Just as Iggy Pop’s The
Idiot (1977) has the unique distinction of being the album Ian Curtis of
Joy Division listened to when he decided to end his life by hanging himself in
1981, the Human League’s most acclaimed work, Dare, has a distinction of being the last album rock critic Lester
Bangs listened to before dying of an overdose of Darvon (a sort of
tranquilizer), Valium, and Nyquil. People who make a living out of music
usually tend to die by it as well, thus making music a religion in of itself,
complete with martyrs and vehement disagreements about highly regarded ‘rock-deities.’
But as far as what Lester Bangs could have chosen to
overdose to, he could have done a lot worse. Of course, maybe it would better
of me to say that he shouldn’t have overdosed at all. However, I don’t have a
time machine to stop him from getting fucked on pharmaceuticals and cough
medicine. Nor do I have the ability to determine if Bangs listened to this
album strictly for writing a review or pleasure. I tend to lean more toward the
latter because this album was released about six months before Bangs’ fatal
overdose, so if he was planning on writing a review for it, he would have been
disappointingly late. But it does baffle me a bit when I think about how he
preferred traditional rock n’ roll music, with Lou Reed being his favorite
artist. So, consider this my review in honor of a fallen rock critic who passed
30 years ago, and an answer as to whether this would be a good album to die to.
Another aspect to the Human League’s career I found
particularly interesting is that out of all their 9 studio releases, this album
is the only one that was given above the 3-star average rating from Allmusic
(this one got the classic 5-star rating). This says to me that the Human League
is at least a consistently mediocre band who happened to perfect their formula
for just one album. Curiously enough, their latest studio work, released last
spring, still earned average reviews, but still carried their synthpop
methodology. Which brings me to my next point: while Dare wasn’t exactly groundbreaking for 1981 (considering that was
also the year David Byrne and Brian Eno released My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, which was one of the earliest albums
to feature sampling), their music definitely holds little to no relevance in
the 2010’s. To prove my point, if you are not my parents, Bob Roets, or
Jonathan Pulse, and you are reading this because you have a genuine interest in
Human League (like David Bowie, Trent Reznor, or the members of the Human
League themselves, for example), you deserve a five-spot from me. But if you
are one of the many who don’t usually read my reviews anyway, and especially
don’t know about the Human League, then viola! You are the vast majority.
You see, synthpop was a marvel back in the late 70’s and for
most of the 80’s as well, but the only traces of it can still be found in some
modern rap albums (Drake’s Take Care, and
especially Kanye West’s 808’s &
Heartbreak), and the occasional indie band that incorporates cheap Casio or
Sony synth keyboards. If anything, I believe the Human League are employing the
same equipment that Gary Numan used for 1979’s The Pleasure Principal (famous for his one hit wonder tune, “Cars”).
In fact, the whole album sounds much more like a poppier version of The Pleasure Principal, almost to the
point where my ears want to convince me that Dare is a plagiarized version of that album. However, for being a
superficially unoriginal album for 1981, with experienced ears, you would find it
does have the advantage of existing before most of the bands this album
probably inspired. The opening track, “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of,”
sounds like an early demo version of Depeche Mode’s “World in My Eyes,” a song
that was released about a full decade after Dare.
“The Sound of the Crowd” has a beat in the similar groove vein as “I Ran,” by A
Flock of Seagulls, who wouldn’t make it big with that one-hit wonder until
about a year later.
For all the pop sounds you would expect to find on this
album, you wouldn’t expect it to get as dark as it does. Take, “Darkness,” for
instance; not a profoundly original track title, but consider this lyric: “I
hesitate but it's too late/I scream and scream again/I hear colours black and
red/I see sounds that fill my head/I'll never read those books again/In
darkness/Where my dreams are all too clear.” The following track, “Do or Die,”
despite sounding upbeat, deals with a troublesome relationship where the singer
feels compelled to, “Run all day, run all night/Do or die, do or die/Got to run
for your life/Do or die, do or die.” It’s repeated often enough to make you
realize that the Human League is more than just another forgettable synthpop
experiment.
As the album closes on “Don’t You Want Me,” perhaps their
best known song and one-hit wonder, as it fades out, some of the hairs on the
back of my neck stand up to know that Lester Bangs was no longer living when
the needle skipped on the last groove of the album. Just like how the ending to
Iggy Pop’s “China Girl” hauntingly reminds me that Ian Curtis was undoubtedly
dangling from the ceiling of his kitchen by the time the needle of his record
player hit the final groove of side one of the record. It is rather unfair to
be the creators of a fine album, only to have part or the whole scope of its
legacy be overshadowed by the fact that someone prominent or obscure alike
chose to listen to it when they died. It almost creates this stigma for the
album, but admittedly, if I had mentioned nothing about it, you’d be none the
wiser. Maybe even pumped to listen. But do me a favor though: go on Wikipedia
and look up Iggy Pop’s The Idiot
(and/or read Pitchfork Media’s paragraph about why it is one of the best albums
of the 70’s) and then the article for this album. Notice how Ian Curtis’ death
is synonymous with The Idiot, and how
there’s almost no mention of Lester Bangs’ death tied to this album. In this
album’s case, it’s probably better to be a one-album wonder than an album
linked with foolish and unfortunate decisions.
Music: 7
Lyrics: 7
Length: 8
Meaning: 7
Significance: 8
Overall Impression: 7
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