BCB Hall of Suck: Dare - The Human League

[Davey the Fat Boy]

Nominated by Moddie

Voting will be allowed for 7 days. You may change your vote any time within the 7 days.

Current Hall of Suck inductees:
Press to Play - Paul McCartney 96%
Ecce Cor Meum - Paul McCartney 95%
Off The Ground - Paul McCartney 88%
Liverpool Oratorio - Paul McCartney 87%
Pipes of Peace - Paul McCartney 86%
Standing Stone - Paul McCartney 86%
Knocked Out Loaded – Bob Dylan 85%
Wings At The Speed of Sound - Paul McCartney & Wings 84%
Diamond Jack & the Queen of Pain - Kevin Ayers 83%
Working Classical - Paul McCartney 82%
London Town - Paul McCartney & Wings 78%
Dylan – Bob Dylan 70%
Saved – Bob Dylan 68%
15 Big Ones - The Beach Boys 67%
McCartney II - Paul McCartney 67%
Down In The Groove – Bob Dylan 66%
Empire Burlesque – Bob Dylan 65%
Driving Rain - Paul McCartney 64%
Back to the Egg - Paul McCartney & Wings 64%
Shot of Love – Bob Dylan 63%
Under The Red Sky – Bob Dylan 63%
You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand 60%
Brain Salad Surgery - ELP 60%
Christmas In The Heart – Bob Dylan 60%
Brothers In Arms – Dire Straits 57%
Wild Life - Paul McCartney & Wings 57%
The Red Shoes - Kate Bush 56%
Memory Almost Full - Paul McCartney 55%
Снова в СССР - Paul McCartney 52%
Flaming Pie - Paul McCartney 51%
(Percentages to be calculated)
Terrapin Station - Grateful Dead
Tonight - David Bowie
Never Let Me Down - David Bowie
Tin Machine - Tin Machine
Tin Machine II - Tin Machine
Black Tie, White Noise - David Bowie
Earthling - David Bowie
Hours - David Bowie
Levitate - The Fall

[Goat Boy]

One of the greatest pop albums ever made

[The Modernist]

[i
Nominated by Moddie

Nominated by you I think you'll find.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

You favorably compare a Hall nominee to another record - you automatically nominate that record.

[naughty boy]

One of the greatest pop albums ever made

It's magnificent. You've got four of the greatest singles of the era - that alone qualifies it as far as I'm concerned. But then there's 'Seconds', for fuck's sake!

There might be two tracks I could live without, but I could say the same thing about Pepper.

Does not "suck" in any right-thinking person's world.

[fange]

Whoever is organizing these HoS nominations has got their shit mixed up badly here - Dare is brilliant. While there's always the odd cloth-eared cretin who might want to dispute this, they are clearly wrong.

[The Write Profile]

Whoever is organizing these HoS nominations has got their shit mixed up badly here - Dare is brilliant. While there's always the odd cloth-eared cretin who might want to dispute this, they are clearly wrong.

I love the sheer brazenness of the record: the way it immediately fires on all cylinders from "What Dreams Are Made Of". And yet the snyths often sound modern and strangely primitive at the same time ("Don't You Want Me" and "Love Action" notwithstanding). The vocals are often deliberately flat, yet somehow the group makes this work, it's an advantage rather than a hindrance: they seemingly cut through the occasional abrasiveness of the music. Perhaps this is down to the fact that fundamentally, the melodies are actually pretty strong, as evidenced in the "instrumental only" partner record, Love And Dancing.

[fange]

^ Yep. Its strengths - bold instrumentation and deeply hooky, strong songs - way overcome any of the things which might be faults in lesser records.

[Minnie the Minx]

Also they're from Yorkshire. Win

[fange]

Always with the Yorkshire with you...

[fange]

I've got Davey's back in the Dare match-up. Never saw what the fuss was about with that one.

[fange]

The Human League or ABC or... God, there were so many... are the UK equivalent of Styx, or Journey. The Britons who were of age at the time can wax nostalgic all they want, just like Americans of a certain vintage. One is not necessarily better than the other - but I'm sure I'll be deluged with opinions to the contrary any minute now.

[fange]

The Human League or ABC or... God, there were so many... are the UK equivalent of Styx, or Journey. The Britons who were of age at the time can wax nostalgic all they want, just like Americans of a certain vintage. One is not necessarily better than the other - but I'm sure I'll be deluged with opinions to the contrary any minute now.

"Better" is a tricky word, sure; but if you were to give me Dare or Lexicon of Love and any Journey album... well, i know which i would say is better. And i'm a Greek-Aussie who grew up with all those bands in real time.

[naughty boy]

Matt's point about nostalgia rings true.

But what makes the Human League different from those other bands is that they had a very strong image, and they were creating music that was original and new. Whatever you think about Styx and Journey, I don't think you can argue they were doing either of those things. They were faceless, and despite all their success they weren't offering anything musically novel.

[toomanyhatz]

It is very much "not my thing," but no - in positively no way does it suck.

[Davey the Fat Boy]

It’s fine for what it is...but I don’t really care for what it is.

It isn’t the fact that it’s electronic music. It’s the approach to electronic music that I don’t enjoy.

Yeah - there’s some nostalgic charm to the old school synth sounds involved, and the songs aren’t devoid of melodic appeal. But I hate the singing, and I hate the long, soupy synth patches (I’m generally more attracted to more percussive synth sounds, if I’m going to listen to this kind of music).

Ultimately it’s just an unattractive noise to my ears., I could happily live without ever hearing it again.

[Fonz]

Good record. On my iPhone. Therefore it must have class

[Darkness_Fish]

It's not as good as earlier, better synthpop acts such as Kraftwerk, Thomas Leer & Robert Rental, Fad Gadget, and The Human League before Dare. But it absolutely does not suck.

[Your Friendly Neighbourhood Postman]

I voted on instinct -

into the hall. A wrong move. After I'd voted, I realised that I like their Love & Dancing LP a lot. That one I bought unheard after an ecstatic review by Paul Morley, in the NME.

So I stand corrected by myself.

Consider my decision irrelevant, please.

[Minnie the Minx]

Consider my decision irrelevant, please.

We didn't need reminding, but thanks.