Dare
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Album Summary
Dare was laid down in 1981 at Genetic Sound Studios in Reading, England, and released on Virgin Records that October — and baby, this record arrived like a thunderclap on a clear night. Produced by the visionary Martin Rushent working hand in hand with the band, the album came together under remarkable circumstances: founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh had walked out to form Heaven 17, leaving Philip Oakey and Adrian Wright to rebuild from the ground up. They brought in Jo Callis, Ian Burden, and the now-iconic vocal duo of Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, and what they created together was nothing short of a miracle. Rushent's masterful deployment of the Linn LM-1 drum machine alongside layers of Roland synthesizers gave Dare a precision and warmth that the band's earlier experimental work never quite touched — a sound so crisp and alive it practically leapt out of the speakers.
Reception
- Dare climbed all the way to number one on the UK Albums Chart and held court there, remaining on the chart for over 100 weeks and cementing itself as one of the best-selling British albums of 1981.
- The album delivered the era-defining smash 'Don't You Want Me,' which topped the charts in both the United Kingdom and the United States, catapulting The Human League into the stratosphere of international stardom.
- Critics embraced Dare as a landmark of synth-pop music, and the years have only deepened that reverence, with numerous major publications ranking it among the greatest British albums ever committed to vinyl.
Significance
- Dare stands as one of the cornerstone albums of the synth-pop genre, arriving at precisely the right moment to crystallize the sound of early 1980s electronic pop and lay down a blueprint that countless artists would spend the rest of the decade chasing.
- The album proved with undeniable authority that electronic, synthesizer-driven pop music could conquer the mainstream without losing its soul or artistic identity — a truth that helped legitimize an entirely new musical movement for a mass global audience.
- The production architecture of Dare — particularly Rushent's pioneering use of the Linn LM-1 drum machine married to cascading layers of synthesizers — became one of the most widely adopted templates in pop and electronic music throughout the 1980s and well beyond.
Samples
- Don't You Want Me — one of the most recognizable synth-pop recordings of its era, with its dramatic call-and-response vocal structure sampled and interpolated across numerous hip-hop and dance productions over the decades.
- Love Action (I Believe In Love) — sampled by various artists drawn to its lush, emotive synthesizer textures and driving rhythmic pulse.
- The Sound Of The Crowd — its propulsive electronic groove has been revisited and sampled by dance and electronic producers seeking that quintessential early-80s synth-pop energy.
Tracklist
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A1 The Things That Dreams Are Made Of 126
4:14
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A2 Open Your Heart 133
3:53
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A3 The Sound Of The Crowd 145
3:56
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A4 Darkness 122
3:56
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A5 Do Or Die 122
5:23
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B1 Get Carter 68
1:02
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B2 I Am The Law 94
4:14
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B3 Seconds 126
4:58
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B4 Love Action (I Believe In Love) 123
4:58
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B5 Don't You Want Me 117
3:56
Artist Details
The Human League burst onto the scene out of Sheffield, England back in 1977, bringing with them a cold, futuristic blast of synthesizer-driven new wave and synth-pop that felt like nothing the world had ever heard before. These cats built their sound entirely around electronic keyboards and drum machines at a time when most folks still thought real music had to have guitars, and their 1981 smash album Dare — featuring the undeniable "Don't You Want Me" — shot them straight to the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. They stand as true pioneers of the synth-pop movement, helping lay the foundation for an entire generation of electronic artists who followed in their wake.
