Don't You Want Me

"Don't You Want Me"
Single by The Human League
from the album Dare
B-side	"Seconds"
Released	27 November 1981
Format	7" 12" CD cassette
Recorded	1981
Genre	New wave synthpop
Length	3:56
Label	Virgin
Writer(s)	Jo Callis Philip Oakey Philip Adrian Wright
Producer(s)	Martin Rushent
Certification	RIAA: Gold BPI: Platinum
The Human League singles chronology
"Open Your Heart" (1981) "Don't You Want Me" (1981) "Being Boiled" (re-issue) (1982) Music sample "Don't You Want Me"

"Don't You Want Me" is a single by British synthpop group The Human League, released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album Dare (1981).

It is the band's best known and most commercially successful recording and was the 1981 Christmas number one in the UK, where it has since sold over 1,560,000 copies, making it the 23rd most successful single in UK Singles Chart history.^[1] It later topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on 3 July 1982 where it stayed for three weeks. In 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's 7th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.^[2]

Background

The lyrics were originally inspired after lead singer Philip Oakey read a photo-story in a teen-girl's magazine. 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, three of its tracks—"The Sound of the Crowd", "Love Action (I Believe in Love)", and "Open Your Heart"—had already been released as successful singles. With a hit album and three hit singles in a row, Virgin's chief executive 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]

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.^[6]

Today, the song is widely considered a classic of its era. In a retrospective review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, described the song as "a devastating chronicle of a frayed romance wrapped in the greatest pop hooks and production of its year."^[7] Oakey still describes it as over-rated, but acknowledges his initial dismissal was misguided and claims pride in the track. 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]

Chart performance and sales

"Don't You Want Me" was released in the UK on 27 November 1981. To the amazement of the band (and especially Oakey),^[9] it entered the UK Singles Chart at No.9 and shot to number one the following week, remaining there over the Christmas period for a total of five weeks. It ultimately became the biggest selling single to be released in 1981, and the fifth biggest selling single of the entire decade. Its success was repeated six months later in the US, with "Don't You Want Me" hitting No. 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. It is notable as the first song featuring the revolutionary Linn LM-1 drum machine to hit No. 1 on the UK charts and also the first LM-1 track to top the Billboard Hot 100. The song was remixed and re-released in 1995, peaking at No. 16 on the UK chart.^[10] As of November 2012, "Don't You Want Me" is the 23rd best-selling single in the UK with 1.55 million copies sold.^[1] On 23 March 2014 the song was re-entered the UK singles chart in number 19 after the original visit in December 1981 and debuted number 1 in the Scottish singles charts thanks to a social media campaign by fans of Aberdeen Football Club.^[11]

Music video

Susan Ann Sulley in the 1981 "Don't You Want Me" video, December 1981.

In 1981 record company Virgin were becoming aware that the 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 claims that Steve Barron was heavily influenced by the cinematography of Ultravox's video for "Vienna" (directed by Russell Mulcahy earlier that year). Steve Barron 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 involving the murder-mystery film subplot where Jo Callis appears to shoot 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 cut out of the DVD version and usually on music television, replaced with a montage of other shots from the video edited in slow-motion. The other car that was used in the video is a gold W-Reg Rover SD1 – an iconic car of the time. In a 1995 interview, Catherall mentioned that the car Callis was driving had to be pushed into shot as he couldn't drive at the time, to which Sulley added "he still can't!"^[12]

The video was released in December 1981, just as the music video culture was becoming an integral part of the pop music scene, and it was a major contribution to the song's commercial success.

Charts and certifications

Popular Culture

In 2001, Virgin Records allowed the song to be used in a Fiat Punto commercial, starring Myfanwy Waring and James Daffern, where the latter actor spoke lyrics from the first verse and chorus over the accompanying background music. Fiat's use of the song prompted legal action from The Human League, who lost the case to Virgin. Susan Sulley later complained: "Now even if we wanted to use the song for a more worthy company, we can't because it will always be associated with a particular brand."^[33]

A campaign was started by Aberdeen F.C. fans in March 2014 to get the song to number one in the UK Top 40 singles chart after their Scottish League Cup final victory against Inverness CT.^[34] The song peaked at No. 4 in the iTunes Download chart on 19 March 2014.^[35] The following Sunday, 23 March, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 19 and the Official Scottish charts at #1.^[36]

A Foster Farms commercial in the United States features a choir of animatronic chickens singing the song as part of the poultry producer's "Amazing Chicken" campaign.^[37]

Track listing

7" version

1. "Don't You Want Me" – 3:57
2. "Seconds" – 4:59

12" version

1. "Don't You Want Me" – 3:57
2. "Seconds" – 4:59
3. "Don't You Want Me (Extended Dance Mix)" – 7:30

Covers

Mandy Smith version

"Don't You Want Me Baby"
Single by Mandy Smith
B-side	"If It Makes You Feels Good"
Released	1989
Format	CD single 7" single 12" single
Recorded	1989
Genre	Pop
Length	3:44
Label	PWL
Writer(s)	Philip Oakey Jo Callis Philip Adrian Wright
Producer(s)	Pete Hammond
Mandy Smith singles chronology
"Victim of Pleasure" (1988) "Don't You Want Me Baby" (1989) "I Just Can't Wait (92' Remixes)" (1992)

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.

Formats and track listings

CD Single

1. "Don't You Want Me Baby"
2. "If It Makes You Feel Good"
3. "Don't You Want Me Baby" (Cocktail Mix)
4. "If It Makes You Feel Good" (Extended Version)

7" Single

1. "Don't You Want Me Baby"
2. "If It Makes You Feel Good"

12" Single

1. "Don't You Want Me Baby" (Cocktail Mix)
2. "If It Makes You Feel Good" (Extended Version)

Charts

Alcazar version

"Don't You Want Me"
Single by Alcazar
from the album Casino
Released	May 2002
Recorded	2001
Genre	Eurodance
Length	03:27
Label	RCA Records BMG
Alcazar singles chronology
"Sexual Guarantee" (2001) "Don't You Want Me" (2002) "Not a Sinner Nor a Saint" (2003)
Casino (International Edition) track listing "Breaking Free" (10) "Don't You Want Me" (11) "Shine On" (12)

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 successful 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 to No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and staying on the chart for 15 weeks.

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.

Music video

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.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of promotional single releases of "Don't You Want Me".

CD single

1. "Almighty Radio Edit" – 3:27
2. "Almighty Club Mix" – 7:25
3. "Project Eden Remix" – 7:34
4. "Earth Club Anthem" – 10:24
5. "Wild Cowboys Radio Mix" – 3:38

Chart performance

Other versions

• A cover of the song was released on 5 October 1992, and it was the last successful single by Liverpool-based pop group The Farm, reaching No. 18 in the UK Singles Chart in late 1992. It was originally recorded for the NME charity album Ruby Trax.
• Tatjana released a version in 1992.
• Stephin Merritt project Future Bible Heroes recorded a cover of "Don't You Want Me" which is featured on Reproductions: Songs of The Human League.
• Electronica band Hyper Crush recorded a cover version of the song for their Mixtape Volume 2 CD.
• A cover of the song was recorded by Atomic Tom for the soundtrack of the 2011 Michael Dowse film Take Me Home Tonight. The music video featured members of the film's cast.
• American singer-songwriter Rocky Votolato and New York-based band Matt Pond PA performed a version of the song in May 2011 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series.^[45]
• A cover of the song was composed by the Electronic artist Leæther Strip which was featured on Yes, I'm Limited IV. The cover featured Unter Null.
• A cover of this song appears on the album Picture Show by Neon Trees.

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1982

References

External links

• "Don't You Want Me" at The Black Hit of Space.dk
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics