Dare!

nice and peppy, please don’t hurt me jacob

Very 80s. Very very 80s. When I was able to put that aside, though there’s some really really solid pop songs on this record. Bumped from 3 to 4 by imagining like lady Gaga or someone like that doing modern, better produced covers - I think they would slap.

Rating: 2.3 Could have been absolutely fantastic but so many boring repetitive fucking around songs in the middle. This is an epidemic and needs to be remedied immediately.

Nice, quintessential '80s pop, pretty fun listen! "Don't You Want Me" was the only song I was previously familiar with.

Why not I guess

First listen to the album if not all the songs, nice!

Had higher hopes for this but, it’s boring. And surprisingly repetitive

meh

Generic 80s pop that was probably big back in the day, but I do not care for it now.

Great album. The Sound of the crowd. Love this

1. The Things That Dreams Are Made Of - 4 It's really of its era. It's very much a track that hasn't stood the test of the time. It's just so rigid in its composition and the vocals are very monotone in nature. Like a poor version of a Tears For Fears track. 2. Open Your Heart - 1 Lyrically it's pretty poor and instrumentally it's even poorer. Really bad track. This hasn't aged well. 3. The Sound Of The Crowd - 4 More really cheap synthpop. Just really aged like milk kind of music. 4. Darkness - 4 It's alright. Kind of bubblegum pop, kind of cheap synthpop. It's enjoyable but it's not anything phenomenal. 5. Do Or Die - 6 Instrumentally and lyrically a lot better even if it is a little repetitive at times. Genuinely the best track on the album so far. 6. Get Carter - 0 Terrible sounding track. There's only one instrument and it sounds like nails across a chalkboard. Like a rejected Chrono Trigger song. 7. I Am The Law - 1 Instrumentally this is awful. Overall the lyrics are boring as well. It's like a cheap/budget David Bowie. 8. Seconds - 1 Extremely repetitive and dull. A track that could put you to sleep. 9. Love Action (I Believe In Love) - 4 More of a melancholic song. Repetitive and very cheesy, cardboard cut-out lyrics. Forgotten with the passage of time and for good reason as there's not anything remarkable about the track. 10. Don't You Want Me - 8 The more memorable song on an otherwise forgettable album, it's very 80s sounding but it somehow survived the test of time. Probably the only good track off the album. Average Rating: 3.3 Adjusted to 5-Point Scale: 1.65 Rounded Up: 2 Stars

Good backbeat, production is clean

I'm a sucker for albums that are sequenced well, and this one really caught me. It opens with a good but not great salvo of singles, peaking for the first time with "The Sound of the Crowd", before it settles into a middle section of less hooky but still solid album cuts. These, for some reason, include a cover of the theme to the theme to the great Michael Caine gangster movie, Get Carter, and a song that is allegedly inspired by Judge Dredd, which at that point was still a comic character. That song, "I Am the Law", flows seamlessly into "Seconds", which kicks off the final, meticulous stretch of the album. "Seconds" is great, maybe the best song on the record to that point. Then they hit you with "Love Action", a song that would be the best song on any other synthpop album (and still comes awfully close here), but isn't, because the album closes with one of the most monolithic singles of the 1980s. Talk about finishing strong.

I tried to be more critical of this. I really did. But I can't pretend like I just didn't write an overly effusive Pixies review that talked about Doolittle as the origins of most of the indie rock that I listen to without writing an overly effusive review about this album about the origins of most of the synthpop that I listen to. A lot of it was being in the right place in the right time - you couldn't write the Human League story without the letters 'MTV' being in there at any point - but unless you've got the goods, you won't get to the right place anyway. "Don't You Want Me" is one of the greatest songs any of us all will hear at any time on this list, a unique duet of success, resentment, and failed romance set to one of pop music's most propulsive beats. But beyond that one moment of white heat, every other song reads like Kraftwerk if they were 25% more human. Like I think millennials might know "Seconds" better from the LCD Soundsystem cover, but listening to the original today I'm kind of floored but its proto-trance sound. Speaking of, I used to wonder about why James Murphy bragged about having this in his record collection and now I don't wonder much anymore.

a staple 80s-sounding album that represents the synth-pop era well. 'don't you want me' is classic and was definitely the best track on the album. i did however think the rest of the album was quite repetitive and, looking back at the tracklist now, i'm struggling to remember one track from another. a fun album nonetheless - i enjoyed the david byrne-style vocals too.

Guilty pleasure album. 4.

The Sound of the Crowd Love Action (I Believe in Love) Don't You Want Me

Fun very 1980's

Crappy 80’s pop

I don't know, man. Is it a Must Listen? Nah. It's ok, especially if you love the 80's and keyboards. But, it's a little too same-y throughout. Not much that bugs me, except the 2 in the middle that are super repetitive. (Not going to go back and listen yet again, but the one about killing a guy in a minute. and the next one.) Their voices are fine, even adding some drama through inflection now and again. Could give it a 2.5 because it's not really bad and it does point musically at a point in time as a good representative. But if I'm asked to round on this one, I have to round down.

3.5/5

Don't You Want Me is obviously a banging classic, but there's not much else to engage.

Trash

I loathe the cover art of this album so much. The excessive white space, the incredibly uncomfortable cropping on the photo... it's like a graphic design "what not to do" sample. It's taken me weeks to convince myself to actually listen to the music lurking behind that awful image. I already know and dislike "Don't You Want Me" which doesn't help, but at least it's the last track so I can hit the stop button without remorse. Ugh, more of the same. Cold, naked synth and a pretentious douchebag on lead vocals, without much else to distract. It's not "catapult this into the sun" awful but it's getting buried in the "do not relisten" pile so I don't have to look at that awful cover again.

Quintessential 80s new wave synth pop. Not an enduring vibe today, but definitely was fun then.

Great album. Could be a 5.

Fun 80s vibe. Not my favorite vibe but fun

Good album, starts strong and finishes strong but has a bit of an underwhelming middle section.

Good middle of the road album. End song is a hit, and an all-time heater, but the rest of the tracks are just alright. Consistent vibe, and the tracks all worked well, but very obviously my favorite track on the album was Don't You Want Me.

great to riminess

Dare by The Human League is an essential 80s synth album that perfectly captures the sound and style of the era.

I wanted to like this more than I did. Don't You Want Me is still a banger though.

No, I don't want you

I don't particularly like it but what amazes me is how much music (as in top ten pop music) had changed, mutated and progressed from 10 years earlier, and that is to be commended.

Nice hair nice sounds nice shoes

Seminal albums aren't necessarily always all that good. Apart from Don't You Want Me it's all a bit shit really, but that track, nostalgia and history earn it an extra star from me

Quite fun eighties electro pop. Not sure I had to listen to it before I died. I'm not sure that I haven't listened to it before. Am I dead?

The sound is definitely of its time. Felt that the first half of the album dragged on, with the second half picked up the pace, carrying it. 2.5

Soooo 80s. I really liked Don't You Want Me at that time. But as so often the rest of the album is not so good. Some songs are quite ok (Love Action, ...) but most are not good.

This was so funky fresh. Vogueing in the office

Nice synth-pop album

If it comes on the radio, I'm turning the dial. Bleech. 2

Everything bad about 80s music in one place.

You never know what you’re gonna get when it’s some 80s band with one song you’ve heard before. This one was pretty good! A decent baseline for this sort of thing. I liked it just fine. If this comes off as damning with faint praise, it isn’t. If it was it would get a 2.

3/5, hit and miss.

Much better than I thought this was going to be.

Attractive and danceable melodies achieved through its synthesizers and percussion. A good use of various electronic effects, which I consider innovative for the early 80s. The bass lines captivated me in some songs and really transported me. However, I didn’t fall in love with any song. I believe each one has very appealing elements but there is always a part that disconnects me. I respect the album for its creative work and the identity it consolidated in pop and electronic music.

I feel like this is probably only on the list because of Don't You Want Me. That being said, this album is well within my music taste and I really loved it. Synth pop/new wave is just the best and is always going to float my boat. The dreamy, slightly surreal 80s sound is definitely in full force here, I give it a 4 since there are a couple tracks I didn't love as much (Get Carter and I Am The Law). Don't You Want Me is SUCH a good song what a way to finish off the album

The Human League (fun fact - named after a faction in a 70s sci-fi war game) were stalwarts of the early Sheffield avant garde electro scene. However, when half the original line up left to form Heaven 17 the future looked uncertain until front man Phil Oakey recruited two young women that he met in a club one night to act as backing singers and to bring a new dynamic to the band. The fact that they were still at school caused a few problems, when they had to be transported from recording sessions back to Sheffield to sit their exams! The 80s were a different time, but fortunately everything was above board in this case with no funny business. The album showed a development from their earlier sound to a more pop sensibility, but they still retained a unique style in their songs. Apparently Oakey didn’t think that Don’t You Want Me was all that good, but he was overruled and it went on to be one of the defining hits of the 80s that still holds up today. There’s plenty of other good stuff here too with dance floor filler Sound of the Crowd, a cover of Roy Budd’s classic theme to Get Carter and a song about Judge Dredd. Asymmetric-haircut-tastic!

Before reading more about this album, I thought that it was just another new wave album from the 80s and the UK, as tons exist (and live in this list). But then it actually looks like it's one of the first, who helped define the genre. So let's take back my half-baked rant, and celebrate the fact that it's halfway between electronic music, experimentation and pop, catchy tunes. Is it an amazing album? To be honest, no, it's not. But I can recognize its historical value if it helped sparked the genre (with all its goods and bads).

My favourite revelation on this path so far - not that I didn't know the album, but I have felt the need to play it on repeat and the non-singles have really hit home. I must now find a decent vinyl copy. Are there any other classics where the main hit / best songs are at the end?

Pretty amateurish until the last two songs that were big hits but I don’t believe they were actually on the album. 5/10

I love 80s music and Human by the Human League is one of my absolute favorites of the decade. Even though that isn't on this album, I was excited to listen to this. Don't You Want Me is definitely the highlight, a song that feels like it is more from the mid 80s rather than the early 80s. It's a bit ahead of it's time for me. Sadly the rest of this album doesn't quite live up to the closing track. There are some other decent songs on here, but a lot of this is very average, so it gets an average rating.

What a fun time! And ending on a universal crowd-pleaser? Wow, what a time. Synth-pop will get me EVERY TIME.

3.5

Lyder kliché meget af 80erne. Jeg havde hele tiden på fornemmelsen at jeg havde hørt stemmen før, men først den sidste sang (cd edition) som fik det til at falde på plads. (dont you want me)

Der er virkelig langt til de kommer til hittet. Ikke at det er forfærdeligt at høre på. Men det er ret intetsigende.

I've spent my whole life assuming that this is just annoying cheesy 80s electro pop, but it's actually so much more than that. I still think it's very much of its time in a lot of ways, but there is still a hell of a lot of genuinely interesting and original stuff on this album.

Direi ok

Mjog 80s

Oh the 80s

Ikke det mest spennende albumet. Best var Don’t you love me, som også var eneste låt fra platen jeg hadde hørt fra før. Favoritt låten Human var ikke på denne platen dessverre.

It was pretty good. John liked it a lot. Not my usual style, but still fun. Funny lyrics -something like “everybody needs 2 or 3 friends”.

Dated but a valuable inclusion to the list. Don't You Want Me was a bit of a tease, but there wasn't anything that could follow it on this album.

Not the worst of the endless UK 80's synth bands on this list, but can't say I'm blown away by a lot of this 2.5*

Such a good clasic

the things dreams are made of- 5 open your heart- 5 the sound of the crowd- 5 darkness- 5 do or die- 4 get carter- 4 i am the law- 4 seconds- 4 love action- 4 or 5 dont you want me- 6

Man, I’ve been on a streak of, what I consider, sub par albums for so long that I’ve lost count. I could check but nah. This, I fear, will continue that streak. I’m really looking, I really am. I like discovering new bands and albums I hadn’t heard before but this has been a struggle. This is 80’s music. Which can be good. Nothing has blown me away or even remotely moved me in any way at 3 songs in. Well, there were glimpses of hope. Oddly enough, the album got better as it went on. Not enough to salvage an average rating from me. I didn’t become a fan, that’s for sure . Choice cut: Do or Die

"Don't You Want Me" has been a radio staple my entire life. Not a song I gravitated towards until I heard a cover I believe was used for "Secret Life Of Walter Mitty" which gave me a different perspective of it. I can appreciate this album for it's impact on and establishment of synth new wave music. Some of the synth and monotone singing does get a little grating. That might just be the environment I was in. Working at my desk is probably not an idea location for listening to this album. I could picture putting this album on during a late night drive or at a party when the vibes are mellow but fun. Some songs really reminded me of LCD Soundsystem, especially Do Or Die. Makes me wonder if they've ever mentioned being influenced by The Human League. This album wasn't totally my taste but it does make me want to listen to more of the band and see how their sound evolved. I see that they also made "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" which is a song I really enjoy. Also a great gateway to getting me to listen to more funky new wave music which I would enjoy.

So 80s. Almost 70s since it was '81, but still painfully 80s. I feel like I've heard this album a hundred times on this journey.

Don't You Want Me was a surprise! Definitely their most poppy and boppy song, so I'm not surprised it's their biggest hit. Everything else is pretty meh.

not my kind of sound.

Amazing synth work, very catchy tunes, a true blueprint of what the early-80's were all about. And then everything is overshadowed by the closing track. Key tracks: Open Your Heart The Sound of the Crowd Don't You Want Me

Цікавий треклист, в якому ми пробираємося через досить посередні пісні до хіта та суперхіта в кінці.

Low 3 - not much of interest, very dated sounding, but not offensive to listen to.

good morning everyone! the sun is shiiiining and we are in synthpop hell yet again!

Solid

Don't you want me itself almost makes this whole album a 4. almost

No thanks. 1 radio hit. Meh.

Ikke direkte trivelig, men ikke vondt

This is so annoying. I mean, great mood and nice synth but the singing and lyrics just makes me mad. So much repetition.

alright but very outdated sometimes.

“Don’t You Want Me” is one of the best one-hit wonders of the 80s, so I was hoping that this would be an amazing surprise and the rest of the album would be awesome. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Really bland, pretty boring 80s synth pop. “Don’t You Want Me” is the last track and obvious stand out. I was just waiting to get to that the whole time.

As far as 80s synth-pop goes, this is on the better end. Nothing I'm going to rush out and buy, but an enjoyable listen.

I really enjoy the Synth Pop era of the late 70s and early 80s. But I enjoy more of the experimental stuff. It seems like the two experimental members of the group left before this album came out. It's still a good album of the early 80s, but also feels like just a one hit wonder!

Some fairly enjoyable 80s pop. The songs are all solid, and the vocals are decent. However, there's not much passion in the arrangements. The songs are quite processed, which makes sense when you consider the type of music.

You really have to be a new wave/synth-pop fan to appreciate The Human League. It's as simple as that. I am a new wave and synth-pop fan, and I love 80's music. While I imagine this will get slaughtered, it is their best album by far and is very well done. 3.4 / 5 stars

2 stars for Don’t you Want Me.

I started off really liking it until every song had the same singing style with overlapping synths. Needed a bit more

Good album. Good songs of its time but the songwriting does shine thru very little filler.

Everybody needs love and adventure Everybody needs cash to spend Everybody needs love and affection Everybody needs 2 or 3 friends" - Oakley/Wright The second British invasion started here back in 1982 (Dare! Was released in 1981 in the UK and 1982 in the US) and it's easy to hear why so many yanks surrendered to the icy beats & smart lyrics made by cute boys with rebel without a cause haircuts. Dare! must have sounded insane in 1982 as it sounds ahead of it time in 2025 while other records from the same year by the likes of John Cogar and Foreigner sound extraordinarily limp and dated. Dare! is actually an album you must hear before your Dutch date with that cheap bastard known as the grim reaper. Go on then! Speaking of death, it's long been rumored that THE curmudgeon taste maker Lester Bangs died of an accidental drug overdose while listening to Dare! It's too bad as I think he would have had a real hard on for Hüsker Dü.

Classic

Vraiment plus l'fun que je pensais

C't'un peu niaiseux. C'est ça qui est bon. 3.49 étoiles

Solid 80s album.

Love Action // Don’t You Want Me 2.5/5

I think I quite liked it

Curious to see what this album is about. I’ve seen it in the lowest-rated category for a few of the people on this site. I also think my Mum has mentioned this band once or twice, though outside of that I’ve never heard of The Human League. May as well just hop into this one. Damn. Very, very 80s. Aggressively so. I’m fortunately out of my “senseless hatred of everything 80s” period, so I can see the appeal of this music. It’s definitely a grower – I was alienated by the first two tracks but was able to get into the swing of this album with the ones which came after. Maybe it was due to me becoming accustomed to the sound of this album in real-time, but the album really comes into its own during the second half, featuring some very solid tracks. Going into the songs themselves, "Darkness” is pretty alright. I like the synthetic sound as well as the deep, bassy noise which hangs in the background. “Do Or Die” is a decent follow-up. Some pretty interesting sounds packed into that track, especially in the jittery department. The bassy sound is rock solid, too. “I Am the Law” is my favourite song of the album. A very cool and unique sound, and I quite like the plodding pace of the song. The more whimsical offerings of the track are among the best, though the menacing sound near the end of the track is pretty neat, too. “Seconds” is a good follow-up. A very spacy, cosmic sound, which I'm always impartial to. In a continuing hot streak for the album, “Love Action” is also good. The melody is pretty infectious, and I enjoy the jingling sound of the music. Oh, hey! I’ve heard Don’t You Want Me before. Good song. I wasn’t expecting to be jumpscared by a song that I recognise on the last track. Book time. “...the biggest album in the world” - seems like a bold claim, even at the time. The female vocalists of this band were scouted in a club while they were still schoolgirls. Funny, if a little questionable. The last album a famous music critic heard before overdosing, which is an out-there bit of trivia. Wikipedia does a better job at substantiating this album. Massively influential within pop music, critically acclaimed and an international chart-topper. Can’t fault this inclusion.

Not my cup of tea

Human League walked so New Order could run

A third of the Holy Trinity of Synth Pop. We definitely get the hits on this album, and between those two factors, it's earned its place on the list. I just can't get behind synth pop. Your record should not be able to be reproduced by a teenager and her Casio keyboard. Digital just sounds worse than analogue, and while that can be corrected for with songwriting, actual instrumentation, and other factors, neither The Human League nor any of its progeny manages to do it. 2

Good ol’ 1980’s synth 😆

An album saved by the last 2 tracks. A lot of sequenced bobbins interspersed with shouting and blundering melodies. Not a lot to be fond of.

To much synth

dakle niskoključno uživah slušajući čitav album... i onda završi s takvom benger-hitčinom. jel malo krindž i pederski? jest. al šta sad, svidjelo mi se

411/1001

Don't You Want Me is such a classic. The restvof the album is fine.

it's not really bad, but doesn't deserve to be on this list.

A classic. Just not for me.

Yes, Dare was hugely influential at the time of its release and helped pave the way for synth-pop to come (you can hear the Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire aesthetic all over it). It’s undeniably a crucial document of the 1980s and contains some great ideas: The pulsating The Sound of the Crowd, the ska‑beat‑driven Do or Die, the dark, Krautrock‑influenced I Am the Law. However, the album as a whole doesn’t really stand the test of time (ironically, Open Your Heart deals with just that topic: “But if you can stand the test, you know your worst is better than their best”). The production sounds mostly outdated - even compared to other synth/dance/new wave records from the early ’80s - and the songwriting isn’t as sharp as some want you to believe. Maybe it’s the overuse of use of contrast (high v. low frequencies) or the Linn drum machine that occasionally annoys the hell out of me. Some of the synth sounds are outright annoying too (like the high/shrill flute imitating tones in Open Your Heart, Darkness and Seconds). And then there’s the ultra creepy Don’t You Want Me. I’m glad we now live in a time where toxic masculinity and stalking are no longer mistaken for romance. On the bright side: the Ramones name-dropping line in the opener, The Things That Dreams Are Made Of, made me chuckle.

I quite like music from this era. The tight drumming, electronic organ and echoing vocals. There are better bands than Human League IMHO.

++: The Sound of the Crowd, Do or Die, I Am the Law, Love Action (I Believe in Love) +: The Things That Dreams Are Made Of, Open Your Heart, Darkness +-: Get Carter, Seconds, Don't You Want Me 6,7/10

Took me until the last song to recognize this band.

Don’t You Want Me just proves that even a blind pig finds an acorn once in a while.

The one song I recognized was the best one of the bunch

Listened to before: No Somehow I always believed The Human League were a second class runners up band of the 80s, but somehow I was wrong. This is a perfectly produced synth pop album of which almost every sojg could have been a single (and probably was). Emotionally something's missing for me, so just 4 stars. But this album deserves a listen.

"Don't You Want Me" is an obvious classic. The rest of the album is less memorable, and some of the palette doesn't hold up.

this is a fun album, hard to believe they were making this and listening to janet jackson's control, they just like me fr

this is very 80s pretty fun! not my Fave but a vibe nonetheless

A fun synth-pop album thats easy to the dance to. It reminded me a lot of early Depeche Mode, and it seems like their debut album was released at around the same time as this one. I will probably listen to this again, but if I'm in the mood for this type of synth-pop, I'm still more likely to put on some Depeche Mode. 3/5.

Good, fun synth album, a good listen but wouldn’t be listening over and over again

Experimental in a way that would be refined by dozens of artists over the next decade; in isolation from its history the production of the album seems unrefined and simple; but the monotone vocals leave it a distinct style and beyond it's biggest hit (Don't You Want Me) it's listenable and several tracks are catchy.

норм.

Driving pop stuff. This is 1980s sound right at the beginning of the 1980s. And it's good, more deep layered than other albums of the time. Only after a while you want a bit of different stuff.

Hard for me to just sit back and enjoy ‘80s music most of the time but today the setting was right for it to just be fun. This album was an easy, fun, don’t-over-analyze it kind of album. Well done.

Nu-wave early 80s synth-pop just isn't my thing. This isn't bad, I just don't vibe with it. If I was born in 1970 maybe this would speak to be in some way. The music is fine, the vocals are just like every other vocals in the genre. I don't hate this and I can see why it is on the list, but this is not one I heard before today and will not be one I listen to ever again. 5.5/10 116/1001

Reading the description I was convinced I was going to love this. Unfortunately I didn’t find enough differences between the songs and many of the lyrics too goofy. There’s still some good beats and hooks but it never rises to anything but ok. 2.5/5

80's pop albums got me in a chokehold, it's getting a 4. Not a guitar in sight.

All the buildup of a mediocre 80s band, just to lead up to the one song everyone knows from that one commercial on TV or movie trailer or whatever...

I meant to listen to this after I saw them live a few years ago after I realized they weren’t a one-hit wonder like I had thought. “Dinky” is how I’d describe this & lord knows I love the dink! There’s some real Sega Genesis energy to the synth. Plus, bald icon.

Overall pretty good, definitely more good songs but don’t you want me is a classic and the rest of the album didn’t reach that height

The soundtrack to my (late) uni football days. Me and my future best man rewrote 'Don't You Want Me' as 'Can't You Net It' and the rest is history...

Exceeds Expectations. Good throughout. Loses a point for the low-key misogyny that would continue into later emo music.

I went in wanting to love this because I love Don't You Want Me but the rest of the album tracks haven't got a memorable hook between them. Perhaps it is only with the passing of time that this sound has become cliche, but to me it's giving Pop Goes My Heart - but less catchy!!!

I knew Don't You Want Me. Other than that, I had no idea what other songs that Human League did and I thought they were a one-hit wonder. I was wrong. This album sounded exactly like I expected while also not sounding very much like I thought additional Human League songs would sound. Dare! is a really great group of synth-pop songs and I wish I were less lazy and would go to their first and second albums to see how their sound had evolved on their third album. This absolutely deserves a spot in this book. Some of my favorite tracks were: The Things That Dreams are Made Of Open Your Heart Do or Die Seconds Love Action (I Believe in Love) Don't You Want Me Since I'm a sucker for good synth-pop I will probably add this one to my collection.

This one actually grew on me quite a bit. Hear a little bit of some of the bands I like now (think Interpol, LCD Soundsystem) in the music. A couple better tracks near the end. Inched towards a 4 but on the 3 side of a 3.5.

No songs really caught my interest, but didn't need to skip any.

Not for me. 1/5

Really good version of the genre. Enjoyed it!

2.5 stars. I mean it's fine. If you have to put on some background pop it'll do the job. No standouts here. Meh.

Not a big synth-pop fan, but decent 80s album. About half the songs I enjoyed, the other half - nah. Seconds, Don’t You Want Me are standouts.

This was so good. Well-written, well-recorded, well-polished, just perfect all arounnd. Don't You Want Me is of course their big radio hit off this album, but every track was as striking and completely different from the next in many ways. Obviously their general style and sound carried through the whole album, but I was constantly surprised by each track that came along and I loved it. I listened to it twice and considered a third time. Five stars.

This kind of represents a lot of the music of the 80s as a whole: it’s fine, but nothing really stands out about it and it’s instantly forgettable.

Better than I expected.

Acceptable

Absolutely terrible sounds, we can all be glad that this era of music is now gone. Never again.

A fantastic representative of 80’s music! Not a bad song on the album.

Decent enough.

Nose coñazo un poco pero bueno 5.1/10—>3/5

80s! icon

I enjoyed listening to this but the quality gap between the singles and filler is enormous.

Ugh--I'm sure it's all fairly random, but it's a bit tedious to get so many early 80s synth-pop/new wave albums all in a row (although thankfully no Duran Duran, yet). Although I guess there were four singles from this album, and it went platinum in both the UK and the US in short order, I'll admit that the only song that sounded even remotely familiar was "Don't you want me". The remainder (to me at least) is somewhat generic-sounding new wave pop tracks; solidly produced and laid out, I suppose, but not very compelling. The music videos for "Open your heart" and "Love action (I believe in love)" are equally uninspiring, although the video for "Don't you want me" is more compelling. The Wikipedia entry has a number of interesting tidbits about the album: the two female backing singers were in high school when this was recorded (and ended up with long commutes to get to their relocated recording studio); this was the first #1 album for the Virgin label since Mike Oldfield's 1973 album "Tubular Bells" (which I know of thanks to this collection, and equally baffling how either of these albums ended up at #1), and saved Richard Branson's Virgin label from bankruptcy; and this was the first album by Human League after jettisoning two original members a year earlier, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who went on to create the band Heaven 17 and release a competing album in 1981, "Penthouse and Pavement" (another album I've listened to courtesy of this collection). (The other anecdote that seemed amusing was that Lester Bangs apparently OD'ed listening to this album.)

Started listening and immediately thought of the fake hit "PoP! Goes My Heart (see Hugh Grant shake his ass at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVkU8dDSC9w) from the movie "Music and Lyrics." Watched that video and realized it's about as good as Dare!

Talk about “I Want My MTV”. This album is a rare specimen, something I haven’t seen yet in my journey. It’s really, really boring! I can think of maybe two or three songs on this album that actually sounded different to me. The rest of them sounded the same. They all sounded over produced and awash with heavy synths. I would be able to excuse that if the songs were catchy, but none of them stuck in my head the way some other new wave classics have. No song felt like it had its own distinct identity or even a theme that I really liked. I’m trying not to say anything nasty about the band, because I know they tried their hardest to create a good album, but it really didn’t stick for me. Like I brought up at the start, it sounds like it was made to be played on MTV, and that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Some excellent synth pop hampered by overlong, draggy songs.

It's not the 1 star I thought it was going to be a minute in, enough catch elements to snag a second star.

Meh

A fine singles band, but I don’t ever really want to listen to a full album by The Human League. Not a big new wave guy, so this was a bit of a struggle. Fun in bursts, but that’s about it.

# 515 : Dare! Slow and dreamy 80's Synth Pop, with the best two songs last on the album. Some fun instrumental choices, but this really is a one hit wonder and I found it rather ordinary. Favourite Track: Don't You Want Me. Listened: 02/07/2025

Good singles, hard to fill the album length

Blind album, know the hit. Hit is a hit for a reason.

This album is so…eighties. And a good one. The hit is so..good eighties.

Decent new wave album, famous for the hit 'Don't You Want Me', of course.

Meh, The Human League heeft eigenlijk maar één goed nummer imo en da's ook enkel maar omdat het een meezinger is. 1.5

It was alright. I'm not sure how this fit the best album criteria but maybe at the time it was more significant than it is now. Sometimes the synths were fire, other times it felt wonky. Many of the lyrics were just repetitive.

Quite good synth sounds. I don't like the vocals very much though.

80s synth 🤩🤩🤩

Fun synth pop record, i really liked the production but some of the songs were incredibly repetitive so 4/5

Oh brother

np

i love sheffield i wish it was real. open your heart was a highlight for me.

Expected to like this one because of “Don’t you want me” and “Keep Feeling Fascination”. Neither are what the rest of Dare sounds like. It’s just a drum machine and some tolerable singing.

Pretty solid 80s synth pop sound. Weird to bury the best track at the end.

I only knew two of their songs going into it, but this album passed the ultimate test with flying colors: I did dishes and cleaned the kitchen and made dinner while jamming to this bad boy, and then I started it over again!

More dulled emotion synth-pop, some on a groovier dance side and some a more straight new wave style, that has some catchy hooks but not much else to it to me. There’s cool little synth snippets in most songs, but not much to remember overall.

Another one from High School that I love! Keep Feelin' That Fascination! #musicsky #albumsky #musicchallenge 4/5

Oh man, Dare has been one of the albums I've been really looking forward to reviewing. The only Human League album I've listened to is Fascination!, and I remember liking it. Looking at the track listing for Dare!, I think I only know the first and last songs. I'm really interested in this album, because I know it marks Human League's shift from post-punk to purely being a new wave and synth pop band. Even if I'm not wowed by this album, I'm at least expecting to hear something that's interesting from a standpoint of cultural importance. No need to Dare me, I'm ready for some Human League! I wasn’t wowed by Dare, but I thought it was okay. The synthesizers were the best element about this album, and from a music history standpoint, it was interesting hearing The Human League evolve from a post-punk outfit to a new wave and synth pop band. I wasn’t a big fan of most of Phil Oakey’s vocals on this album (the man can sing really well, as evidenced on songs like “Human” and “Together in Electric Dreams”), but I understand why he opted for a flatter delivery style on a lot of this album. Most of the songs that relied more on lower register sounds (“The Sound of the Crowd,” “Do Or Die,” and “I Am The Law”) were a bit boring to me. The biggest exception to that was “Darkness,” where I was really drawn in by the main synthesizer arrangement. As for the songs that I liked, I thought “Open Your Heart” was great. Those backing vocals are fantastic, and the whistle sounds are awesome. The upbeat sound of the music suited the lyrics perfectly. “Seconds” wound up being my favorite song on the album. I loved how the main synthesizer arrangement and the backing beat sounded together. The sound was really rich, and it was fantastic to listen to. Even though I liked “Seconds” the best, “Don’t You Want Me” is still fantastic. I was surprised by how different it sounds from the rest of the album. This was the only song on the album that unfolded as a narrative, but I love how Phil Oakey and Susan Ann Sulley sing back and forth to each other. The synthesizers are perfectly layered, and it’s such a fun song. There’s a reason that “Don’t You Want Me” is such an important song in the history of new wave music, and even though I’ve heard it countless times throughout my life, it still sounds incredible. I wasn’t wowed by Dare, but overall, it’s still a good album, and it had a tremendous impact on the landscape of pop music in the eighties.

I was a long haired hard rocker when this came out and I could not believe how good music could sound without guitars or real drums!! I loved this then and I still love it now. It’s a lot poppier than their previous 2 albums but all the better for it to be honest! Get your shoulder pads in, your make up on and have a dance!

Incredibly 80s sounding, with the synths and gated reverb. These are normally features that people complain about but this kind of synthpop is so satisfying for me for whatever reason I think the second half is probably better, the songs are stronger and more memorable I never take this stuff as some serious bit of high art, it's just some sugary fun 3.5 Highlights: Love Action, Don't You Want Me

I once bumped into Phil Oakey on three separate occasions in one day in Sheffield. I joked that I had a celebrity stalker.

I like how they retitled this from Dare to Dare! for the US - I suppose you really do have to be louder to get heard there. I owned this CD, above average synth Pop but find it all a little too clinically surgical maybe.

I really enjoyed this, despite not being a big fan of synth driven music. The album contains a surprising number of accessible chart hits that I was already familiar with (“don’t you want me” was my first 12” purchase!) but even those tracks I didn’t know were of a high standard and offered enough variety to keep me interested. It’s a great album, and maybe I like synth pop more than I realised.

A funny little synth pop group that has great production, and then the final song of the album hits and is instantly recognizable. I really like that Don't You Want Me has like 3 stages to it's chorus and it's just such a fun song. It's so good, in fact, I forgot the rest of the album after hearing it. Maybe Do or Die? I think that leaves this group as a bonafide one hit wonder, but what a hit.

First time I’ve listened all the way through and it was alright. Some great synth riffs and drum programming, but not all that into the strained vocals and general pop arrangements.

Iconic 80s

Quite repetitive. Darkness and I Am The Law were kinda fun though. And Don't You Want Me is always nice. Best son: Darkness

80ties electropop

So unabashedly eighties that I have no choice but to dig it.

Apart from the charted single form this album, it doesn't stand out and stays very relevant to 1981 but musically does not advance.

DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)

Pretty good for the genre. Points for probably innovative.

nothing amazing but not bad

Not really a fan of his voice, they do have one or two slightly catchy songs

The things that dreams are made of

Diferente, algunos temas muy lindos y experimentosos. Nada tremendo. Nota: 3.4

Solid 80s record. Some hits but nothing mind blowing.

Not nearly as bad as I expected.

If this album was just the last three songs I would have been much happier. Those are some banger cheesy classic 80s hits. The rest of the album is just bad cheesy. It balances out to be just alright, so it could have been worse.

Way too generic 80s for me and when I was wondering why it was on the list, I suspected it was because they are a British band. I was correct. Cut it out with the over representation of every British band ever, list! Ok I got to Don't You Want Me and I do like this song, so it gets the mid rating

Surprisingly great! Jam-packed with tunes, Don't You Want Me is actually one of the weakest tracks.

This project is really showing me what songs I've heard but don't know, and this album had a couple. Cool to see where they've come from and I think this was a nice album, don't have much other experience with The Human League to compare but the article mentioned they had a membership change, so interesting to see they had such a massive hit with that and then placed it as the last track of the album. Good overall, but not one that'll be entering my favorites most likely.

The Things That Dreams Are Made Of 3.5 Open Your Heart 3.4 The Sound of the Crowd 3.6 Darkness 4 Do or Die 3.8 Get Carter (instrumental) 3.2 I Am the Law 3.4 Seconds 3 Love Action (I Believe in Love) 3.1 Don't You Want Me 4.1 Score: 3.51

Great album by one of the best 80s synth pop bands.

Favorites: Darkness, Seconds, Don’t You Want Me Just some damn good electronic music, with one of the best pop songs you’ll ever hear at the very end. This is by far the best Human League album, but I highly recommend their early work as well.

Pretty good for the time

Really good listen. I'm particularly amused that what is probably their most famous song, Don't you want me, is at the end of the album. That's not very common that an artists hit song is at the end of the album

How to be not great yet create something, if not great, then special. That Phil Oakey understood the synthesiser was going to be important so hit it hard. That he wasn’t very good wasn’t the point. Or was he absolute genius? Brilliant album.

This is review 945 for my project. I did nearly 200 reviews before I started a group, which re-set the counter, and albums from those first 200 still turn up. The Human League's 'Dare' was the very first record I reviewed on day one. Now that I have refined my approach to reviewing, let's see how my initial thoughts and rating stack up: "minimal, clean synth sounds, cool production but still warm to hear. Surprisingly good tunes beyond just the singles, especially 'The things that dreams are made of' and 'The Sound of the Crowd' and 'Get Carter/I am the Law'." Well, I stand by all of that. The best moments of 'Dare' have a kind of regional nightclub glamour. Don't look too closely or you'll see the grimy reality, but when the music is loud and the lights are flashing, there is a fun, sexy vibe that you can dance to. My first instinct was to put my rating down to three stars, but I have listened to this album twice through on the trot, and I really dig it. There really are some cracking tunes here, and it wrote the book on synth pop. Great to listen to, lots of fun, and highly influential.

Sun, June 1 2025 Not a huge synth pop guy but interesting no less

Liked this more than I thought I would. Ultimately not my exact taste

I did not care for this.

#596. It's not techno, it's new wave! And you're listening to Wave 103! Ok, ok, the Human League song that was in that game was not from this album, but it was the first thing I thought of. Anyway, this album would be ok, but 'The Thing That Dreams are Made Of' and 'I am The Law' are fucking bad, and they really drag the rest down. 2/5: not great overall

Love it. Favourite track is The Sound Of The Crowd 4/5

I love Dare. All lyrics are quite inventive and worth listening to. Hooks a plenty. Energy dips here and there but near flawless for me. 8/10

Dare! is a masterpiece that would be impossible to replicate today. Even if you were to get the same keyboards in the same studio with the same personnel, the writing and production would be significantly altered due to modernity. Part of its appeal is the bluntness and boldness of the synths and creativity with which the various sounds are matched to the bright, oscillating melodies. The sheer dynamic range and variety achieved with such a ridged set up is what pushes the band into such inspiring and surprising places. I don’t want this to sound like a patronising “didn't they do well”. What I’m saying is thank God they made this when they did because it’s just perfect. There is an incredible tension between the severity of the angular rhythms and the big, bold, bright purposes that they are employed for. The vocals match the keys, each syllable is shot out in a singular punch, arranging themselves into words. The lyrics and their delivery have an odd detachment to them, while covering a range of the most dramatic human emotions and experiences. Particular favourites are Darkness and Seconds but I don’t think there’s anything even remotely representing a dud across the tracklist.

Yet to find a synthpop record i love. It’s good, just not my cup of tea.

Gonna be carried by Do You Want Me Wow even that song sucks Early synth, this went number 1 in the UK lol

From the first few opening notes I thought this wouldn't be for me - but I ended up liking it

Somebody had to lead the way on new wave, I suppose. This is a sonic artifact. Like, "Don't You Want Me" still kind of bangs (and I enjoyed "Seconds"), but the rest of this sounds so rudimentary it borders on crude. I appreciate the genre-defining, pop-pioneering action going on here, so while I can't say I enjoyed my listen that much I am glad I've heard it.

Odd

Have never listened to one of their albums and it went almost exactly as I expected. great fun

Decent album, a couple of great songs, the rest are okay. Liked the production throughout. DONT YOU WANT ME BABY!!

2 absolute bangers but mostly complaining

This is the sort of album that should be on the 1001 list. A real game-changer in synth-pop thanks to the introduction of the Linn Drum at the last minute. Eight of the ten of the tracks could be hit singles (in fact four of them were), and the wit, melodicism and songwriting still shine through four decades later.

le sobran 9 temas

done for dancing

Time capsule. Well executed but so many bands did synthopop better.

I thought I would enjoy the nostalgia much more than I did.

It's mostly pretty fluff. Of course Don't You Want Me, is still one of my favorite fun 80s songs. But I'd forgotten how much I love Seconds, which was the B side on the 45 single of Don't You Want Me that I bought at K-Mart in 1981. Excuse me now while I listen to it for the rest of the day.

Pretty bare-bones. I like Depeche Mode better.* But hey, points for "Johnny Joey Dee Dee"! *so of course I had to listen to Speak & Spell, DM's album from 1981, to see if it was indeed better, and it was, although more lightweight than their later albums.

Don't You Want Me is the answer to the question of what song from the 80's is the one I can never remember at trivia night. Maybe listening to this album will help me for the next time, but chances are both will remain totally forgettable to me.

simple electronics/waveforms etc, but good songs.

Iemand heeft een keyboard gekocht en is er lekker mee aan het klooien geslagen. De jaren-tachtigsound zoals we die ooit vervloekt hebben, maar die we (zeker gezien wat er nog meer gemaakt blijkt te zijn in dat decennium) steeds beter zijn gaan waarderen. Het klinkt allemaal nog behoorlijk fris, aanstekelijk zelfs, en d'r staat een hit op, wat altijd leuk is. Krijgen de hits ook eens context. Ik kon deze 40 minuten prima meerdere keren aanhoren.

Ouderwetse synth-pop. Het zou niet in mijn opkomen om het in het boek op te nemen. Kraftwerk lijkt me al wel voldoende het genre vertegenwoordigen. Ik snap het wel. Het eindigt met een enorme hit. En vervelend is het niet. Het krijgt ook wel voldoende van me. Een vergeetbare 3.

Alles wat fout is aan de jaren 80, is samengebald in deze plaat. Drumcomputers, slechte synthgeluidjes, mannen met make-up, zeurderige Britse zang. De muziek is heel elektronisch moet ik zeggen, dit is wat Mark en Jos vroeger veel draaiden in hun piratenradioprogrammaatje, de Grote Kutshow. Patrick Hernandez style, foute elektro. En daar heb ik dan toch wel weer goede herinneringen aan. Voor mijn vaste lezers: daar is Rooie Dop ontstaan. Dus zonder Human League (of eigenlijk Marianne Rosenberg en Patrick Hernandez), was Rooie Dop wellicht nooit ontstaan. Moeten ze daar dan bonuspunten voor krijgen? Laten we het niet overdrijven. Deze 1001-snoblijst en bijbehorende pagina geven ons een mooie gelegenheid om verhalen te vertellen aan de hand van wat albums. Maar de muziek beoordelen we gewoon op hun eigen waarde. Ondanks alles vind ik dit toch ergens wel geinig. Het zit goed in elkaar. Natuurlijk mis ik de gitaren, maar ze halen alle synths (en zichzelf) uit de kast om muzikaal te overtuigen. Een overdreven 4 vind ik te veel eer, dus ik hou het op een 3.

Not bad but apart from the last two songs, not particularly memorable either

The only reason this gets 2 stars instead of 1 is because the one hit wonder song Don’t You Want Me finishes off the album.

Успіх цього альбому можна вважати дивом. Перед його виходом The Human League розвалився, і його покинули двоє учасників, які фактично писали усю музику. Фактично, залишилась лише назва, яку успадкував, залишений на призволяще, вокаліст Philip Oakey. З ним ще залишався Adrian Wright, але від нього взагалі не було ніякої користі, бо у гурті він навіть не був повноцінним музикантом. Цей контекст важливий, щоб зрозуміти, що перед нами альбом, що був чистим експериментом, та коли він народжувався, навіть продюсер не розумів до кінця «що це» - геніальне новаторство чи повна маячня. Мова йде про звучання сінтів та драм машини у поєднання із меланхолійно відстороненим вокалом Філла. Проте зараз, ми впевнено можем констатувати його успіх та величезне зрушення у поп музиці, яке він зробив. Адже саме цей альбом фактично створив концепцію звучання такого жанру як синті-поп. Мінімалізм, холодна естетика й чітко вивірений, майже готичний образ - усе це працювало на його популярність. Але якщо сорок років назад альбом сприймався як прорив, та нове слово в поп музиці - зараз він відчувається вже зовсім інакше. Ключова проблемою альбому є його нерівномірність. Більшість пісень не витримують конкуренції з головним хітом: вони або надто прості, або емоційно плоскі, та відверто прохідні. Вокал Philip Oakey— це ще один спірний момент. Його відстороненість, яка колись здавалася стильною, тепер іноді звучить просто порожньо. Якщо ж сказати зовсім просто - альбом не чіпляє та не залишає по собі ніяких емоцій. Він швидше слугує музейним експонатом, який демонструє нам те, яким синті-поп був у зародку. Бо якщо ми порівняємо із іншими «класичними» роботами цього жанру, наприклад Songs From the Big Chair від Tears for Fears, чи Black Celebration від Depeche Mode, які вийшли трохи пізніше - у нього не буде жодного шансу. Але попри все — Dare залишається знаковим. Він не просто започаткував хвилю британського синт-попу — він вивів електроніку на мейнстримну арену, зробивши її частиною поп-культури.

There is 1 good song on this album, and you already know what it is. The rest sounds like it was written by 12 year olds who just learned a few chords on a keyboard. As for influence, it’s possible that this album was a breakthrough to the genre of wingey, woe-is-me, nihilist British bands that I truly despise. So, negative credit on the influence score. Don’t need to hear this album again and didn’t need to hear the whole thing the first time. It’s a 1

Pop friendly synth Pop.

Great start, great end and pretty good in the middle. I totally missed that there was a Rezillo on this.

P decent, I'd like to listen to this again when I have more time

Honestly the album has been pretty unlistenable, the beats and voice are so cliche 80s for me it’s not my vibe. I like “dont you want me” but outside of that I really don’t want to listen again. I’ll do a 1 out of 5, with the exception of the one song.

Nostalgic for me. Although I've never listened to the whole album, I'd listen to it again.

Like Devo, but more stuck up and less fun.

I have a soft spot for the kind of music The Human League makes. Makes me feel like I'm in the back seat of a white 2000 Honda CR-V. I do think the sounds got repetitive as the album went on. Don't You Want Me is one of my favorite songs, it just has that addictive quality to me.

Started off sounding pretty redundant for 80s Electronic pop but maybe about mid way through the album it got real catchy. Darkness and Don’t You Want Me were the strongest songs. Very catchy, and interesting vocals, but not crazy unique. 6/10

I’m a sucker for synth-pop so this was up my alley for me. Perfect example of an oldie but a goodie album, giving me the vibe of driving in Vice City again with 80s music blaring. Weakest song being I Am The Law and my favorite being The Sound of The Crowd(very nice upbeat tempo). Will be listening again when I need something for a late night drive. 5/5

Genre defining synth pop, as much as it isn’t the music I prefer the hits have invaded my world and are recognizable. For synth pop I’m guessing this is one of the all time greats. Seconds was a surprise for me probably my favorite song on the album

Very good

10 songs that all sound the same.

learning that i love 80s synth pop! listened to this one twice

Cheesy 80s synth, just the way I like it

This album reminds me why, in my formative years of music listening, I looked back to the 1970s inspiration. This album sucks.

3/4

da fehlte noch der Überhit, aber auch sonst hörbar

Boring but inoffensive.

7/10

1981. Actually pretty fun and goofy early 80s electronic style. Finished with Don't You Want Me Baby!

77/100. A good and iconic synthpop album, packed with catchy hooks, sleek production, and a defining sound of the early '80s

Great 80's pop. 'Nuff said.

I’m not a big fan of the 80s sound, but I can recognize when it works, and it works here. Similar to Tears for Fears or Depeche Mode, I think I’m into this album because there’s an awareness of how icy and robotic its synths sound, and the band leans into that rather then letting the dissonance sit there unacknowledged. Helps that a lot of it is really catchy. Best song: Don’t You Want Me

sterile 80s synth pop

Catchy 80s synth pop. I was jamming hard. Sure, it feels a bit dated like a lot of 80s stuff, but it's just fun.

Не очень понравилось

This album is unashamedly synth-pop, it's hard to imagine it existing at another time, but I wouldn't say it's 80s in a bad way. They properly lean into it, to the point where it sounds more like Kraftwerk-esque electronica than new wave at times. The synths are not just there to provide basic melody, they really create some varied sounds with them. I can't quite give this 5* because the quality dips in the middle. But Don't You Want Me is such a banger, it leaves it on a high note, so definitely good enough for 4*

Fucking amazing!

It’s ok, really 80’s synth

1 stern

That's not my taste in music - Boring

A perfect synth pop record. Every song is a small hit and the well known hit is the last song. Pretty bold move.

Don’t You Want Me is a classic, but the rest of the album was a bit dull

nice enough

I used to love 80s music

80s

So many synths and drum machines! I'm actually not sure if there were any traditional instruments on this album at all. Luckily, I was a big fan of this fully electronic sound, and I enjoyed hearing all the different kinds of synthesizers. The melodies are catchy and the songs are memorable. Favorite Song: "Do Or Die"

good listen

I appreciated being in synth heaven and there were some interesting texture, but the songwriting was a bit weak. Except for “Don’t You Want Me Baby” which is a stone cold classic. More of an album I respect than love.

One iconic song from my youth couldn’t save this mess of an album.

Typical British new-wave album feat. a heavily-played, recognizable radio single. Not my cuppa tea.

It doesn't get more 80s than this. A catchier more danceable version of Kraftwerk. The singing is like a bad version of Bryan Ferry and he's not that good himself. Favorite song: don't you want me.

What a fantastic album. Every song is a banger.

between this, architecture and morality, and non-stop electric cabaret, v few genres have had a year as explosive as 1981 was for synthpop. this is my least fave of the three but its probably the most populist of them,,just lots of great songs but more than that lots of great Sounds, theres prob not more then two or three synth tones on this that i wasnt immediately in love with lol. tbh other than its insanely predictive elements (certainly more music copied this record then those other two) im not super interfacing with this as a vibrantly Singular piece of art but i cant rly quibble with the actual listening experience!

Kinda neat! But basic.

It’s wasn’t a horrible album, but I still hate 80’s music. Don’t you want me is okay I guess. 4/10

nae det är inget vidare för mig. man skulle varit lite mer synthig så hade det nog funkat.

I thought this band was a one hit wonder. Only really heard the one song from them, and it seems to at least be the one song that survived the test of time, according to streaming numbers. I don't particularly like their biggest hit so I'm coming at this with low expectations. Hope the rest of the album delivers something interesting. The Things That Dreams Are Made Of Starting off with a clunky title. Extremely 80's. The synths sound kinda cheesy, especially the bass. Robotic and monotone vocal performance. Awkward chorus. The high pitched synths on the chorus don't sound particularly good. Matching the clunkiness of its title. Did not like. 2/5 Open Your Heart The vocal melody is honestly just unpleasant. Hate the whistly synths. Pretty empty sounding even with the synths playing disharmonicaly in the background. Messy mix. Awkward composition. The chorus doesn't go anywhere. Unpleasant. 1.5/5 The Sound Of The Crowd Immediately annoying as soon as it starts. Background instrumental sounds like a rejected YMO b-side made in a drunken stupor. The vocals have a bit of that 80's charm to the them. Another nothing chorus, lacks any punch whatsoever. Holds very little value. 1.5/5 Darkness With how cliché this song sounds I'm not suprised that I'd think this was a parody if I didn't know any better. Empty sounding instrumental. Messy composision and a cheesy chorus. The insturmental break sounds sort of decent. Did not like. 2/5 Do or Die I don't wanna hear a 5 minute track from this thing. This has to be experienced to be believed. The instrumental is strange... The bassline is sort of passable. The verses are kinda unhinged, and the chorus sort of sucks. The extended instrumental passage has some groove to it, when the chorus comes back at the end it almost sounds good. Confusing. 2.5/5 Get Carter That high pitched synth at the is earpiercingly loud. For the first time in 44 albums I had to turn my volume down. Should come with a warning. 1/5 I Am The Law The synths create an atmospheric landscape. Some of the effects are a bit cheesy. Reminds me of a shitty rejected Japan track. Singer sounds somewhat like a budget David Sylvian minus rverything that makes him great. Failed experiment, ends up being quite a slog to get through. Turn it off. 1.5/5 Seconds Decent transition. Stock sounding instrumental. Same boring monotone delivery. Hopelessly boring, repetitive and overly long. Absolutely pointless. 1/5 Love Action (I Believe in Love) Sounds like a parody. Headache inducing. The vocals make me wanna bash my head against the wall, bores me to tears. I think I've been Stockholm syndrome'd into liking the main synth riff. Brainwashing music. Get me out. 1/5. Don't You Want Me One of the most overplayed songs on every 80's pop station. A more annoying song than this is hard to come by. I hate the lyrics, I hate the annoying background synth that keeps going for the entire song. I can't stand the chorus. The female vocal part is somehow worse than the male one. Don't You Want To Turn It Off. If I could give it a 0 I would. Turbo shit. 1/5 I can't stand this. This is honestly baffling. I have to look really hard to find anything enjoyable in here. The inclusion of "Don't You Want Me" almost automatically qualifies it for 1/5 stars. Dated beyond belief. Terrible sounding synth effects. Extremely basic songs, those who aren't completely fail, coming off as either disjointed messes or boring slogs. I usually really like synth pop, but this just does not do it for me. Genuinely one of the worst experiences I've had with an album listening to it front to back. Glad it's over. 1/5 Fave track. N/A Least fave track. Don't You Want Me

2 - One cool song and the rest is a fucking bore fest...sorry

I'm not even convinced I listened to the right version of this, but what I did listen to was pretty badly dated and annoying. 2.3/5

This is #day224 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and... hell yeah, here’s to the album that kickstarted the Second British Invasion, right? Seriously, folks giving this record low scores, what’s going on? It’s 1981, and the machines are taking over. With synthesizers becoming widely available, they quickly became the "toys" musicians were playing with, shaping the sound of the future… or at least the future from a past perspective. Dare! is a classic new wave, synthpop, and electropop record that would go on to define the genre for years. What else is there to say? If you haven't heard "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of", "Don’t You Want Me", and others, what have you even been listening to? This is a 5 out of 5. Looking forward to #day225.

One of my favorites in the 80th.

I guess this was fine. Just a lot of synths. A LOT. And a bit too much for my liking. And after a few songs, that drum sound gets annoying as well. "I Am The Law" is definitely my least favourite track on here. One thing I liked about this album is that it has a bit of a darker sound than the synth-pop albums I am used to and it still remains dancy. So that was interesting to hear. The first and the last track are my favourites; all the stuff between them is not really my taste.

good Synth pop

Love Don't You Want Me. The rest of the album is less catchy but similar vibey/sounding songs. Nothing bad. Nothing particularly amazing either. 2.5/5

More 80's than anything else on the planet besides VHS. Good thing we've learned a bit since then.

Requiring an exam and license to operate a synthesizer may not be the worst thing ever. The one hit on the album is a song I’ve always thought was a bit irritating and the rest was worse

Two seconds in: oh no. We're in for a rough one. By the end: are we done yet? Oh thank god. Given that this is one of my least favorite genres, there was no way I was going to be into this. That said, I feel like I would probably really like this album if I liked 80's synth pop stuff. I think this is pretty good by the genre standards? 2.3 Side note from the next day: I'm watching the show "The Americans" right now, and the episode I watched last night featured a poster for The Human League on the wall of a girl's bedroom. Fun coincidence to see that twice in the same day.

Pretty bog standard 80s pop record, nothing too special about it and a bit generic imo

Very 80s, very synth. Honestly not bad, but not something that I think it substantial. Overall average, not a bad listen.

Synth-pop ochentero (pionero, del 81) en su máxima expresión: un cantante que apenas sabe cantar, coros chirriantes, sintetizadores por doquier y esa reverberación controlada a lo Phil Collins dominando la percusión. En otras reseñas he dicho que estoy harto del sesgo new-wave británico de esta lista. Este álbum definitivamente pertenece a dicho género; sin embargo, me ha parecido más interesante que los demás. Quizá se deba a su atmósfera más oscura pero muy bailable o al exceso de sintetizadores, cercano al retrowave que se puso de moda hace un par de años y que tanto me gusta. En definitiva, una entretenida muestra del synth-pop de comienzos de los 80.