U.K. Energy Ad Channels Retro Wonder of 'Electric Dreams'

Reluctant classic by Human League's Philip Oakey

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Here's a song I would never have pegged for a retro revival: "Together in Electric Dreams." Sung by the Human League frontman Philip Oakey for the 1984 comedy Electric Dreams, the song is now featured in a charmingly odd commercial for Britain's EDF Energy. The ad shows a gourd-shaped creature, modeled after the popular Keepon toys, dancing to the song around different parts of the house. (This is somehow meant to promote renewable energy.) I hadn't heard Oakey's song since the 1980s, when my sister and I were obsessed with Electric Dreams, a cautionary tale about how computers could someday control our homes and love lives.

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