it’s really not a steal, though it’s a great spot – the first half of each riff is similar, but Abba’s is more classic blues in origin, and the second half of theirs is a standard, and fairly uninteresting blues lick. The Human League’s is a much more defined melody in the second half and resolves strongly, which is why it’s so memorable.

Still (i) the riff melody’s *initial rhythm* is the same, (ii) the *initial notes* are essentially the same (pounding the A then noodling around it), and (iii) both riffs eventually resolve to Am. DYWM *starts* on Am too, so its As and noodles preserve a cleanly minor quality. Eagle’s initially on Em so its As and noodles significantly thicken the sound, giving the riff its brassy, adult quality. (Eagle’s officially about nature, but I’ve always thought of it as having quite a louche, almost druggy vibe about it too – the song scared me a little as a kid!)

Anyhow, in the grand scheme of things this is insignificant. I hear something, but it’s hardly Oasis-style strip-mining of influences!

I think the synth riff from DYWM actually adds something to the riff from Eagle; DYWM is more menacing (different key?) and the wrap-up at the end is different (and varies). I think I heard that Phil Oakey copied the lyrics from a photo love-story in a magazine.

DYWM has now become the unofficial theme-tune to the split of Ronnie Wood (65) and Ekaterina Ivanova (21).

NB – It’s “Stamp of a Vamp” isn’t it? Although “Lamp” is arguably better…

“Samson Oakey – who resembles Phil McNeill at the height of punk – needs to have a haircut and the stuffing knocked out of him. But it takes two to do it (duet) wrong. This could be a swinging little song if given to two black singers with GREAT VOICES. Phil and moll sound sallow and callow. So many people should be silent songwriters. You could be in folklore instead of on Top of the Pops. Look at Phil Spector. No, don’t look at him like that!

The Human League must stop using the singles chart as an agony column sometimes. And my scout tells me that there are no cocktail bars in Sheffield. And they’re too sensitive. They could learn a lot”

Burchill awarded no single of the week. Also reviewed that week;

Rip Rig & Panic – Bob Hope Takes Risks
Barry Manilow – The Old Songs
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Sweet Dreams
Kiki & Elton – Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever
Fogwell Flax & The Freehold Junior School – One-Nine For Santa
Gary Numan – Love Needs No Disguise
Madness – It Must Be Love
Vic Goddard – Stamp Of A Lamp

I’ve always wondered why no one seems to mention this. Perhaps it’s just so blatantly obvious that no one’s ever thought it worth mentioning.

I’d like to see Phil and the biscuit tin…

I seem to recall Alexei Sayle breaking into a few bars of “Don’t You Want Me” during one of his solo spots in a Young Ones episode.

The League were also immortalised in 2000AD as the name of an anti-robot movement in the “Sam Slade, Robo Slayer” strip.

(It was a single before Louise, but comes after it on Hysteria)

Maybe he helped her set up a PR business or something?

Maybe the bus is doubling as a dressing room / trailer on a film set?

I remember the first time I heard DYWM, playing on Radio One one afternoon in the hospital house I shared with the girlfriend I was about to leave. Still poignant for me and the cracked singing is what gives the songs that extra element of punctum, making it transcend the HL’s other singles to reach a wider audience and ensuring them their place at the top of the bill 25 years on.

RIK (putting ‘Dare’ on turntable): Let’s have some music! Who here likes The Human League?!

(The first second of ‘The Things That Dreams Are Made Of’ plays. Instantly a squad of policemen break into the room and smash up the album and the record player with their truncheons.)

POLICEMAN: Stop the noise! There’s been a complaint!

‘Dare’ was also the album that Lester Bangs was playing on the day that he died.

As I’ve said before, this era was my generation’s coming of age: chart pop was being made by people like us, and people like us were its primary audience. It’s curious that we’re almost halfway through the Popular story, and also at a point where my personal and social relationship with pop is peaking. I’ve always loved pop music, but mostly as an observer; perhaps this marks the point where I most felt like a participant.

(Actually, hold that thought: there’ll be another distinct and separate period to come, where I’ll feel equally connected.)

Anyhow, it’s a subjective 10 from me, over-played or not.

As for S.Sulley’s vocals, don’t read too much into their “cracked” quality – I recall reading that it took multiple takes to get her part down, and that the final version was stitched together from the best bits of these.