Most people wouldn't connect the sounds of techno-pop to Anthony Burgess' novel "A Clockwork Orange," but the UK boys of Heaven 17 did.

The group got its start from Human League, one of the first internationally successful synth pop groups, who consisted of Heaven 17's main members and synth players Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh. The duo has previously worked together in Dead Daughters, before adding the third member, Philip Oakey to create Human League.

After the group disbanded in 1980, many thought the synth duo had nothing left. Surprisingly, these producers, singers, musicians, and computer programmers had only shown the world an inkling of their potential. They created yet another group, the British Electric Foundation, and recorded a cassette-only record Music for Stowaways. What emerged was Heaven 17. With the addition of vocalist Glenn Gregory, the trio recorded the critically acclaimed debut single "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang." Concentrating on Heaven 17, the boys cut their first album together, Penthouse and Pavement, which split up their work in accordance with the name of the album. The album received more commercial acclaim in both Britain and the United States, earning the boys a silver disc.

Later, Heaven 17 followed up with How Men Are, yet another British success released in 1984. Two years later the group created Pleasure One, a combination of their usual synth oriented sound with a laundry list of guest musicians and vocalists on all nine of the tracks.

Their fourth album, 1988's Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho, saw little success and the group separated. Ware went behind the scenes, working on Terence Trent D'Arby's debut album Introducing the Hardline According to Terrence Trent D'Arby. Next, those two resurrected BEF and revisited Heaven 17 with the 1996 album Bigger Than America.