Song · The Human League
“Human” by The Human League
From the album Crash (1986)
“Human” by The Human League appears on 4 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1998 and 2026. It was first released in 1986 on the album Crash. Its best result is #118 on the 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #5,430 alternative song of all time.
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"Human" was the lead single from Crash, the Human League's fifth album, in 1986, and it's the sound of a band being rescued from itself. The 1985 sessions had been going nowhere, the group hated what they were getting and started fighting, and Virgin, fretting over what was then its most profitable act, steered them toward Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, hot off Janet Jackson's Control and already keen on the League.
Jam and Lewis wrote "Human", one of three songs they handed the album, and produced it, and it's a song about infidelity: Philip Oakey sings lead, Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall back him, and Catherall takes the spoken part. It reached number eight in the UK and went all the way to the top in the US and Canada.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 439 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) | 488 |
| 1999 | 657 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2021 | 118 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2026 | 241 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s | 498 |
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