Heaven 17
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Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England (1980 – present)
Heaven 17 is a British synthpop band originating in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, formed in 1980.
Taking their name from a fictional pop group mentioned in Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange (where ‘The Heaven Seventeen’ are at number 4 in the charts with ‘Inside’), Heaven 17 formed when Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware split from their earlier group The Human League and formed production company British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.). Shortly after, they recruited their good friend and photographer Glenn Gregory on vocals to complete their lineup for Heaven 17. Contrary to popular belief, they were not New Romantics and shared few visual characteristics with groups such as Spandau Ballet and Culture Club.
Like The Human League, Heaven 17 heavily used synthesizers and drum machines. They had a few minor hits including the early ‘Play To Win’ which featured on the album Penthouse and Pavement. Their debut single ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’ from the same album attracted some attention, became a left-wing anthem for a while, and was banned by the BBC because of its overtly political lyrics, but it still reached number 45 in the UK singles chart.
Major chart success eluded them until the single ‘Temptation’ (in which they were augmented by the vocalist Carol Kenyon) reached number 2 in the UK charts in summer 1983. Other songs from the same album, The Luxury Gap, also charted though not as high - ‘Come Live With Me’ reached number 5 in the UK, ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’ reached number 17, and ‘Let Me Go’, reaching 41 in November 1982. The album itself charted at their best ever position, number four.
Taking their name from a fictional pop group mentioned in Anthony Burgess’s novel A Clockwork Orange (where ‘The Heaven Seventeen’ are at number 4 in the charts with ‘Inside’), Heaven 17 formed when Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware split from their earlier group The Human League and formed production company British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.). Shortly after, they recruited their good friend and photographer Glenn Gregory on vocals to complete their lineup for Heaven 17. Contrary to popular belief, they were not New Romantics and shared few visual characteristics with groups such as Spandau Ballet and Culture Club.
Like The Human League, Heaven 17 heavily used synthesizers and drum machines. They had a few minor hits including the early ‘Play To Win’ which featured on the album Penthouse and Pavement. Their debut single ‘(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang’ from the same album attracted some attention, became a left-wing anthem for a while, and was banned by the BBC because of its overtly political lyrics, but it still reached number 45 in the UK singles chart.
Major chart success eluded them until the single ‘Temptation’ (in which they were augmented by the vocalist Carol Kenyon) reached number 2 in the UK charts in summer 1983. Other songs from the same album, The Luxury Gap, also charted though not as high - ‘Come Live With Me’ reached number 5 in the UK, ‘Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry’ reached number 17, and ‘Let Me Go’, reaching 41 in November 1982. The album itself charted at their best ever position, number four.
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Endless
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Best of the 80's
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Best Of Heaven 17
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The Luxury Gap
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Shoutbox
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FoxDoeBull wrote:
you believe that. No reasoning with a person like you
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Doctorinho wrote:
Sheffield's finest, along w Arctic M.
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emperorliu wrote:
v Cradle of Filth? Unsuccessful troll is unsuccessful.
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nafets1218 wrote:
Oddly I don't like this, in response to what I see here about if you don't like this band you don't like synthpop: I disagree. I listen to what sounds good to me, and the only thing that seems to bug me about this band is the vocals. If I hear synthpop and like it, I can still like it and not like this. I like Cradle Of Filth's cover of Temptation. Granted genre elitists hate Cradle of Filth, and finding out it was a cover seemed to excuse how soft the song was for me. I myself was initially disappointed when I thought that was really the direction that band was taking, but I now have relief. I wouldn't deny that this group likely had a large influence on future groups... I may have to give them another shot sometime...
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duranies wrote:
Temptation <3 [3]
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jfon605 wrote:
"amazing performance with La Roux" Ewww.
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MyMusicMyDivas wrote:
Temptation <3 [2]
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OhhOlipop wrote:
Temptation <3
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android1985 wrote:
and WTF Tribudragon? Dare I say that if you don't enjoy more than 2 songs from them - hell, the whole Penthouse and Pavement album - you don't like synth pop.
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android1985 wrote:
Penthouse and Pavement <3
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iHeartTrigun wrote:
never heard anything from them. but they must be win if they took their name from ACO. ;)
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Phlunked wrote:
'Don't Fear The Reaper' is a decent cover.
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RideSoTa wrote:
Later... with Jools Holland → Temptation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIiJ3B1t1gI | (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yZ2Y8K2QY8
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Claudiar71 wrote:
Temptation...
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Hvn17 wrote:
Join the new Heaven 17 forum at http://heaven17.proboards.com.
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piribolygo wrote:
AND THAT'S NO LIE
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mvldk666 wrote:
LOVE TO HEAVEN 17
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Lesscities wrote:
Heaven17 Fans : We're going to live for a very long time ;-)
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chuck__e wrote:
@Tribudragon: Yes, you're wrong!
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Tribudragon wrote:
they have only two songs suitable for listening. may I wrong ?
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Recent Activity
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kahrenwillis, Lucexide, acxess1965 and 11 other people added Heaven 17 to their libraries. 5 hours ago
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Dealerka tagged Heaven 17 with ‘ciekawe no ciekawe’. last week
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Dealerka, positron09, enybe and 2 other people added Heaven 17 to their libraries. last week
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RussellChap tagged Heaven 17 with short lived, should be more popular, inconsistant and 3 other tags. last month
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Hoecaine, stefankuehne, ventingspleen and 6 other people added Heaven 17 to their libraries. last month
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Norberto74 tagged Heaven 17 with new wave, british and 80s. last month
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Small_BlueThing, vikibrymer, mamaklunky and 32 other people added Heaven 17 to their libraries. last month
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bluesboyjr tagged Heaven 17 with ‘new wave’. last month
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sucram_wo, Spacefloat, cullyitfc and 23 other people added Heaven 17 to their libraries. last month
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Lesscities wrote about Heaven 17 – The Luxury Gap in Lesscities Top 50 Albums Mai 2011. May 2010
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