|
While the Sex Pistols' early singles had been hugely important in
proving to Britain's youth that anyone could express themselves in
a rock 'n' roll band, The Human League's debut single, recorded in
a disused factory on a domestic tape recorder at a cost of £2.50,
demonstrated that anyone could make electronic pop music. |
|
Opening with what sounds like the long-overdue release of some incredible
pent-up pressure, the track begins its voyage through a series of
unearthly effects without ever losing sight of that all-important
pop sensibility. The almost incomprehensible lyrics could only add
to the sense of this being something new, something original.
An outstanding debut, by anyone's standards. |
| The
League later added some overdubs to the original track, including
a new vocal, and this version was distributed to record companies
on a demo cassette compilation. Another demo version was recorded
around this time, known as the 'dub mix'. Mainly instrumental, it
features possibly the most tedious introduction in recorded history
(the same riff repeated for about two minutes!) and minimal vocals
(Martyn intones just one line twice, "Listen to the voice of
Buddha"). Soon after this, the group recorded the song for John
Peel's BBC Radio One show, using a new keyboard arrangement and a
similar dance-oriented rhythm. |
|
This formed the basis of a third demo version, with similar rhythms
but another new keyboard arrangement, which was more forceful but
perhaps a little over-ambitious in places. Many of the ideas present
in this recording would then serve as a blueprint for the final version
recorded in 1980 with producer John Leckie. |
| Although
some complained that the 1980 version was too 'glossy', it took the
song to a new level. Gone were the lo-fi home-made electronics - this
version was perhaps the most sophisticated-sounding track the early
League ever recorded. The infectious rhythms, in-your-face hand-claps
and Funkadelic-inspired 'synthetic horns' by Martyn and Ian (calling
themselves the Boys Of Buddha) combined to create a dynamic dance-pop
classic. The recording of the 'horns' was inspired by the experiments
of Frank Zappa, who would record instruments at half-speed to create
new sounds, and the League recorded the horn parts in this way, partly
because they were too intricate to play at full speed, but also to
give the sounds more 'attack'. |
|
Incidentally, an alternate version has appeared on certain bootleg
tapes, which does not have quite so many layers; this version lacks
the 'synthetic horns' and certain percussive sounds such as the hand-claps
which were overdubbed later. |
| An
excerpt from the completed 1980 version was adopted by Radio One DJ
Richard Skinner as his signature 'jingle' in the early 1980s. In late
2000, Richard
X (as Girls On Top) mixed the music of the original single version
with the vocals from TLC's hit single No Scrubs to create the
much-sought-after bootleg single, Being Scrubbed (Black Melody
MEL 1), which featured a pastiche of the Fast Product sleeve on its
front cover - see Old
Imagery: Miscellaneous. Richard has since used Being Boiled
for another single, this time re-recording the original music with
pop group Liberty X singing Chaka Khan's Ain't Nobody over
the top, to create the March 2003 Virgin single, Being Nobody. |
|
The song has also covered by numerous other artists, including Hybrid
Machine's Kraftwerk-style arrangement on their 1994 album Concrete
Ground, and Garlands' version, recorded with jangly 'indie' guitars
(!) for March Records' disappointing League 'tribute' album Reproductions
in 2000. Simple Minds also covered the song on a b-side in 2001, though
with limited success. |
| Martyn
and Ian nowadays often perform the song live with Heaven 17 and a
recording of this is available on their How Live Is album -
see Miscellaneous
releases (part two). |
| Lyrics |
|
|
|
|
John Peel session version unofficially released on In
Darkness
|
|
second
and third demo versions and 1980 pre-overdubs version unreleased
|
|
completed
1980 version released on Holiday '80 (double
single and single),
Travelogue and
Cash Cows - see Compilations
(part one), and as a bonus track on German 12" reissue
of Fast Product single (1988)
|