Hysteria (The Human League album)

Hysteria
Studio album by
the Human League
Released7 May 1984 (1984-05-07)
Studio
GenreSynth-pop
Length39:59
LabelVirgin
Producer
The Human League chronology
Fascination!
(1983) 		Hysteria
(1984) 		Crash
(1986)
Singles from Hysteria
  1. "The Lebanon"
    Released: 24 April 1984
  2. "Life on Your Own"
    Released: 18 June 1984
  3. "Louise"
    Released: 5 November 1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Calgary HeraldE[2]
Number One4/5[3]
The Philadelphia Inquirer[4]
Record Mirror[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]
Smash Hits5/10[8]
The Village VoiceC[9]
Windsor StarC+[10]

Hysteria is the fourth studio album by the English synth-pop band the Human League, released on 7 May 1984 by Virgin Records.[11] Following the worldwide success of their previous studio album Dare (1981), the band struggled to make a successful follow-up and the sessions for Hysteria were fraught with problems. The album title itself is taken from the problematic recording period.[12] Producers Martin Rushent and Chris Thomas both left the project which would eventually be finished by producer Hugh Padgham.

Hysteria attained relatively lacklustre success in comparison to its multi-platinum predecessor. Three singles from the album reached the top 20 of the UK singles chart, and "The Lebanon" was the only single to chart in the United States, peaking at number 64 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments in excess of 100,000 copies.

In 2005, Hysteria was remastered and reissued with B-sides and extended mixes as bonus tracks.

The song "Rock Me Again and Again and Again and Again and Again and Again (Six Times)" is a cover version of a 1973 song by Lyn Collins and James Brown. "I Love You Too Much" is a substantially remixed version from the EP Fascination! (1983) and "Don't You Know I Want You" is a reworked version of the instrumental B-side "Total Panic!" that appeared on the "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" single in 1983.

  1. ^ "Hysteria – The Human League". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. ^ Muretich, James (19 May 1984). "Human League: Hysteria". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 3 May 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  3. ^ Rice, Maureen (12 May 1984). "Albums" (PDF). Number One. No. 54. p. 37. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  4. ^ Lloyd, Jack (25 May 1984). "Albums". The Philadelphia Inquirer.
  5. ^ Page, Betty (12 May 1984). "Human's Lib" (PDF). Record Mirror. p. 20. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  6. ^ Puterbaugh, Parke (5 July 1984). "The Human League: Hysteria". Rolling Stone. No. 425. p. 46.
  7. ^ Considine, J. D. (2004). "The Human League". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 397–98. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  8. ^ Martin, Peter (10 May 1984). "Album Reviews: Human League – Hysteria". Smash Hits. London. p. 27.
  9. ^ Christgau, Robert (24 July 1984). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  10. ^ Shaw, Ted (18 August 1984). "Pop". Windsor Star. Retrieved 14 October 2020 – via Google News Archive.
  11. ^ "Record News". NME. London. 5 May 1984. p. 33.
  12. ^ Windle, Rob Archived 24 April 2003 at the Wayback Machine