Songwriter: Philip Oakey Ian Craig Marsh Martyn Ware Adrian Wright

Producer: Richard Mainwaring The Human League

The way it was in the past
A long, long time ago
Before staff levels dropped
They used to listen to the radio
And listen to the DJ's talk
About the songs they didn't know
As if it really mattered

Hit-pick or phone-in show
I don't want you to go tonight
Ten thousand watts of power
News headlines on the hour tonight
Our music beats the best
You just don't need the rest tonight
Once I couldn't care at all
But I can feel the ratings fall tonight

And 20 years ago
No-one seemed to care
The people must have known
The DJ's role was only there
To fill in space between the songs
That talk of love and other things
As if they didn't matter

Automatic stations came
And sent them all away
And now I'm left alone
I haven't got a word to say
And you're the one who makes the choice
To turn me on or turn me off
But now it really matters

Hit-pick or phone-in show
I don't want you to go tonight
Ten thousand watts of power
News headlines on the hour tonight
Our music beats the best
You just don't need the rest tonight
Once I couldn't care at all
But I can feel the ratings fall tonight

Hit-pick or phone-in show
I don't want you to go tonight
Ten thousand watts of power
News headlines on the hour tonight
Our music beats the best
You just don't need the rest tonight
Ten thousand watts of power
News headlines on the hour tonight

The Human League

The Human League are a synth pop band from Sheffield, England, formed in 1977. They generated a string of synthesizer-backed dance pop hits throughout the 80s. David Bowie dubbed the group “the sound of the future” in 1981.

The band is best known for its third studio album released in 1981, Dare! The fourth single from Dare, “Don’t You Want Me,” catapulted to #1 in the UK and US.

Phil Oakey is the only core member of the group. The band’s first incarnation was as an arty all-male synthesizer group, composed of Oakey, Martyn Ware, and Ian Craig Marsh. In the 1980s, Ware and Marsh left the group after continued conflicts with Oakey—they went on to form Heaven 17.