The Human League Video Single is a music video compilation by the British synthpop group The Human League, released on VHS and Betamax format tape. Marketed as a "video single", it was released in the UK in August 1983.
It was the first "video single" to be released in the UK, designed to tap into the market created by the new and rapidly increasing popularity of domestic videocassette recorders in the UK. Video albums had already been released earlier in the decade by bands such as Blondie, Electric Light Orchestra, and Duran Duran, though these had far longer running times and were more expensive to buy.
The retail price of the Human League's three-track Video Single (£10.99) was roughly half the cost of a full video album such as Blondie's Eat to the Beat, but still hindered sales (by comparison, a 12" vinyl single in 1983 cost around £1.99). Despite this, the format began to gain popularity and by the end of the same year, other artists such as Tears For Fears, Blancmange, Kajagoogoo and Elton John had released videosingle EPs featuring three or four tracks priced at under £10.
The Human League would go on to release a full video album in 1988 for their Greatest Hits compilation.
Track listing
The Video Single was released after the success of the single "Mirror Man" which had reached number two in the UK single charts in December 1982, and "Mirror Man" is the title track, bundled together with the band's two previous biggest selling single videos.
A music video, sometimes abbreviated to M/V, is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. These videos are typically shown on music television and on streaming video sites like YouTube, or more rarely shown theatrically. They can be commercially issued on home video, either as video albums or video singles. The format has been described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip", "film clip" or simply "video".
Duran Duran are an English new wave band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year, the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor and lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.
The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album Dare in 1981 after restructuring their lineup. The album contained four hit singles, including the UK/US number one hit "Don't You Want Me". The band received the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act in 1982. Further hits followed throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, including "Mirror Man", "(Keep Feeling) Fascination", "The Lebanon", "Human" and "Tell Me When".
Blondie is an American rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Their first two albums contained strong elements of punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the U.S. until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next four years, the band achieved several hit singles including "Heart of Glass," "Call Me," "Atomic," "The Tide Is High," and "Rapture". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, also incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, and early rap music.
Rio is the second studio album by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 10May 1982 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, the band wrote and demoed most of the material before recording the album at AIR Studios in London from January to March 1982. The band utilised more experimentation compared to their debut album, from vibraphone and marimba to the sound of a cigarette being lit and cracking ice cubes. Andy Hamilton played a saxophone solo on "Rio".
Duran Duran is the debut studio album by the English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 15June 1981 through EMI. Produced by Colin Thurston, it was recorded in London and Oxfordshire between December 1980 and January 1981. The instrumental tracks were recorded quickly, but vocalist Simon Le Bon initially struggled to sing in the studio, leading to discussions about replacing him before EMI employee Dave Ambrose intervened.
10cc are an English rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – who had written and recorded together since 1968. The group featured two songwriting teams. Stewart and Gouldman were predominantly pop songwriters, who created most of the band's accessible songs. Godley and Creme were the predominantly experimental half of 10cc, featuring art and cinematically inspired writing.
Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music video with the single "An Englishman in New York". After this, they became involved in the production of videos for artists such as Ultravox, the Police, Yes, Duran Duran, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Wang Chung, as well as directing the groundbreaking video for their 1985 single "Cry". The duo split at the end of the 1980s. Both have since been involved in music videos, TV commercials, and sporadic music projects.
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Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the English synth-pop band The Human League, released on 31 October 1988 by Virgin Records. It contains 13 singles released by the band, spanning from their debut single to their most recent album at the time, as well as lead singer Philip Oakey's collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, "Together in Electric Dreams". The album reached No. 3 in the UK.
"Love Action (I Believe in Love)" is a song by the British synthpop group The Human League, released as a single in the UK in July 1981. It became the band's first Top 10 success, peaking at number three in the UK Singles Chart.
"Mirror Man" is a 1982 song by the British synthpop group The Human League. It was released as a single in the UK on 12 November 1982 and peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. It was written jointly by lead singer Philip Oakey with keyboard players Jo Callis and Ian Burden, and produced by Martin Rushent.
Greatest Hits is a CD/DVD compilation album by the band Blondie released in the UK on November 8, 2005 and internationally on March 6, 2006. It peaked at number 48 on the UK Albums Chart and charted for 7 weeks. This was the first Blondie hits package to combine the CD and DVD formats.
The Human League Greatest Hits is a compilation music video by the British Synthpop group The Human League released VHS and Laserdisc.
Deborah Ann Harry is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached No.1 on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
"Love Is All That Matters" is a song by British synthpop group the Human League. It was the third single to be taken from their fifth studio album, Crash (1986). It was released in 1986 in the US, where it did not chart, but not until two full years after the album on 3 October 1988 in other territories, to promote the band's Greatest Hits album.
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