The Human League - Don't You Want Me Baby

'Don't You Want Me' is a single by British synthpop group The Human League, released from their third album Dare on 27th November, 1981. It is the band's best known and most commercially successful recording to date and has sold over 1,400,000 copies, making it the 25th most successful single of all time in the UK.

The lyrics were originally inspired after lead singer Philip Oakey read a story in a "trashy tabloid". Originally conceived 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 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. There are two more realistic explanations: that Sulley was the better singer and/or that Catherall, more introverted, shied away from the role.

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. Oakey disliked it so much that it was relegated to the last track on the album.

'Don't You Want Me' was released in the UK on 27th November 1981. To the amazement of the band (and especially Oakey), it shot to number one on the UK Singles chart. This success was repeated six months later in the U.S., with 'Don't You Want Me' hitting number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks. Billboard magazine ranked it as the sixth-biggest hit of 1982.

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. Susan Sulley is often irritated that she constantly has to refute the mistaken assumption that the song is a reference to her and Catherall.

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 in 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 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.

Shot 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 Oakey shoots Sulley with a pistol from a car window (a Saab 99 turbo). The scene is often edited out of the DVD version and on music television. The other car that was used in the video is a gold W-Reg Rover SD1.

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.

Click the link below to download the following:
Video
Uncut Video Version
Single Version
12 inch Extended Mix
Instrumental Version
Special Extended Dance Mix
Ultimix
Roboto Nato Mix
Derrick Carter Mix
Eric Prydz Remix
Majik Johnson Original Booty Mix
Red Jerry 7 inch Remix
Snap 7 inch Remix
Seconds - B-Side

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The Human League - Don't You Want Me - Video