Finally in May 1984, the band released the politically charged single " The Lebanon" about the Lebanese Civil War. The single peaked at No.11 in the UK. This was followed shortly thereafter by the album Hysteria, so called because of the difficult and tense recording process. It entered the UK album chart at No.3; however, it climbed no further and critics and fans were divided by the new direction the band had taken. The second single was " Life on Your Own" in mid-1984. The single peaked at No.16. Because the imposed style had not worked, Virgin permitted the band to return to their original style and the band recorded and released their first full studio album Reproduction in August 1979. The album and the single " Empire State Human" failed to make an impact on the charts. After these flops, Virgin cancelled the band's December 1979 tour. By this time, the Human League's role as UK electronic pioneers was usurped by Gary Numan, when his single " Are 'Friends' Electric?" became a huge hit in the UK in mid-1979. [7] [ unreliable source?] I have a lot of time for Crash. It is an album that has some weak spots, though it is not as bad as some people say. I opened by remarking how bands can produce a classic and then not live up to that standard very soon after. If Dare is the masterpiece from The Human League, I think that Crash is an album that is worth listening to. I want to source one review for Crash. This is what AllMusic wrote in their assessment: Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware originally sought to recruit Glenn Gregory as their vocalist, only to find out that he was unavailable. Following this, they sought out personal friend Philip Oakey, who had no musical experience but was well-known for his eclectic fashion sense, which Ware thought would be a good fit for the band. After Marsh and Ware left the Human League and formed Heaven 17, they finally got Gregory to join them as vocalist.

The next single from the album was the ballad " One Man in My Heart", which features Sulley on lead vocals. It reached No.13 in the UK and was unique in that it was the only single by the Human League to feature a female only lead vocal until "Never Let Me Go" in 2011. Using Future material, the Human League released a demo tape to record companies under their new name. The tape contained versions of "Being Boiled", "Toyota City" and "Circus of Death". Ware's friend Paul Bower of Sheffield new-wave band "2.3", who had just recorded a single for Bob Last's Edinburgh-based independent label Fast Product, took their demo to Last and he signed the band. Top 100 Singles of '86". RPM. Vol.45, no.14. 27 December 1986. p.5. ISSN 0033-7064– via Library and Archives Canada. The Human League: The Best of the Human League". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 12 June 2020.Chartverfolgung / HUMAN LEAGUE / Longplay". www.musicline.de (in German) . Retrieved 16 April 2010. It's from a crash cymbal, because it's a disco album again with lots of cymbals. One day somebody said "what sorts of cymbals do you want, a ride or a crash?", and we thought, "what a great title!" The Human League has released 9 studio albums, a live album, a remix album, 13 compilations, 6 extended plays and 29 singles.

In August 1978 the band recorded a session for John Peel, including a re-worked version of "Being Boiled." [10]Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, stamped, etched, variant 1): V 2391 B-2U-1- x̶x̶x̶ D TOWN HOUSE DMM Capitalising on the success of the album and their recent No.1 hit single, " Being Boiled" was re-released and became a Top 10 hit in early 1982. The band toured for the first time together internationally. Concurrently, Dare (later renamed Dare!) was released in the US by A&M Records and "Don't You Want Me" also reached No.1 there in the summer of 1982. A remix album of Dare entitled Love and Dancing was released under the group name " The League Unlimited Orchestra" (a tribute to Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra), reaching No.3 on the UK album chart. Left Hanging: The song "Human" is all about a guy who cheated on his lover and is remorseful and asking her forgiveness. At the end she does forgive him, then admits she cheated too and asks for the same charity from him. The song ends without saying whether he did or not, although one would certainly hope so, as he'd be a world class hypocrite otherwise. In 2000, the tribute album Reproductions: Songs of The Human League was released. It contains cover versions of 16 of the Human League's songs, including performances by Ladytron, Lali Puna, Momus, Future Bible Heroes, Stephin Merritt and The Aluminum Group. [48]