Dare (1981)

Dare (also released as Dare! in certain countries) is the third studio album by the English synth-pop band the Human League, first released in the United Kingdom in October 1981 and then subsequently in the US in mid-1982. The album was produced by Martin Rushent and recorded between March and September 1981, following the departure of founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, and saw the band shift direction from their previous avant-garde electronic style toward a more pop-friendly, commercial sound led by frontman Philip Oakey.

Dare became critically acclaimed and proved to be a genre-defining album, its influence being felt in many areas of pop music. The album and its four singles were very successful, particularly "Don't You Want Me", which both Rolling Stone and The Village Voice credited with kickstarting the Second British Invasion. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

A remix album based on Dare, named Love and Dancing, again produced by Rushent was released in 1982. This included remixes of tracks from the Dare album in a continuous mega mix style which was groundbreaking at the time and according to Rushent was very time-consuming to make.

History

In January 1981, the Human League consisted of Philip Oakey and Philip Adrian Wright with newly-recruited teenage dancers/backing vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. After the acrimonious split of the original band in October 1980 and the subsequent recruitment of Sulley and Catherall, the new band had only just survived a European tour by temporarily bringing in session keyboardist Ian Burden to assist them. As a result, the band was in substantial debt and only barely commercially viable. Under pressure from Virgin Records to produce results, original members Oakey and Wright returned to Monumental Studios in Sheffield to start recording demos. The track "Boys and Girls" from the 1980 tour, which Virgin released as a single, was more reminiscent of the band's earlier work. Sulley and Catherall, who were busy studying for their A-levels, appeared on the cover of the single but did not perform on the track itself. "Boys and Girls" peaked at number 47 on the UK Singles Chart. Afterwards, Oakey would bring in outside personnel to take the band in a more pop and commercial-sounding direction.

Oakey's first move was to invite guitarist and keyboard player Ian Burden from their 1980 tour to join the band full-time. Virgin had suggested that Oakey needed professional production and paired him with veteran producer Martin Rushent. He would move the band to his Genetic Sound Studios in rural Berkshire both due to the "unhealthy" atmosphere at Monumental Studios in Sheffield caused by the Human League sharing it with Heaven 17, and that Rushent's studios were better equipped for the type of music the band was making. A downside would be that the distance would cause problems for Sulley and Catherall who were taking their final school exams at the time and had to be regularly bussed down from Sheffield. In the studio, the songs were built up from a simple Linn LM-1 drum pattern, with the arrangements written out on a chart as they went along: each note was considered carefully at some point for the best emotional effect, as per Rushent's style. Each song took a week, with the final drum parts recorded last to tape with all the drum fills in place.

The first result of their recording sessions was released in April 1981 entitled "The Sound of the Crowd". The final addition to the band would be Jo Callis, the former guitarist and songwriter of the punk rock band the Rezillos.

The first release from the now-complete new team came in July 1981, "Love Action (I Believe in Love)", which peaked at number three in the UK. By September 1981, the album was finished and provisionally entitled Dare, after a Vogue magazine cover (U.K., April 1979, Gia Carangi). Oakey explained the story behind the album name at the time:

I like it because the Mekons used to have a song called "Dan Dare". In fact, it was ripped off from a cover of Vogue about two and a half years ago. They had a whole series of covers which featured just one word like "Success", "Red" and "Dare". I shouldn't say that, should I?

To prepare for the album's release (set for the end of October 1981), "Open Your Heart" was released - it went to number six in the UK. It was accompanied by a high-end promotional video. When the album was released, it was condemned by the Musicians' Union, who, among other concerns, felt that the new technology employed by the Human League would make traditional musicians redundant. They mounted a "Keep It Live" campaign, believing that bands like the Human League would be able to perform concerts at the touch of a button.