Human League “Don’t You Want Me” 1981. 45 rpm. B-side “Seconds.” The synth pop new wave single “Don’t You Want Me” reached #1 in both the UK and the US.

I credit this song (along with Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love”) with the beginning of my obsession with British new wave – I was all of 10 years old at the time and a bit too young for Brit punk (but that happened soon after). Listening to it almost 35 years later, it still is a well-crafted pop song: the interplay of cold emotion between the male and female vocalists a perfect overlay for synthesizers and drum machine, and the video’s male/female matching 80′s makeup and hairstyles the cherry on top.