Human League began in the late 1970s as the brainchild of two computer operators, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, from Sheffield, England. They tried a number of names including the Dead Daughters and the Future until settling upon the Human League after former hospital porter, Philip Oakey, joined the group. Adrian Wright joined shortly thereafter to prepare slide shows for projection during the group's live performances. The first single, Being Boiled, was released in 1978.

Between the years of 1978 and 1980, the Human League were an experimental group of 4 young men doing something very diverse in the field of electronic music. Ignorant of the punk scene at that time, they decided to take a path along the opposite end of the then current music scene, possibly through their own interest in computers and electronics, to create something haunting, which at times reflected life in Sheffield's industrious communities and concrete jungles.

In October 1980 the group split in half. Ware and Marsh left to begin a project called the British Electric Foundation whose first spinoff was the group Heaven 17 and their hit (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang. Of the remaining Human League pair, only Philip Oakey was a performer.

With determination to complete a European tour, Adrian Wright began learning to play synthesizer and two female singers, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, were recruited from among the dancers at Sheffield's Crazy Daisy disco. Bassist Ian Burden was also added as a temporary group member.

Their breakthrough album, 1982's Dare proved to be the band's finest moment. Spawning four top 10 singles, the king of the crop was undoubtably "Don't You Want Me." Their sound proved to be the perfect backdrop for the new (wave) generation - ironic, peppy, high-tech and imminently danceable. A 1983 follow-up EP featuring "Fascination (Keep Feeling)" found the group still at the top of their form.

By the time their next full-length record, 1984's enjoyable Hysteria, was released, they found the playing field clogged with imitators. A misbegotten turn with soul producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis took them even farther afield with 1986's Crash. This was followed by the dismal Reproduction and Romantic?, their sound by now so dated as to be almost quaint. The latest Human League release, Octopus, finally brought their production into the '90s, albeit five years too late.