 1981 single, Don’t You Want Me by the Human League undoubtedly had mass appeal. But, beyond its success, it holds a considerable number of important accolades.
Firstly, it was the first song to exclusively use a drum machine to make it to No.1 in the UK single chart. .... .. During this process, the studio where the League were working took delivery of one of the first Linn LM-1 drum machines in the country, significantly changing direction for the album .... “Our music was so simple: we’d all laugh when [keys player] Adrian Wright moved just one finger on the synthesizer and it sounded great,” lead singer and co-writer Phil Oakey told The Guardian.
Released on November 27th 1981, Don't You Want Me sold over 1.5 million copies in the UK, followed by enormous successes in the US a few months later. The success of the song was solely responsible for saving Richard Branson’s Virgin record label from bankruptcy. .... ... The album relied upon cutting-edge 80s music technology, including the Roland MC-8 sequencer, System 700 and Jupiter 4 synthesizers, all of which were heavily used in the creation of the song’s sounds ...."
"Firstly, it was the first song to exclusively use a drum machine to make it to No.1 in the UK single chart. .... .. During this process, the studio where the League were working took delivery of one of the first Linn LM-1 drum machines in the country, significantly changing direction for the album .... “Our music was so simple: we’d all laugh when [keys player] Adrian Wright moved just one finger on the synthesizer and it sounded great,” lead singer and co-writer Phil Oakey told The Guardian."
The day the music died, for real. And synthesized pop was born.
There were a lot of great bands in the 80's. From the synth-inspired new wave ones like Duran Duran, The Police, and the aforementioned Human League, to alternative/post-punk ones such as Talking Heads, The Cure and The Smiths.
It was also the era of the music video. An interesting tidbit. One of the first was done by a Canadian artist, Eva Everything, with her song Painless. While she never 'made it', she did a lot of interesting work. I used to own her first album, independently produced and released, and wish I still had it; her songs are difficult to find these days.
Canada actually had a rich music scene during that decade, driven in part by the Brampton radio station CFNY (home to my all time favorite DJ's, Pete & Geets). They supported Canadian artists such as Barenaked Ladies (who did make it), SkaFace (they didn't, but had a loyal Toronto-based following), Blue Peter (popular across Canada), Sherry Huffman/Kean (same) and lots more.
I used to produce a show called Surfin' The New Wave focused on new wave and alternative 80s music, and it was a lot of fun. Who knows, I may even do some more one day.
So many projects, so little time.
What was good in the eighties and 90s for me was the guitar/rock bands that kept rock alive at least for another decade and had good songwriters and did good songs like Cinderella, Poison, Status Quo, Guns and Roses, and of course the Stones, and country was good from the 80s to the early 2000s like Dixie Chicks, Sugarland, Anita Carter, Trisha Yearwood, for examples. There is a sprinkling of that in my playlist. I liked the Romantics and the Waitresses....it wasn't all bad. Don't Speak by No Doubt is also a good song. When Gwen Stefani was singer in a rock band.