The Human League were one of many bands in the '80s that began experimenting with artsier electronic music and slowly converted into radio-friendly new wave acts. They're now best remembered for supplying the music-listening public with the hit singles "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" and "Don't You Want Me."Listen to their lyrics, though--or look at their debut album cover--and you realize they were a much darker pop band than most people remember them as. Forming in 1977 in Sheffield, England, the band had its roots in founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh, who had formed a synth duo in the late '70s. They added singer Phillip Oakey and visual artist Adrian Wright (who created distinctive slide shows for their performances) and became The Human League.Their first album, Reproduction, would have shocked their later fans. The cover art appears to be looking down at the feet of some posh dancers at a party, but below their feet, the floor is carpeted with screaming babies. Read a few of their song titles off that album ("Circus of Death," "The Dignity of Labour Parts I-IV," or "Being Boiled," an underground hit off their debut EP) and it makes sense that they opened for Siouxsie and the Banshees.But a couple albums later, the chilly, Kraftwerk-inspired synthrock that typified their early work became much more poppy, though it still maintained an artsy style. By 1981, Ware and Marsh had left the group to pursue their own electronic interests, while Oakey hired bassist Ian Burden and two high school age back-up singers, Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall.In 1981, the band released Dare!, which was critically acclaimed and sold extremely well. Songs like "Don't You Want Me" and "Love Action (I Believe in Love)" were major hits on the charts. They would continue recording throughout the '90s, though never recapturing the reception of their breakthrough album.