''The Human League Video Single'' is a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

compilation 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, released on VHS and

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

format tape. Marketed as a "video single", it was released in the UK in August 1983. It was the first "

video single A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

" to be released in the UK, designed to tap into the market created by the new and rapidly increasing popularity of domestic

videocassette recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape ...

s in the UK. Video albums had already been released earlier in the decade by bands such as Blondie,

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...

, and

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

, though these had far longer running times and were more expensive to buy. The retail price of the Human League's three-track ''Video Single'' (£10.99) was roughly half the cost of a full video album such as Blondie's ''

Eat To The Beat ''Eat to the Beat'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on September 28, 1979, by Chrysalis Records. The album was certified Platinum in the United States, where it spent a year on the ''Billboard'' 200. Peaking ...

'', but still hindered sales (by comparison, a 12" vinyl single in 1983 cost around £1.99). Despite this, the format began to gain popularity and by the end of the same year, other artists such as

Tears For Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath, England, in 1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the new wav ...

Blancmange Blancmange (, from french: blanc-manger ) is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with ...

, Kajagoogoo and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

had released videosingle EPs featuring three or four tracks priced at under £10. The Human League would go on to release a full video album in 1988 for their '' Greatest Hits compilation.

Track list

The Video Single was released after the success of the single "Mirror Man" which had reached number two in the UK single charts in December 1982, and "Mirror Man" is the title track, bundled together with the band's two previous biggest selling single videos. #" Mirror Man" #"

Love Action (I Believe in Love) "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" is a song by the British synthpop group The Human League, released as a single in the UK in July 1981. It became the band's first Top 10 success, peaking at number three in the UK Singles Chart. The song was ...

" #"

Don't You Want Me "Don't You Want Me" is a song by British synthpop group the Human League (credited on the cover as The Human League 100). It was released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album, '' Dare'' (1981). The band's best ...

References

External links

*http://www.the-black-hit-of-space.dk/mirror_man_video.htm The Human League video albums 1983 video albums Music video compilation albums 1983 compilation albums {{1980s-album-stub