Editing Heaven 17 (section)

====1981: B.E.F. and ''Penthouse and Pavement''====
B.E.F.'s first recordings were a cassette-only album called ''Music for Stowaways''<ref name="NME Rock 'N' Roll Years">{{cite book| first= John| last= Tobler| year= 1992| title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years| edition= 1st| publisher=Reed International Books Ltd | location= London| page= 352| id= CN 5585}}</ref> and an LP called ''Music for Listening To'', which was re-released on CD in 1997 with two extra tracks. Shortly after, they completed their line-up when they recruited their friend, photographer Glenn Gregory, as vocalist. Taking their new name from a fictional pop band mentioned in [[Anthony Burgess]]'s [[Dystopian fiction|dystopian]] novel ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' (where The Heaven Seventeen are at number 4 in the charts with "Inside"), Heaven 17 was intended to be just one of the musical projects for British Electric Foundation.<ref>David Buckley ''Electric Dreams: the Human League, Heaven 17, and the Sound of the Steel City'', Aurum Press 2012</ref>

Like the Human League, Heaven 17 used synthesisers and [[drum machine]]s heavily (the [[Linn LM-1]] programmed by Ware). [[Session musician]]s were used for bass guitar and guitar (John Wilson) and [[grand piano]] (Nick Plytas). Whereas the band's former colleagues the Human League had gone on to major chart success in 1981, Heaven 17 struggled to make an impact. Their debut single "[[(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang]]" attracted some attention and was banned by the [[BBC]] due to concerns by [[BBC Radio 1|Radio 1]]'s legal department that it libelled [[Ronald Reagan]], who had recently been elected President of the United States.<ref name="Banned">{{cite book| title=Banned: Censorship of Popular Music in Britain: 1967-1992|first=Martin|last=Cloonan|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|year=1996|isbn=1-85742-300-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?as_isbn=9781857423006|page=117|quote = Radio 1 remained wary in the political arena and in 1981 its legal department advised Heaven 17 that their hit 'We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing' libelled American President Ronald Reagan by calling him a 'fascist'. So the BBC dropped it...}}</ref> Neither "Fascist Groove Thang" nor any of the three other singles taken from the band's debut album ''[[Penthouse and Pavement]]'' reached the [[UK Top 40]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/> The album itself proved to be a success, however, peaking at Number 14 on the [[UK Albums Chart]], and was later certified [[music recording sales certification|gold]] by the [[British Phonographic Industry|BPI]] in 1982.

[[File:Glenn Gregory.jpg|thumb|left|Glenn Gregory on stage in 2021]]Around this time, Ware and Marsh produced two further albums as B.E.F., the first being ''Music of Quality & Distinction Volume One'' featuring Glenn Gregory, [[Tina Turner]], [[Paula Yates]], [[Billy Mackenzie]], [[Hank Marvin]], [[Paul Jones (singer)|Paul Jones]], [[Bernie Nolan]], and [[Gary Glitter]]. The tracks were [[cover version]]s of songs that Ware, Marsh and Gregory had grown up listening to. The album peaked at number 25. The second album was ''[[Geisha Boys and Temple Girls]]'' for the [[dance troupe]] [[Hot Gossip]], which used songs formerly recorded by the Human League and Heaven 17, and a track each from [[Sting (musician)|Sting]] and [[Talking Heads]]. B.E.F. took over production duties when [[Richard James Burgess]] of the band [[Landscape (band)|Landscape]] was unable to complete the album.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diskpol.com/product_info.php?products_id=30756&language=en|title=Hot Gossip: Geisha Boys and Temple Girls|publisher=Diskpol|access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref>