The Men was an alias used by The Human League as a result of Virgin pressing the group to record material which used more 'conventional' instruments, rather than just synthesizers. Virgin were afraid that the general public would not accept a synthesizer-only group at that time. Martyn Ware had previously declared that the League would certainly consider recording material using non-electronic instruments, but "not under the name Human League". So, to appease their new label, they recorded "I Don't Depend On You", with session musicians providing bass guitar and drums, and Katie Kissoon and Lisa Strike providing backing vocals.