| "Don't You Want Me" | ||||||||||
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| Single by The Human League | ||||||||||
| from the album Dare | ||||||||||
| Released | 27 November 1981 16 October 1995 (remix) |
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| Format | 7" single, 12" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||||||||
| Genre | New Wave Synthpop |
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| Length | 3:52 | |||||||||
| Label | Virgin | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Philip Oakey Jo Callis Philip Adrian Wright |
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| Producer | Martin Rushent | |||||||||
| Certification | US: Gold UK: Platinum |
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| The Human League singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Don't You Want Me" is a single by British synthpop group Human League, released from their album: Dare on 27 November 1981. It is the band's best known and most commercially successful recording to date, and was the Christmas number one in the UK, in 1981, where it sold over 1,400,000 copies, making it the 25th most successful single in UK Singles Chart history.[1] it later topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on July 3, 1982 where it stayed for three weeks.
The title is frequently misprinted by the media and by covering artists;[2] the correct song title is "Don't You Want Me"; not "Don't You Want Me Baby", which is the chorus.
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The lyrics were originally inspired after lead singer Philip Oakey read a story in a "trashy US tabloid". Originally conceived and recorded in the studio as a male solo, Oakey was inspired by the film A Star Is Born and decided to turn the song into a conflicting duet with one of the band’s two teenage female vocalists. Susan Ann Sulley was then asked to take on the role. Up until then, she and the other female vocalist Joanne Catherall had only been assigned backing vocals; Sulley says she was chosen only through "luck of the draw".[3] Musicians Jo Callis and Philip Adrian Wright created a synthesizer score to accompany the lyrics which was much harsher than the version that was actually released. Initial versions of the song were recorded but Virgin Records-appointed producer Martin Rushent was unhappy with them. He and Callis remixed the track, giving it a softer, and in Oakey's opinion, "poppy" sound. Oakey hated the new version and thought it the weakest track on Dare, resulting in one of his infamous rows with Rushent.[4] Oakey disliked it so much that it was relegated to the last track on the B side of the (then) vinyl album.
Before the release of Dare, two of its tracks—"The Sound of the Crowd" and "Love Action (I Believe in Love)"—had already been released as successful singles. To promote the new album, Virgin released "Open Your Heart" in October 1981, which hit #6 in the UK Singles Chart. With a hit album and three hit singles in a row, Virgin's Chief Exectutive Simon Draper decided to release one more single from the album before the end of 1981. His choice, "Don't You Want Me", instantly caused a row with Oakey who did not want another single to be released because he was convinced that "the public were now sick of hearing The Human League" and the choice of the "poor quality filler track" would almost certainly be a disaster, wrecking the group's new found popularity. Virgin were adamant that a fourth single would be released and Oakey finally agreed on the condition that a large colour poster accompany the 7" single, because he felt fans would "feel ripped off" by the 'substandard' single alone.[5]
"Don't You Want Me" was released in the UK on 27 November 1981. To the amazement of the band (and especially Oakey[6]), it shot to number one on the UK charts. This success was repeated six months later in the U.S., with "Don't You Want Me" hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Billboard magazine ranked it as the sixth-biggest hit of 1982. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA the same year for sales of a million copies.
The Human League often added cryptic references to their productions and the record sleeve of “Don’t You Want Me” featured the suffix of “100”. This was a reference to The 100 Club, a restaurant/bar in Sheffield.[7]
Today, the song is widely considered a classic of its era. Oakey still describes it as overrated, but acknowledges his initial dismissal was misguided and claims pride in the track.
An urban myth has grown around the song that it is autobiographical, this is untrue. Susan Ann Sulley is often irritated that she constantly has to refute the mistaken belief that the song is a reference to her and Joanne Catherall joining the band. At only 17 years old when the song was recorded, she was legally too young by UK law to have been a cocktail waitress and was, in fact, still in Secondary School. Oakey is also at pains to point out another misconception, that it is not a love song, but "a nasty song about sexual power politics" .[8]
The song was remixed and re-released in 1995, peaking at #16 on the UK chart.[9]
In 1981 record company Virgin were becoming aware that promotional music video was evolving into an important marketing tool, with MTV being launched that year. Because it was agreed that the video for Open Your Heart had looked "cheap and nasty", Virgin commissioned a much more elaborate and expensive promotional video for "Don't You Want Me".
The video for the song was filmed in Slough during November 1981 and has the theme of the filming and editing of a murder-mystery film, featuring the band members as characters and production staff. Due to it being a "making of" video, both crew and camera apparatus appear throughout. It was conceived and directed by filmmaker Steve Barron, and has at its core the interaction between a successful actress (also a 2nd negative cutter) played by Susan Ann Sulley walking out on 'film director' Philip Oakey on a film set. It is loosely based on the film A Star Is Born. Near the end of the video, Wright, who also plays a film editor, has an expression on his face, while the camera pulls back to reveal that the negative room where Oakey, Wright, and Sulley were working in is another set (the camera can be seen in the mirror's reflection).
Filmed on a cold, wet, winter night, it was shot on 35mm film instead of the cheaper video tape prevalent at the time. Susan Sulley states now that Steve Baron was heavily influenced by the cinematography of the video for the Ultravox single "Vienna". Steve Baron was also influenced by François Truffaut and his film Day for Night; and because of that the clapper board seen in the video bears the inscription "Le League Humaine" as a tribute to Truffaut.
The video is credited for making Oakey, Sulley and Catherall visual icons of the early 1980s; but became controversial later for a scene where Jo Callis shoots Catherall (and later in the video repeated with Oakey shooting Sulley) with a pistol from a car window (a Saab 99 turbo). The scene is edited out of the DVD version and usually on music television. The other car that was used in the video is a gold W-Reg Rover SD1 - an iconic car of the time.
The video was released in December 1981, just as the music video culture was becoming a standard in music, and it was a major contribution to the song's commercial success.
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart[10] | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[11] | 6 |
| French Singles Chart[12] | 13 |
| German Singles Chart[13] | 5 |
| Irish Singles Chart[14] | 1 |
| Italian Singles Chart[15] | 15 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[16] | 1 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[17] | 1 |
| South African Singles Chart[18] | 2 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[19] | 3 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[20] | 4 |
| UK Singles Chart[21] | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[22] | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs Chart[23] | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart[24] | 4 |
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Japanese Singles Chart (Tokyo) | 100 |
| UK Singles Chart[25] | 16 |
Up until 2001, The Human League as a matter of principle, did not permit the use of their music in commercials. However Virgin Records own the rights to the material recorded when the band were signed to them 1978–1990, and the lack of consent from the band has not been enough to prevent the use of re-recorded versions of this song in commercials.
| "Don't You Want Me Baby" | ||||
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| Single by Mandy Smith | ||||
| B-side | "If It Makes You Feels Good" | |||
| Released | 1989 | |||
| Format | CD single 7" single 12" single |
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| Recorded | 1989 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:44 | |||
| Label | PWL | |||
| Writer(s) | Philip Oakey Jo Callis Philip Adrian Wright |
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| Producer | Pete Hammond | |||
| Mandy Smith singles chronology | ||||
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In 1989 Mandy Smith covered this song. The song was released after her album Mandy (1988). It was also Smith's final single. This song has a B-side, "If It Makes You Feel Good", which appeared on Smith's debut album.
CD Single
7" Single
12" Single
| Chart (1989) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Charts | 59 |
| ITA Singles Charts | 11 |
| Swedish Tracks Charts | 16 |
| "Don't You Want Me" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Alcazar | ||||||||||
| from the album Casino | ||||||||||
| Released | May 2002 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||||||||
| Genre | Eurodance | |||||||||
| Length | 03:27 | |||||||||
| Label | RCA Records, BMG | |||||||||
| Alcazar singles chronology | ||||||||||
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Don't You Want Me is a eurodance song performed by Swedish band Alcazar and released internationally in 2002. The song was included to the European version of "Casino" together with a few other, and was recorded in Stockholm at first, but when they wanted it for a new pan-European single, a whole new version was made.
The single was released in Australia as a follow up to the megahit single "Crying at the Discoteque" and the release includes the "Ivan's X Mix" of CATD as a bonus. The white 12 inch was released in Europe and distributed to DJs to get maximum airplay at the disco arenas.
So far Don't You Want Me is the biggest hit for the group in United States, climbing # 30 in the Billboard Hot-100 Singles staying in the charts for respective 15 Weeks. It Also became huge favourite in the Clubs and US Radio Stations.
The Human League themselves have said that they like this version, as it is fairly true to the original; and Alcazar still performs this track at their live shows around the world.
The song is playable on the Karaoke Revolution games.
The video was filmed at Filmhuset in Stockholm, and once again Jesper Ganslandt directed it all. As always in Alcazar videos the storyline takes place in "Alcazar world" – and this time it all took place in "Circus Alcazar". The video is filled with horses, ducks, an evil parrot, acrobats and the Alcazar ballet.
The whole video shoot took almost 23 hours, and actually includes Annikafiore's boyfriend juggling with fire in the background The Alcazar dog Selma was styled in a pink ballerina dress and waited the whole day for the filming of her scene where she would perform jumps in the circus arena.
These are the formats and track listings of promotional single releases of "Don't You Want Me".
| Chart (2002) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart[30] | 37 |
| Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[31] | 21 |
| Dutch Singles Chart[32] | 83 |
| Finnish Singles Chart[33] | 18 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[34] | 30 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[35] | 76 |
| Hot Dance Club Play[36] | 30 |
| Japan | 3 |
| Preceded by "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police |
Top selling single of the year (UK) 1981 |
Succeeded by "Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners |
| Preceded by "Begin the Beguine" by Julio Iglesias |
UK number-one single 12 December 1981 – 9 January 1982 |
Succeeded by "The Land of Make Believe" by Bucks Fizz |
| Preceded by "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" by St Winifred's School Choir |
UK Christmas number-one single 1981 |
Succeeded by "Save Your Love" by Renée and Renato |
| Preceded by "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts |
Canadian RPM number-one single 15 May 1982 |
Succeeded by "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder |
| Preceded by "Ebony and Ivory" by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder |
US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single 3 July 1982 – 23 July 1982 |
Succeeded by "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor |
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