OLD ROMANTICS
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| The Human League as they were
in the 80s |
Sheffield was a pop phenomenon in the 80s! Inside
Out looks back at the highs - and lows - experienced by some of
Sheffield's stars.
"I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar…..", "Shoot
that poison arrow through my hea-a-a-art"…...
If you know the words, you
were around in the 80s, and if you lived in Sheffield at that time, chances
are you were a pop star.
Look through any early 80s pop chart and you see the
same names. The Human League, Heaven 17, ABC. They all came from Sheffield,
and they were all phenomenally successful.
Heaven 17’s Penthouse and Pavement spent
over a year in the charts without ever once being promoted.
ABC’s Lexicon of Love entered the album charts
at No 1, and the Human League’s Don’t You Want Me was a number
one single all over the world.
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| Human
League's Philip Oakley in the 1980s |
Unhappy Time
Despite phenomenal success, the 80s were an unhappy decade
for the Human League’s Suzanne Sulley.
Suzanne says, "We felt a bit like phoneys. We all went
into music because we loved the music, it wasn’t about celebrity and being
in OK Magazine, we didn’t go into it to become famous".
For her band member Philip Oakey, they might have been
number one, but they felt out of their depth.
Philip says, "We didn’t really understand the business
and we were just very confused for ten or fifteen years".
Pop prospects
Sheffield was a fertile place for pop talent in the 80s
because there were poor job prospects in the declining steel industry
and only a few entertainment venues.
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| Suzanne recalls uncertain times |
This result in there being a lot of young people in dead
end jobs forced to make their own fun.
Many formed bands - Cabaret Voltaire, The Comsat Angels,
and ABC all emerged out of that early 80s music scene.
No one was remotely surprised when ABC’s Stephen Singleton
handed in the day job, "I was working in a hospital doing a bit of hospital
portering and two days later I was on Top of the Pops".
Now
Over 20 years on, the bands are all still in business
and getting plenty of gigs on the 80s revival circuit.
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| Philip Oakey is happy that the band are still working |
Martyn Ware works as a top international record producer,
but takes time out to go on the road with Heaven 17 as part of the 80s
package Here and Now tours.
He’s joined by ABC’s Martin Fry, who is also the star
of 80s revival weekends at holiday camps.
The Human League this year have fitted in tours of America
and Australia, and are releasing a new Greatest Hits CD at Christmas.
Philip Oakey, is more at ease with his band’s present
life as jobbing musicians, "After 25 years it’s just fantastic that we’re
still doing music, we never expected to, and I don’t think anyone else
expected us to, but we fit in." |
