Human League - "Don't You Want Me" ..Baby?
BackYoutube Insight Stats as of Nov 1, 2008:
The "Hottest" spot in the video is at 2:56 (The Rover SD1 and the Sabb 99 seem to be the most interesting part of the video for many - the average viewer is a 40 year old makle living in the UK); the most frequently looked at parts of the video are the cars.
37% of the viewers are Female & 63% Male. 13-17 year olds are @12%, 18-24 @8%, 25-34 @11%, 35-44 @35%, 45-54 @28%. 55-64 @5%, 65+ @1%
Nations with the highest percentage of total views:
1. United Kingdom 30.35% 2. United States 28.83% 3. Canada 13.35% 4. Ireland 12.14%
5. Germany 10.92% 6. Spain 10.32%
7. Chile 10.32% 8. Belgium 9.71%
9. Italy 9.10% 10. Sweden 8.80%
The Human League - Don't You Want Me. 1981
With a hit album and three hit singles in a row Virgin's Simon Draper decided to pull one more single from the album before the end of 1981. Their choice of "Don't You Want Me" instantly caused a row with Oakey who did not want another single 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 was going to be released and Oakey finally agreed, on the condition that a large colour poster was given away with the single because he felt fans would "feel ripped off" by the 'substandard' single alone.[3]
"Don't You Want Me" was released in the UK on 5 December 1981 and to everyone in the band (and especially Oakeys) amazement it went almost immediately to number one and remained in the UK charts for 13 weeks. The success was repeated six months later with the release of Dare in the U.S., with "Don't You Want Me" hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard magazine ranked it as the United States' sixth-biggest hit of 1982.
The lyrics were originally inspired after lead singer and front man 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 in to a conflicting duet with one of the bands 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.[1] There are two more realistic reasons for her choice, that Sulley was the better singer and/or that Catherall, a very introverted character at the time, shied away from the role.
An unofficial Susan Ann Sully page:
Music video
Susanne Sulley in the iconic 1981 "Don't You Want Me" video.
Susanne Sulley in the iconic 1981 "Don't You Want Me" video.
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", for "Don't You Want Me" they commissioned a much more elaborate and expensive promotional video than for any of their previous releases.
The music video for the song was filmed in Slough, UK in November 1981 and has the theme of the shooting and editing of a murder-mystery film, featuring the band members as characters and production staff. Due to it being a "making of" video, the crew and camera apparatus used within 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 based on the theme of 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 promo video for the Ultravox single "Vienna" and used it as a benchmark when shooting "Don't You Want Me". 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 universally known visual icons of the early 1980s; but became controversial later for a scene where Jo Callis appears to shoot Joanne Catherall with a pistol from a car window (a Saab 99 turbo). The scene is edited out of the DVD version and when shown on MTV. The other car that was used in the video, was 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.
Channel: Music
Uploaded: January 31, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Author: murphicus
Length: 00:03:27
Rating: 4.88
Views: 2439821
Tags: SAAB 99 rover SD1 Car Human League Don't You Want Me Baby Electronic 80's 1981 Philip Oakey Joanne Catherall Susan Ann Sulley 1982 you were working as waitress in cocktail bar UK New Wave Techno Synth Emo 08/08/08 08-08-08 eighties best Star Is Born Virgin Records sheffield England Britain
Video Comments:
markwiebe99 (December 1, 2008 at 5:43 pm)
i know, some people in school probaly find me creepy because i do not listen to (C)rap, hip hop, and stuff like that, if only i was around in the 80s...
goseahawksdavid (December 1, 2008 at 5:41 pm)
My mom told me to find this song.
chifour66 (December 1, 2008 at 10:00 am)
I was 16 when this came out, my boyfriend at the time recorded it on a mix cassette after we broke up. LOL! I loved this song..........still do.
murphicus (December 1, 2008 at 6:12 am)
I was born in 1958, so I turned 18 in 1976 (drinking age at the time in MN) and turned 21 in 1979, so some of the 80's is a bit of a blur; but this song stuck (reinforced by MTV)
BTW: I was working as a doorman at a cocktail bar, when I met her; she was working as a waitress in that cocktail bar, when she met me! She had short blond hair (like Susan Sully in this video) and my putting this video up is a sort of homage to those heady days of the early 80's when MTV was watchable and novel.
BTW: I was working as a doorman at a cocktail bar, when I met her; she was working as a waitress in that cocktail bar, when she met me! She had short blond hair (like Susan Sully in this video) and my putting this video up is a sort of homage to those heady days of the early 80's when MTV was watchable and novel.
NewLoserStudio (December 1, 2008 at 3:06 am)
No you don't....
saywhatkidxx (November 30, 2008 at 11:09 pm)
Lmao! Lucky..
miamimagicians (November 30, 2008 at 4:51 pm)
I was born in 84, and I loved and remember it as the greatest time ever!
warrenexplorers (November 30, 2008 at 3:03 pm)
vince mcmahon has better music jk
MrMarcAntony (November 30, 2008 at 12:19 pm)
Human League ... they definitely bring me back to some goold ole memory lanes!
mehmus (November 30, 2008 at 10:56 am)
my friends think i'm gay for being so in love with the 80s when all they listen to is Akon and some tart whose lady lumps are the only interesting thing about her..
80s music rules!
80s music rules!