sheffield 1978 - 1983

human league - circus of death (1978)


human league - path of least resistance (live BBC 1979)


cabaret voltaire - nag nag nag (1979)


cabaret voltaire - yashar (1983 remix - original came 1981)


In Düsseldorf, Germany, did Kraftwerk make five very influential albums between 1974 and 1981. Their music was totally electronic, clean and machine like. Often did their music celebrate different aspects of the modern world - the autobahn, radio, trains, robots and computers. In Sheffield, England, Richard H. Kirk - a member of the Young Communist League - and Chris Watson formed Cabaret Voltaire in 1973 and four years later Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Mars formed The Human League together with Philip Oakey. They were all influenced by A Clockwork Orange and Wendy (then Walter) Carlos electronic soundtrack to that movie. Other big influences were William S Burroughs, the British New Wave SciFi writer J. G. Ballard - especially his book The Atrocity Exhibition - and Brian Eno. Cabaret Voltairs and The Human Leagues music were much darker than Kraftwerks music. It showed the dirty backside of industrialization. When I listen to these four songs now - almost thirty years later - I'm surprised how vital and modern they still sound.