"Boys and Girls" is a song by the British

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

group The Human League. It was released as a stand-alone single in the UK in February 1981 and peaked at number 48 in the UK Singles Charts. It was written by lead singer Philip Oakey and the band's visual director / keyboard player Philip Adrian Wright. It was the first single released by the new Human League line-up of Oakey, Wright together with new teenage dancers Susanne Sulley (now called

Susan Ann Sulley Susan Ann Sulley (born 22 March 1963), formerly known as Susanne Sulley and Susan Ann Gayle, is an English singer who is one of the two female vocalists in the synth-pop band The Human League. Born and raised in Sheffield, England, as a schoo ...

) and

Joanne Catherall Joanne Catherall (born 18 September 1962) is an English singer who is one of two female vocalists in the English synth-pop band The Human League. In 1980, Catherall was a 17-year-old school girl when she and her best friend Susan Ann Sulley w ...

, although the latter two did not perform on the record and only appear on the picture sleeve. The new line-up formed after the acrimonious departure of Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh from the band four months earlier.

Background

By late 1980 Oakey was deeply in debt to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

so both he and the label were keen that he release a single to start clearing that debt as early in 1981 as possible. "Boys and Girls" was a song that had been used on the November 1980 European tour. On return from the tour it was recorded quickly and rushed out by Virgin Records in late February 1981.

Release

The single was initially issued in a gatefold picture sleeve although contained a single 7" disc only with the instrumental track "Tom Baker" as the B-side. After a limited gatefold run it was released in a regular picture sleeve. At the time it was remarked on that Sulley and Catherall were missing from the song, after the mythology that had been started in the media about their recent recruitment to the band from the

Crazy Daisy Nightclub The Crazy Daisy Nightclub was a discothèque and dance club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England in the mid-1970s to late 1980s, located originally on the corner of York Street and High Street, Sheffield. It was known as The Beer Keller in t ...

four months earlier. This was because they had both returned to school full-time and "Boys and Girls" was originally written without any female vocals. Although both Sulley and Catherall do feature on the record sleeve artwork and publicity material. Reviewing the single in the NME, Stuart Maconie remarked: Reviewing the single for

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

, critic

David Hepworth David Hepworth (born 27 July 1950) is a British music journalist, writer and publishing industry analyst who was instrumental in the foundation of a number of popular magazines in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Along with the journalist, editor and b ...

stated "Sometimes I wonder whether these boys (and nowadays girls) seriously crave a hit or not" and invited the band to "Shape up"

Legacy

With the benefit of hindsight critics now state that 'Boys and Girls' belongs to the earlier pre split Mk 1 Human League experimental electronic sound of '' Travelogue''. It would be the last time that style was produced by the band as they evolved towards the

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album sound within months.
Both "Boys and Girls" and the B side "Tom Baker" were included on the 2003 remastered reissue of the ''Travelogue'' album in 2003.
Although the song was never included on any of the group's hit singles compilation albums, it did feature on the career-spanning "A Very British Synthesiser Group" anthology.

Track listing

; 7" vinyl (Virgin VS395) # "Boys and Girls" – 3:12 # "Tom Baker" – 3:58

References

External links

Unofficial Human League Database
* {{authority control The Human League songs 1981 singles Songs written by Philip Oakey Songs written by Philip Adrian Wright 1981 songs Song recordings produced by John Leckie Virgin Records singles