By
Laura Rowe
From the Bristol Chronicle, first
published Friday 7th Sept 2007.
Not many bands can claim to have had numerous platinum
albums, eight top ten singles, and one of the most iconic songs of the last
century - Human League can. Don't You Want Me was not only played into every
sweaty 1980s disco but even today it is still stuck in our heads.
Thirty years on from when the band was first created Phillip Oakey, Susan Ann
Sulley and Joanne Catharell are still going strong and performing in sell-out
tours across Britain and Europe.
I was intrigued to find out the secret to their success and Susan told me:
"I don't know why we have had such longevity as a band. The three of us
just wanted to make music and were never interested in the celebrity side of it.
"Many times we thought about splitting up, but with three of us, luckily
we never all had the same thought to break up at the same time.
"We lead very separate lives but we are very good friends and very good
colleagues and are loyal to each other."
Human League have been labeled pioneers of electronic
sound and innovators of pop and their sound and music still has weighty
influence in today's charts.
Susan revealed what they thought of their immense success at the peak of their
influence in the 1980s.
"We knew what we were doing was unusual and we got huge hostility with
the album Dare and we had numerous meetings trying to get us to use 'real'
guitars and 'real' drums, but we were very no!"
"We never thought that it would last and we never went out to make it last.
"Adults are revisiting the old songs and are introducing their children to them
too."
Many, from Moby to David Bowie, have noted the influence
the band has had.
With such acclaim and high regard it seems hard to believe that such world-wide
superstars could possibly stay normal.
But Susan was quick to explain why: "We were normal. We are all
surrounded by people from Sheffield and we didn't get caught up in the showbiz
music scene or do drugs or anything like that.
"We are lucky to lead normal lives.
"We can play to 10,000 at night and be anonymous going shopping in the day - we
have the best of both worlds."
It seems the perfect lifestyle, pop kings and queens without the modern-day
celebrity baggage - but it wasn't always highs for the supercool band.
"I hated the 1980s, it was horrible. I never wanted to be famous. I love
the music and I love the performing but it just snowballed.
"We were just little people from Sheffield making music and then Don't You Want
Me came out and it just catapulted us into immense fame.
"We were often away from home and it could get very lonely.
"The worst bit was then living up to the success in the studio.
"It was only in 1995 when Octopus came out that I felt in control and the past
ten years I have really enjoyed."
Susan and Joanna were plucked from obscurity at the young
age of 17, when Phillip Oakey saw them dancing in a local Sheffield disco.
The striking girls were picked as the replacement for band
founders Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who left in 1980. They have since
become integral to Human League's distinctive sound and look.
Although they were labeled at the time as dancers and incidental singers, Susan
has always felt a valued and important member of the group.
She said: "The only thing that mattered to
me was being in the group and we have always been very democratic.
"We never felt unimportant, we would have left otherwise, and Phillip
has always supported us.
"We all get paid the same amount and always have done - it has been working all
right and we don't really care what people think about us!"
Thirty years on the Human League are as popular as ever
and I asked how they have managed to draw in generation after generation of
fans.
"We try to make music for normal people. If you listen to Phillip's
lyrics we are talking to nine-to-five normal people.
"After all we are just ordinary people in an extraordinary job.
"I think we are still here because once you believe the hype you might as well
give up - for us it has always been about the music."
With a huge catalogue of records I wondered whether the
classic Don't You Want Me was an irritation or a cherished favourite of Susan's.
"It isn't my favorite but I love playing it and I love the audience's
reaction when we play it.
"At the V Festival a few years ago I didn't even have to open my mouth: the
audience just sang my part for me, I almost cried. It was just fantastic.
"They were still singing it as Amy Winehouse went on and she said to me 'I'm
going to have to work hard aren't I!'"
So, when will they stop?
Susan said: "We are not planning to stop
any time soon, we have mortgages to pay. We'll only stop when people stop coming
to see us.
"We do it because we love it and it's all we know - to get out, dance about and
sing our songs.
"We are very lucky and how can we complain, we have the best job in the world!"