B-side "Total Panic" Recorded Genetic Studios, 1983 | Released 11 April 1983 Length 3:45 | |
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Genre Post-disco, synthpop, new wave | ||
"(Keep Feeling) Fascination" is a 1983 song by the British synthpop group The Human League. It was composed by Jo Callis and Philip Oakey, and produced by Martin Rushent (which would be the last song he produced for the band for seven years).
Contents
The song features vocals from four of the band members, including lead singer Philip Oakey, female co-vocalists Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, and a rare vocal role from keyboardist and guitarist Jo Callis.
The single was designated 'Red' on the Human League’s short-lived, self-imposed labeling system of 'Blue' for pop songs and 'Red' for dance tracks.
Chart performance and certifications
The single was released in the UK on 11 April 1983 as a non-album single, and went to number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. It was incorporated into the band's EP Fascination!. Released in the US a month after the UK release, the single reached number 1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart (their first single to do so) and number 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 that summer. The EP Fascination! contained two versions of "(Keep Feeling) Fascination"; the extended mix and an improvisation, both different from the single version. These were also the tracks featured on the 12" issue in the UK.
The 7" issue featured a new track on the B-side Total Panic.
Music video
The video for "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" was filmed in a semi-derelict area of Newham, London which was due for demolition and redevelopment as part of the widescale redevelopment of Docklands and East London which took place in the early 1980s. The central theme of the video was based on an orange dot on a map, which in turn is a real orange dot on the ground. The orange dot highlights a single house on the apex of a street where the band is playing the song in the front room, which is painted entirely grey. In one scene, a couple of boys are playing outside in the street during the song's break; one of them kicks the ball towards the orange building, the other runs to get the ball, and both the ball and the retriever's clothes turn orange. After he kicks the ball back, the ball returns to its previous colour.
Filmed before the widespread use of CGI, the house (which was 1 First Avenue, London E13 8AP) and surrounding area (Junction of 1st Avenue and 3rd Avenue) encompassed by the orange dot were completely painted orange, including a nearby car. The opening scenes establish the landscape from a map before zooming through the front window of the "orange" house, as the band starts the song. The video was conceived and directed by Steve Barron, who directed most of the Human League's early 1980s music videos. The band's scenes were all filmed in a studio; Susan Ann Sulley says that the house was still occupied by a family during the painting and filming of the external scenes. The house remained orange until being demolished in mid-1983.