Martyn Ware - the Human League, Heaven 17 and getting a £324,000 cheque in the ‘80s
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Martyn Ware’s just written his memoir, ‘Electronically Yours Vol 1’, looking back at his early days in Sheffield, his brutal exit from the Human League, the rise and fall of Heaven 17 and the BEF and his lucrative afterlife as a producer.
Hear this and you will learn about …
… the charisma of Tina Turner.
… “a Dear John Letter” from Terence Trent D’Arby.
… being “John the Evangelist for the coming of OMD and Gary Numan”.
… the skills a producer needs.
… David Bowie seeing the Human League in ’79 - “If God comes down and says you’re the Anointed One you’re not going to argue with it.”
… the first record he bought (Pretties For You by Alice Cooper).
… the character of Sheffield - “bolshiness and pride in craft”.
… wanting the first Human League album to fail but getting one per cent of its profit.
… being “blind-sided” when they threw him out.
… producing Hot Gossip and Dan Hartman.
… being in a band that was “a sub-Jim Morrison mumble over the top of some soundscapes”.
… the life-changing arrival of “huge cheques”.
… and whether the original Human League will ever reunite.
www.amazon.co....
@martynware
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Penthouse & Pavement was the first album I heard outside of my family's stuff so is pretty pivotal in my memory bank (the beginning to Geisha Girls is still yet to be beaten); Martyn Ware was always a hero in my book so I will buy his!.
oooh got to love a bit of electronic nostalgia
I saw H17 a few years ago - it was only a theatre in Telford but the show they put on was amazing. Martyn is a real rock keyboardist.
Good interview session… thanks for the insight, nostalgia and no nonsense perspective. This was a period of my life that still resonates down the decades.
Martyn is correct “let me go” is a classic and still in my playlist 👍
Interesting interview, great stuff, i come from sheffield and loved all of the synth pop stuff
Great interview, I still listen to Reproduction and Travelogue, amazing albums. I'd love the original 4 to reform, will never happen though .
The break up still hurts me
Martyn ,what's the picture behind you, looks like Northern England ?
Still remember the split reported in Smash Hits - the headline was 'League Division Two'
This guy co-produced Terence Trent D'arby's classic album "Introducing the Hardline According to...". Sheffield in the 80s had so much excellent bands and music, it was electric.
Wow, I did not know that! Always been a fan of Heaven 17 and ‘Introducing the Hardline’ but didn’t realise Martyn produced it. Thanks for sharing 😊
An interview with Martyn is always good!
I have been checking out all periods of Human League stuff on youtube tonight, after getting home from seeing the current Human League live at the Solihull musicfest.
I was just going to watch 5 mins and then the rest tomorrow....ended up watching it all. Loved it.
I've not met Martin but was fortunate enough to meet Glen years ago at Abbey Road. A true gent.
same , fascinating
he never talks enough about "I don't depend on you", the HL single which predates the style of "Dare" or even "How Men Are" for years. I think it's an excellent pop record by anyone's standards but besides that it goes against anything Martyn stood for in 1979 artistically
Was the next HL style b4 the girls joined ... it feels like pre DARE
Great interview one of the best out there. Mr Ware is very intelligent. He seemed to take being asked to leave his own band very well. Better than I would have.....
inflation calculator 324,000 pounds in 1987 worth 1,123,905 pounds in 2023
a down to earth living legend.
I loved the Penthouse and Pavement LP. I’m surprised all the singles from it flopped.
Lovely interview with a lovely man. May 1980 was a seminal moment in my musical appreciation when I first heard Travelogue. Thank you, Martyn, for everything. Can't wait to read Vol. 2.
Penthouse and Pavement such a classic. And the BEF stuff with Glenn Gregory was so good.
The first version of The Human League was part of the soundtrack of my youth. I remember dancing to ‘Empire Human’ at my local disco it was held in a Swimming pool and we called it ‘The Baths’. We all loved the mystery and strangeness of this dystopian sound that mixed funk with terribly cool lyrics. Amazing band and I went on to love ‘Dare’ just as much! In my top 10 albums easily.
Love Martyn. Top bloke
A terrific and fascinating interview and had no idea that Martyn had released a book but have just placed an order. I remember going to see Turner Turner live at Wembley Arena in 1985 in the hope that Heaven 17 would perform 'Let's Stay Together'. Imagine my horror when Bryan Adams joined Tina on stage instead...
Turned out well for all involved.
Loved H17 in their day. Saw them in Reading twice - once at Sub89 and again at the Hexagon when they were supporting Squeeze. Temptation is still superb!
Great interview - I enjoyed that a bunch.
Iron Maiden? Di Martyn mean Def Leopard Sheffield and Saxon Barnsley?
Music for stowaways was the first album after he left the human league, it's rarely mentioned
I didn’t know that…. Was it released ?
@@paulriggs42 Yes. It was released on cassette only. I had a copy of it. Never knew it had a 10,000 limited edition. One of the instrumentals was, music to kill your parents by. My mum was not amused. I was a massive human league fan from the travelogue days, I took my mum to see what's love got to do with it in the flicks years later. I noticed BEF had been completely airbrushed out, showbiz eh ?
Music for Stowaways is the debut album by English electronic act British Electric Foundation (B.E.F.), formed by musicians Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. The album released in the United Kingdom as a limited edition cassette in March 1981 by Virgin Records, who also released an LP version of the album titled Music for Listening To later in the year with a different track list and cover art, aiming its release for export markets. The Stowaways version was originally released concurrently with Ware and Marsh's first single with Heaven 17, "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang", itself a developed version of the Music for Stowaways track "Groove Thang"
Martyn is remembering it wrong about 'Temptation' missing out on number one to 'Candy Girl' (New Edition). It was 'True' (Spandau Ballet) spending its fourth and final week at number one that stopped it. New Edition were number one the following week, by which time Heaven 17 had dropped to number four. Very interesting interview though, especially hearing a different take on the story behind the split of the original Human League lineup.
Great podcast - fascinating career, and Word asked great questions. Loved it. Looking forward to reading the book.
Fantastic interview : informative ,interesting and entertaining. Thank you very much.
Sheffield has great music circa 1978- 80s ....the South Yorkshire police on the other hand 😮 RIP 🙏 97 YNWA.
Extraordinary comment
All good, but not sure why a direct question about getting Phil in took so long to answer!
good luck whistle men and martyn ,,god bless your hearts
Penthouse and pavement, man I loved that album.
loved heaven 17,found human league embarassing
The original Human League, of which Martyn was a part were amazing, and nothing like HL mkii. No comparison and not embarrassing in the slightest
Don’t forget
Paul Carrack
Chris Staunton
Both sons of Sheffield
There is a creativeness in the dna
Def Leppard
Typo
Chris Staunton ( currently keyboards for Eric Clapton)
I've definitely forgotten Paul Carrack
Martin Where?
Martyn,where's the hair? I thought you were Daniel Miller!!
+1