Earworms: The Human League "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"

A giddy little dance number about making the big decisions

I forgot to mention the idea of Earworms is simple. Certain songs take hold in my head, sometimes old, sometimes new, for reasons which may or may not be obvious. So, I’ll write stuff about them.

The story starts, for me at least, with a compilation album called Fast Product. Interestingly, the internet doesn’t acknowledge the American edition of this record that I bought used for like $2.99 sometime in 1980. But, the UK version has the same songs, all the early singles on Fast Records by the likes of Gang of Four, the Mekons, and the Human League. Gang of Four were already faves of mine, but the initial versions of their songs weren’t as full-sounding as I’d gotten used to, and I didn’t dig any of the other bands on the record – at the time. The Human League struck me as an amateurish version of David Bowie’s Low album, which, with the benefit of hindsight, is kind of interesting now for being recorded in 1978.

Sometime after their secondl record, two founding members left to form Heaven 17, and the Human League recruited Jo Callis, formerly of the Rezillos (who you’ll recall being mentioned in the last Earworms post). His pop sense helped push the band from plodding synthesizer-based rants to infectiously upbeat synthesizer-based dance songs. “Don’t You Want Me” was their big breakthrough, and I have nothing against that male/female oppositional look at lust and love. Quite like it, actually. But, I want to talk about my fave song by this band, “(Keep Feeling) Fascination.”

This was, as I recall, the follow-up single to “Don’t You Want Me,” released on an EP  in 1983 after the album Dare had slowed down in sales. It’s a glorious example of what could be done with synth-pop back in the days before standardization would set in. There is a oddly swirling keybord riff over a thumping bass line which, I think, is doubled on synth and electric bass. Four singers take turns delivering lyrics – Phil Oakey, the only constant member of the band,: Jo Callis; Susan Ann Sulley; and Joanne Catherall. Every once in a while, Oakey digs into a sort of doo-wop bass vocal that goes “Hey, Hey, hey, hey,” which adds a seeming fifth voice. The song modulates up a key for the chorus, By taking turns delivering the lyrics, the theme of figuring out what to do next in life gets reinforced, as we have to figure out who’s going to sing the next line, even as we’re kind of busy right now dancing. There’s also the bridge, always sung by Oakey – “And so the conversation turned / Until the sun went down / And many fantasies were learned / On that day.” It’s all kind of mysteriously sexy, and after 39 years, I still want to turn this thing up every time.