human league circus of death

[lanceparker12]

I want reporters who like this band to interview them, and show everything in the interview, they deserve so much more limelight than they are getting in this modern pool of mud and filth. Human league are real talent and should be championed

[hasanrolf]

love and dancing by the (league unlimited orchestra) a dub version

of dare is an utter classic album.

why is it not recognised??? e mail me

[TheyKnowNoShame]

i listed as my favorite on a website profile McGarrett line oft spoken at end of episode "Bookem' Dano, Murder One" That is what i want to hear regards that CLOWN, "Bookem Dano, Murder One" A brilliant song, may be the best song HL ever recorded.MaxPhiladelphia.

[bunnykin]

Totally rad!

[nordicdata]

some of the best music ive ever heard shame they turned gay with there disco style gay stuff

[Anastasiya13J19]

this song made me never want to go to another circus again.

the song rules, though! i haven't heard it in months.

[hasanrolf]

ditto re age pal. buddah was a great tune.. also the league unlimited orchestra.. a dub version of the earlier album.

being boiled was a classic heavy tune

[hasanrolf]

ditto re age pal. buddah was a great tune.. also the league unlimited orchestra.. a dub version of the earlier album.

[wiskeydog100]

i went into a record store in blackpool agnd bought human leagues first single on vynel,i did not have clew wot it it was called and i had to hum the tune to the girl behinde the counter. she said you wont empire state human. big fan ever since. i am 51 years old long live human league

[Petard001]

Only synths.....

[Vispateresa3]

This song was a total surprise to me ... so different from the rest of their songs, thanks for posting.

[deedilyweedily1]

Best Human League Song EVER!!!! LOVE IT!!! :)

[eff901]

Pure H L.

Before the females........

[shawnrudiman]

its so sweet. the jupiter 4 sounds fantastic.

[EviLordProductions]

This song can be a great influence to art.

My art and design tutor plays this when everyone is at there painting what great music taste

[closertofiftythanyew]

A very British form of Kraftwerk. Always loved them, and their two departing offshoots, HL and H17. And I should know, being 49, and still having all of my teeth, slightly green, slightly Johnny Rotten

[colincoach]

Wow, never seen a video for this- probably best track on Reproduction, never had the chance to see original line-up live - one of my main regrets.

[lambie22]

God, I've seen this a million times and I still love it. This is their best song

[nosirrom14]

Brilliant was my fav. song for ages !!! class

[Animateme3D]

Their new album is called Credo produced by i-Monster. The first single is Night People.

[hermitageboy]

good song, and i always found the video bit spooky with those images of Norman Bates!

[skeletal13]

So much better than their better known pop stuff. I would have loved to have heard one more record from this lineup and era.

[mancavant]

the hair,,the voice,,the sound,,the future

pure brilliance

[urbanscubadiver1]

alot of you crack on like youse sum sort of top music critics!! i checked out wendy carlos and dik hymen..of which the latter just sounds like a made up smutty name :-).. and u gota be joking..these guys earleir tunes were spot on and even tho they "sold out" he he.....their commercial tunes are still goodies.....U K had it going on bak in them days......stop critising and just enjoy

[petrusaloisius]

great genius outstanding!

[seamed100]

just pure magic,far far ahead of there time,what vision they had.

[closertofiftythanyew]

in the same Manchester vein, Magazine,

watch?v=Om0jhPkOwhg

[closertofiftythanyew]

@closertofiftythanyew or should I have said Bolton Art College..., the same town as Fred Dibnah and his ladders?

[KTHREE31]

WOW! I missed out on a lot of MuziK. I was born in 76, but I Consider myself to be a 80'z Kid. I've alwayz liked HUMAN LEAGUE, now I luv'em & appreciate'em more as well as similar artist, 4 example: DEPECHE MODE, etc. Thanx 2 YouTube we can rediscover 80'z & 90'z KlassiKz. I don't consider 99% of anything from da late 90'z til today az MuziK, but rather, pure garbage. Off da subject, - What da FUCK iz wrong wit dese idiots who post repetitive comments on every page I read? It'z so annoying.

[F1Z1Kas]

Kraftwerk 2? 

[stoneygraved]

very much a Residents feel too... awesome post!! =)

[WalshNo5]

Well IMO Human League went rubbish after Travelogue - they only did two decent albums, although Dare is listenable I suppose. Anything elseafter that - not my thing.

[closertofiftythanyew]

@WalshNo5 1/2 of them went on to make the profetic album Penthouse and Pavement as Heaven 17. A far sighted description of 1980s coming yuppiedom, all braces and pony-tails and capitalist nonsense to come.

And Martyn Ware and Ian Craig-Marsh being excellent top blokes always helps too, with Phils ace sharp lyrics here. Glenns vocals in P 'n P were just right, just as Phils is in Dare, perfick!

[WalshNo5]

Well IMO Human League went rubbish after Travelogue - they only did two decent albums, although Dare is listenable I suppose. Anything elseafter that - not my thing.

[WalshNo5]

Well IMO Human League went rubbish after Travelogue - they only did two decent albums, although Dare is listenable I suppose. Anything elseafter that - not my thing. 

[caine7sfg]

Not one mention of John Foxx, who kicked it off for all of them..

[asxtc]

@caine7sfg You seem to have forgotten a few others that were "mooging" before John Foxx was. The likes of Wendy Carlos and Dick Hyman...Roxy Music were even at it before Ultravox! got thier hands on a Roland.

[FrederickHamilton]

@asxtc Ultravox used an Arp Odyssey for their signature synth sound.

[allis0nfaith]

love these videos but hate that cheesy intro tag! so annoying!

[zetsusama23]

@allis0nfaith ditto. XD

[Denture99]

So cool!!!!!! Electronic music just doesn't get better than this...those synths!! I wasn't even born when this was happening but I can hear where Hot Chip and Caribou get their inspiration from!

[amberrosejade]

love this

[RolandJP4]

This is a fine example of the creative talent and innovative use of synthesizers that made The Human League pioneers of British Electronic music. It's a shame Ware, Marsh, Oakey and Wright didn't achieve the commercial success that they deserved.

[MrMichalsky]

Sweetest Perfection ala Music for the Masses:)

[Animateme3D]

The Human League just got signed to UK's recording label Wall of Sound! New material (songs, videos, album etc.) expected sometime in 2010!!!!

[RochelleMG]

The cat is the best! You forgot another great new romantic band from then-Classix Nouveau

[petrusaloisius]

great ultravox like music from the early synth pop new romantic area. The greatest part of music history late 70s begin 80s . Japan, Ultravox, U2 Simple Minds, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, This band so great !!!!

[2009European]

Ultravox are my synthesizer gods !

U2 rulez to, but not synth !

[petrusaloisius]

Ok, maybe more new wave in the earlie years U2. Look to the early years and youll be suprised :)

[MrPhiloakey]

would like to hear that in a club and dance to it all night long

[2009European]

3 years before i was born, i`m born in oct 15 - 1981. I love synthesizer music/electronics. The great smooth synth sounds - who dominate this song, they funny with the cat

in the video to, the elegance, huge synthesizers, lot of eguitment in the studio, the pioneer of the synth/electronic

music !, and the "DARE" album from my birth, super music,

i just love it, better than drugs !

[muttleyboy]

An absolute classic, pure brilliance, the bass is fantastic.

[stilln68la]

this is the best track on reprodution.haven´t listenend to it for years but remember the words off by heart.

[truhgeoJ]

a-side being boiled

b- this .... psychotherapeutic.....

wish those creature back...

[DeusXLMII]

Kraftwerk were just only a Teutonian E-Junkie combo but The Early Human League the ultimate definition of Future & Vision!!!

[colonia8]

@Deus

Kraftwerk were just only a Teutonian E-Junkie combo ?????

No comment possible!

[CritterThing]

I've first heard the version by Project Pitchfork from the early 90s...

but the original is just as good as the one i've knowed before

[RolandMC4]

This is one of my favourite tracks from the Marsh/ Ware era, and demonstrates how innovative and creative they were. This is how electronic music was meant to sound. Far superior to the 'clean' synthetic sounds heard on Dare.

[birdycannyfly]

I agree. What puzzles me is why this type of song didnt gain chart success when Numans cars was at no1??

[asxtc]

Circus wasn't a mainstream release like Cars was. It was originally on the demo ep. It was huge in the underground clubs though, which is why it's still here i suppose. They did go a bit commercial later and even though the concerts were full of the new clean stuff...at least i got to hear The Monochrome Set.

[JoshBenstead]

I'm seeing them tonight at the IW festival

[lambie22]

the human league at their best... :)

[CHANNELOMD]

genius ,ta

[Shonkyboi]

wonderment :) - proper tune

[HereIsTheSexPistolsX]

This is awesome!

[okrim69]

... whole Reproduction...nice, fantastic, future

[goodysun]

This is the version from 'Reproduction' and as the original single was released in 1978, this version must have been '79. All the same, utterly brilliant and thanks for posting it.

[prlad85]

I had a girl from brasil listen to this song last year and she reffered to it as a scary song

[1O74]

not too many kraftwerk trax from pre 78 that sound like this really... more like john carpenter or tangerine dream.

[klausen12]

Pure evil !!!

[johnthemoment]

great song,along with i travel from simple minds..2 great bands in there early days..

[lec0roh]

Yes! Very much so, I agree! I have liked Human Leage for some years now but only last year did I get into their early stuff and over the last couple of weeks I have really got into Simple Minds' early material as well.

Don't you think that the League's "Gordon's Gin" is quite similar to Simple Minds "Theme for great cities"?

Roxy Music...there's another good one from this great era in music.

[joro0710]

i travel!excellent

[russolo]

Early Human League, the best.

[gogglygogol45]

My favorite HL song. What are the lyrics in this song referring to exactly?

[UpTheShakers]

Phil Oakey prefaces the single version of this song with this comment;

"This is a song called the circus of death.

It tells the true story of a circus we met.

The first two verses concern the actual arrival at heathrow airport of commissioner steve mcgarrett.

The third emotionally describes a map showing the range of the circus.

The fourth and fifth were extracted from an article in the guardian of march the 19th, 1962.

The last is a short wave radio message from the last man on earth."

[gogglygogol45]

I know about Oakey's explanation, I have the single. But what exactly was the "circus of death"? Is he referring to an incident he experienced?

[subscooby]

I went to a circus of death once. I have to say I prefer the kind with clowns, though.

[303shaunl]

Love the original stuff but still adore the 12" of Open Your Heart, mixes really well with Green Velvets I Want To leave My Body.

[sheffield1867]

sounds nearly as good as on my morris marina cassette

[303shaunl]

LOL = )

[FLORENT2222]

I love the sound of the analogic keyboards !!

so magic !!!!

[properbo65]

o my youth

[farerse]

music for intellectual people

[chema95011]

i must be weird, but the human league's albums i really like are 'reproduction' and 'travelogue'. i got the human league's greatest video hits a few years ago, which included the video for circus of death. i instantly loved the song and the video, and i thoughr: "wow, a whole album with this sound must be fantastic".

[farerse]

yummy great sounds

[Mootsycat]

Je n'aime pas spécialement Human league mais cette chanson je l'adore je l'écoutait quand j'avais 15 ans quel bonheur merci you tube d'exister et de rendre cette biblio possible

Mootsycat

[bitch7719]

i dont love human league, i love this song. oh my god. and the clip isss... beauty beauty

[mikvee]

Personal preference....prefer this, not the League with the gils.

[asphodeline]

I'm completely with you on that personal preference. Nothing against the girls but the later songs were too poppy for me.

[niswel]

yes, the early songs was so much more innovative and interesting! Truly sensational stuff!

[Noragirlie63]

agree whole heartedly, I didn't buy the albums they did (or singles - yikes SINGLES!!) after they broke up and the Human League were not the same at all - I like Reproduction and Travelogue best..

[BearBabyB]

Wow! It was great seeing members of Heaven 17 in this video. Thanks for posting it.

[majosoli]

Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh founded HUMAN LEAGUE together with its lead singer Phil Oakey in the late 70ies

[KasiaStalmach]

When I was a kid I was scared of this song

[asxtc]

That made me laugh.

When this came out it was the in sound to have playing at parties...i was about 17-18 at the time.

[lec0roh]

Brilliant - a really well produced song.

[bigzigzag44]

this is good

[leaoverd]

ahah pois é travelogue melhor cd de sempre dos human league

[Wehategod]

Wow I have heard being Boiled before and this sound really new. Amazing and they are only known for Don't you want me, Fasnation , and Electric dreams.

[CenobyteVette]

Not "electric dreams", that was Oakley without the rest of the band, with Georgio Moroder :-)

[Wehategod]

Oh yeah i almost forgot

[Shropshire67]

There was one before this album " the Dignity of Labour" oh! and it's Oakey

[carrollkrc]

How wrong you were!!

no your fault

you only hear what mainstream wants you to hear, This sound was an undergrounD phenomenom in UK circa 79 80

but hey it its great!!!!!

[retrosound72]

Awesome song!

[soundmanhaven]

yeah is:}

[metamatics]

Love this song. and a great vid.

[aetherealism]

very cool

[colin5765]

absolut brill, their best track !

[SSEanBarr]

the HUMAN LEAGUE were an AWESOME BAND and just 1 more example of how music was truly amazing compared to today.I mean from around '77 to 85'. You have many creative geniouses flowing out with music

[funkster37]

have to agree totaly with the years in question from a 42yr old man stuck in that time

[neostriderbzk]

quite avant-garde production for a broke band

[bevrocksjared]

love their old stuff then they went pop!!!

[andyralphs]

sorry meant to say bside of 'Being Boiled'

Fast Records 1978 in mono

memory going

[andyralphs]

it actually came out originally as a b/side to dignity of labour before reproduction was released - how did they ever split into 2 bands??

[MetalFrenchie]

I know that they based this on a true experience, but can somebody explain to me what they meant in this song? I can't seem to understand the lyrics lol.

Cheers!

[marksheehan7]

Can somebody tell me which early HL album this song is on ?

[Darkvampiree]

Reproduction album from 1979.

[ajittffcure]

The first Human League album- 'Reproduction'. Amazing stuff. You won't regret if you buy that album... probably by now you already have that album!

[FLORENT2222]

Phil, not your best haircut !!

great song anyway

[MetalFrenchie]

He has lush hair! <3

[1moreon]

yeh apparently he was running short for time and had to get the other half done after the show.

[cupcakesmurf]

Cool video - reminds me of Carnival of Souls (the movie). I hadn't heard the early Human League till just now.

[heihoc]

the album reproduction is the best one they have done. but my favourite on this LP is still medival. Great stuff - things for posting it.

[hrtggpx]

uh, this is most fvrt in early HL songs for me. Thx posting.

[joshmutush]

i <3 the HL so much, the best bands around

<3

[Plancton2006]

the first couple of human league albums were really good and "undergroundish". what a shame that they turned to mainstream crap after that.....

[Thegreatnaboo]

And sold milions

[cmdraven]

Just because it sold millions doesn't necessarily mean it's good.

[Gnomers]

or bad...

[landibabe]

and it never sold millions! it was only a few thousands!

[ellycat]

True. Would you rather stay 'underground' or be as rich as fuck?

[flicker66]

It sure is! It's from their debut album (on Virgin, 1979) Reproduction as is another track on here, Empire State Human. This is classic early League. I prefer Martyn Ware with a beard! Their debut single - released on Sheffield indie label Fast Product - had a version of this on the b-side which starts with a spoken introduction by Phil Oakey and features some pseudo-garbage about "being dead pretty soon"! Top stuff anyway.

[mesmoland]

This is the ablum track mimed

[TheresonlyoneGwen]

Hey the cat rules man! intelligent creature for an intelligent band. I do so love the intellectual technician look.Just why was there so much cool stuff around in the 1970s??? that is the mystery question...

[BlaargZ]

The media was less involved and new stuff was spread by word of mouth. Meaning more individuality and originality as kids could come up with their own sound and record it without record bosses telling them to do it like everyone else. That's why the music 'industry' is just that today: a market only, with precious real talent. There's still loads of genuine talent out there but it's swallowed up by the conformation. Just my two pence...

I feel sorry for kids of today - no real voice :(

[Mojit069]

tidy response mate... I know the industry intimately and you are right on the money.. talent versus marketable dollars.. guess who wins..? it's a joke

[spikehillman]

fantastic video however oakley pinched the hair style from a guy in the rotherham band my pierrot dolls

[djbethell]

That cat finally gets recognition for those worthy opening vocals. Bless!

[mancavant]

the guy with the beard is martyn ware.

does anyone know were this was recorded,the old human league kick ass

[colin5765]

repro, travelogue and being boiled era was the best, very forward thinking lyrics and new sounds, thanks Human league.

saw you all in Sheffield once in a club long time ago.

[fjkej]

man this video is really awesome, i cant stop watching. nice picture and colors!!! sweet music!

i <3 it!

[fjkej]

man i love this song!! thanks so much for the upload!! human league forever!

[mrpeepants]

wel;l its just my opinion but i liked the black hole of space

[bgoubler]

This video is a perfect example of what most people think of as "80s" is really 1978-80....

[Electravox]

Who is the guy with the beard?

[WalshNo5]

This Human League is much better than stuff before Dare and when they became famous !! Also adore Being Boiled.  Reproduction and Travelogue are amazing albums.

[southiland]

Damn how good this is. Love it, love it. One of my favo. Thanks for giving it to me.

[therezabizarre]

when your reading this mario FUCK OFF YOU TWIT!!!! LOL..THIS SONG ACTUALLY SOUNDS VERY VERY MODERN AND COMMERCIAL NOW...

[mrpeepants]

marry me

[helenahandcart]

Summer has no nose.

How does he smell?

Awful!

(Sorry...I couldn't resist.)

What a peculiar place to find a chain letter! There are no American Idol contestants in this video, and at no point does Phil Oakey put some Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke. I'm rather confused. On the bright side tho, apparently I don't have long to live...

[helenahandcart]

Oops...that was meant to be a response to the chain letter below. Sorry. :P

[Noragirlie63]

yeah right....

[Paddywack0]

Thanks for the upload. This and the original Being Boiled 1st got me into Human League and it is still the best stuff.

Excellent.

[ludocrat]

I know this one pretty well and I've always thought the Hawaii Five-O stuff was a bit nerdy/corny. I dunno. I suppose it's as good a nuclear war piece as any...'experimental' I guess you'd call it. Great upload, though!

[alanbyond]

we don't need vampire sluts, kitsch deadbones or carott in the ass to make "dark" music.

[systemiens]

pas mal quand même

[musicheadz]

Dark and gloomy. Very interesting video.