80’s Flashback

The Human League, Love Action (I Believe In Love), 1981. The second single from its landmark breakthrough album Dare, Love Action topped out at #3 on the UK pop chart, but saw no such success in the U.S. where the band would remain virtually unknown until Dare’s fourth single almost two years later brought the band global success with Don’t You Want Me. Love Action’s line “this is Phil talking” is a reference to Iggy Pop’s “Jesus, this is Iggy talking,” as the band had toured as his opening act. The single’s subtitle is directly lifted from Lou Reed’s I Believe In Love. Reed is further referenced when Phil Oakey sings, “I believe what the old man said.” To date, the Human League has had 17 Top 40 hits in the UK, six in the U.S., where they last charted with 1995’s Tell Me When.