(Keep Feeling) Fascination

Last updated

"Fascination"
KeepFeelingFascination.jpg
Single by the Human League
from the album Fascination!
B-side "Total Panic"
Released15 April 1983 (1983-04-15) [1] [2]
Studio Genetic
Genre
Length
  • 4:59 (album version)
  • 3:44 (single version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Martin Rushent
The Human League singles chronology
"Mirror Man"
(1982)		"Fascination"
(1983)		"The Lebanon"
(1984)
Music video
"(Keep Feeling) Fascination" on YouTube

"(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is a song by English synth-pop band the Human League. It was composed by Jo Callis and Philip Oakey, and produced by Martin Rushent (which would be the last song he produced for the band for seven years).

Contents

The song features vocals from four of the band members, including lead singer Philip Oakey, female co-vocalists Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, and a rare vocal role from keyboardist and guitarist Jo Callis.

The single was designated 'Red' on the Human League's short-lived, self-imposed labelling system of 'Blue' for pop songs and 'Red' for dance tracks. [6]

Chart performance and certifications

The single was released in the UK on 15 April 1983 [2] [1] as a non-album single, and went to number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. It was incorporated into the band's EP Fascination! . Released in the US a month after the UK release, the single reached number 1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart (their first single to do so) and number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that summer.

The EP Fascination! contained two versions of "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"; the extended mix and an improvisation, both different from the single version. These were also the tracks featured on the 12-inch issue in the UK. The 7-inch issue featured a new instrumental track on the B-side, "Total Panic".

Music video

A screenshot from the music video for "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" Keepffvid.jpg
A screenshot from the music video for "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"

The video for "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" was filmed in a semi-derelict area of Newham, London which was due for demolition and redevelopment as part of the widescale redevelopment of Docklands and East London which took place in the early 1980s. The video begins with an aerial view of an orange "you are here" dot on a street map, which is revealed as an actual giant orange dot on the ground as the camera zooms in. The dot highlights a single house on the apex of two streets, and the camera passes through a set of window curtains to show the band playing the song inside. The entire room is painted grey, as are the band's instruments and microphones. During the song's bridge, two boys are shown kicking a ball around in the street outside. Both the ball and one boy's clothes turn orange when they enter the dot; when he kicks the ball back, it returns to its original colour. As the song ends, the camera retreats from the room and zooms back out into the sky, the view changing back to the original map.

A view of the location of the "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" music video in 2014 Human league-fascination.jpg
A view of the location of the "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" music video in 2014

Unusually for Human League videos to this point, the band are all seen playing instruments as if it were a live performance. Philip Oakey said in 1983:

"The aim of the video is to show that we're a group who play music together ... This should help us in America where they believe we are a manufactured item mainly because we've never been live on TV there." [7]

Both the house (which was First Avenue, London E13 8AP) and surrounding area (Junction of 1st Avenue and 3rd Avenue) encompassed by the orange dot were completely painted orange, including a nearby Austin 1800 car. The video was conceived and directed by Steve Barron, who directed most of the Human League's early 1980s music videos. The band's scenes were all filmed in a studio; Susan Ann Sulley said[ when? ] that the house was still occupied by a family during the painting and filming of the external scenes. The house remained orange until being demolished in mid-1983.[ citation needed ]

Track listings

7-inch vinyl (Virgin – VS 569)

  1. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" – 3:39
  2. "Total Panic" – 3:23

12-inch vinyl (Virgin – VS569-12)

  1. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" (extended version) – 5:00
  2. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" (improvisation) – 6:15

Mini-CD (Virgin – CDT24)

  1. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" (extended 12-inch version) – 5:00
  2. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" (improvisation 12-inch dub) – 6:15
  3. "Total Panic" – 3:23
    • CD released in 1988

Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [31] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [32] Silver250,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

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References

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  2. 1 2 "none". NME . London, England. 9 April 1983. p. 32.
  3. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r9619
  4. ↑ Treble Staff (11 May 2020). "A History of Synth-Pop in 50 Essential Songs". Treble. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
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  7. ↑ "Smash Hits magazine April 28 - May 11, 1983 page 8". 31 March 2013.
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  13. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – (Keep Feeling) Fascination". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
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  15. ↑ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1965 – 1989 Acts H". The South African Rock Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
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  30. ↑ "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1983". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.. Cash Box magazine.
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  32. ↑ "British single certifications – Human League – Fascination". British Phonographic Industry.
  33. ↑ "Slow Mo". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2012– via YouTube.
  34. ↑ "08. Fascination (Siete Latidos 2001) OV7". 22 April 2011. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012– via YouTube.
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