"The Sound of the Crowd" 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 The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

. It became the band's commercial breakthrough, reaching #12 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in May 1981.

Background

Written jointly by lead singer

Philip Oakey Philip Oakey (born 2 October 1955) is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter, and cofounder of British synth-pop band the Human League. Aside from the Human League, Oakey has enjoyed an e ...

and keyboard player Ian Burden, the song was recorded at Genetic Sound Studios, Reading, in March 1981. Originally released as a stand-alone single in April 1981, it was subsequently remixed and incorporated into the studio album '' Dare'', later in the year. "The Sound Of The Crowd" was the first Human League song to feature female vocals, from new band members

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 ...

, interacting with Philip Oakey's lead. Apart from the catchy imperatives such as "''Get in line now!''" and "''Get around town!''", the song contains some more obscure lyrics such as "''Make a shroud pulling combs through a backwash frame''" and "''Stroke a pocket with a print of a laughing sound''". Discussing the song in a 2009 interview Ian Burden said:

On The Sound of the Crowd I scribbled down some stream-of-consciousness words so that I could demonstrate the vocal parts to him (Oakey) without having to do the naff la-la-la-hum-hum-hum type of explanation. He went off and wrote a new chorus vocal, but surprisingly kept my verse lyrics!?

Release

The single was the first to feature a distinctive, though short-lived, marketing tactic, where Human League singles were labelled 'Red' or 'Blue' to help buyers differentiate between the band's musical styles. 'Red' was for dance tracks, 'Blue' for pop songs. "The Sound Of The Crowd" was designated 'Red'. When asked to explain the system, vocalist Sulley explained that "Red is for posers, for Spandy (

Spandau Ballet Spandau Ballet () were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids, playing "European D ...

) types." Oakey added: "Blue is for

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

fans." The group first appeared on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' to perform the song on 30 April 1981 when it was at no. 53 in the

. The single entered the UK Top 40 a week later at no. 34 and after three weeks it reached its peak position of no. 12. A second ''Top of the Pops'' performance took place on 21 May 1981 when the single was at no. 15.

B-side

The original 7" B-side "The Sound of the Crowd (Add Your Voice)" is an instrumental remix of the A-side, an edit of which was later used as the closing track of the remix album ''

Love and Dancing ''Love and Dancing'' is a remix album by English synth-pop band The Human League, released in July 1982 by Virgin Records. Issued under the band name "The League Unlimited Orchestra" as a nod to Barry White's disco-era Love Unlimited Orchestra, ...

'', issued in 1982 under the name of The League Unlimited Orchestra. A longer instrumental version of "The Sound of the Crowd" featured as the B-side to the 12" release, with certain localisations including "Dancevision", from the

Holiday '80 ''Holiday '80'' is an EP released by the original line-up of the British synthpop band The Human League. The EP was issued in the UK by Virgin Records in April 1980, a month before the release of the band's second album ''Travelogue''. The EP p ...

EP released the previous year.

Versions

Although the song would later appear on the band's ''Dare'' album, a remix of the track was included. The song in its original 7" mix appears on all The Human League's "Greatest Hits" compilation albums. The bonus remix disc issued with 2003's '' The Very Best of The Human League'' contains three different contemporary remixes of the song: "The Sound of the Crowd (Trisco's PopClash Mix)" "The Sound of the Crowd (Freaksblamredo)" "The Sound of the Crowd (Riton Re-Dub)" The '' Original Remixes & Rarities'' compilation album issued in 2005 includes the Complete or 12" version The 2012 edition of "Dare/Fascination!" contains the album version, the Extended or Complete version and the Instrumental version as featured on the original 1981 12" single. The song is sampled on Gorillaz's song "Ghost Train"

Track listing

; 7" vinyl (Virgin VS416) # "The Sound of the Crowd" – 3:55 # "The Sound of the Crowd (Add Your Voice)" – 3:01 ; 12" vinyl (Virgin VS416-12) # "The Sound of the Crowd (Complete)" – 6:32 # "The Sound of the Crowd (Instrumental)" – 4:11 ;12" vinyl EP (Canada only) (Virgin VEP 304) # "The Sound of the Crowd" – 6:25 # "Tom Baker" – 4:02 # "Boys and Girls" – 3:15 # "Dancevision" – 2:22 # "The Sound of the Crowd (Add Your Voice)" – 4:10 *Cassette (Virgin VEP4 304) has the same track listing.

Promotional video

No promotional video was made for the song, although recordings of TV performances from Top of the Pops (30 April 1981) and '' Later... with Jools Holland'' (25 November 1995) are included on the bonus DVD issued with '' The Very Best of The Human League''.

References

External links

Unofficial Human League Archive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sound Of The Crowd, The The Human League songs 1981 singles Song recordings produced by Martin Rushent Songs written by Philip Oakey Songs written by Ian Burden 1981 songs Virgin Records singles