Temptation (Heaven 17 song)
{{short description|1983 single by Heaven 17}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Temptation
| cover = Heaven 17 Temptation single cover.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = Heaven 17
| album = The Luxury Gap
| B-side = {{ubl|"We Live So Fast",|"Who'll Stop the Rain"}}
| released = 8 April 1983{{cite web|url=http://i.imgur.com/bSzAbpV.jpg|title=BPI > Certified Awards > Search results for Heaven 17|publisher=British Phonographic Industry|accessdate=27 January 2016}}
| recorded = 1983
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
- Synth-pop{{cite magazine|last= Sheffield|first= Rob|date= February 24, 2023|title=The 100 Best Songs of 1983, the Year Pop Went Crazy|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-1983-1234681014/|access-date=September 4, 2023|magazine=Rolling Stone|quote=They went on to form the equally brilliant Heaven 17, who crafted synth-pop classics like “Temptation,” “Let Me Go,” and “We Live So Fast.}}{{cite web|first= Tom|last= Owen|title= The top 25 greatest 1980s synthpop songs ever|website= Smooth Radio|date= April 30, 2024|url= https://www.smoothradio.com/features/best-electronic-synthpop-songs/|accessdate= August 27, 2024}}
- disco{{cite book|title= Listening to the Music the Machines Make: Inventing Electronic Pop 1978-1983|first=Richard|last=Evans|date= August 6, 2024|chapter= 1983.4|page= 450|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-1-915841-45-2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EID8zgEACAAJ}}
| length = {{ubl|3:34 (album version)|3:08 (7-inch version)|4:37 (12-inch version)}}
| label = Virgin
| writer =
| producer =
- B.E.F.
- Greg Walsh
| prev_title = Let Me Go
| prev_year = 1982
| next_title = Who'll Stop The Rain
| next_year = 1983
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|xWwtMrDX2o8|"Temptation"}}}}
{{Extra album cover
| header = Alternative cover
| type = single
| cover = Heaven 17 Temptation (Brothers In Rhythm Remix) single cover.jpg
| border =
| alt =
| caption = 1992 re-release: Brothers in Rhythm Remix
}}
}}
"Temptation" is a single by British band Heaven 17 featuring Carol Kenyon, originally released on 8 April 1983 by Virgin Records, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/18889/heaven-17/|title=Official Charts > Heaven 17|publisher=The Official UK Charts Company|accessdate=27 January 2016}} This was the second single to be taken from their second album, The Luxury Gap (1983), after "Let Me Go" in November 1982. It was written by Glenn Gregory, Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware, and produced by B.E.F. and Greg Walsh. The music video for the song was directed by Steve Barron. "Temptation" was certified silver by the BPI in May 1983, for sales exceeding 250,000 copies, subsequently listed by the Official Charts Company as the 34th best-selling single of 1983 in the UK.{{cite web|url= https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-best-selling-songs-of-1983__32721/ |title= Official Top 40 Best Selling Singles of 1983 |website= UK Official Charts.com |publisher= The Official UK Charts Company |date= 19 March 2021 }}
Composition and recording
Martyn Ware explained the subject matter of the song "Temptation" as "I woke up one morning and thought I've got to write a song about sex, I've never written a song about sex. So the song is about rising sexual tension; it has chords that keep going up like an [M. C.] Escher staircase and in the end there's this big release."Martyn Ware interview, BBC Radio 2 Sounds of the 80s, Saturday 2 May 2015 Glenn Gregory later recalled that he laughed "when Martyn walked in and said he had this great idea for a song based on the Lord’s Prayer with a never-ending chord structure" (the line "lead us not into temptation" is taken from the Lord's Prayer).
Carol Kenyon provided guest vocals on the recording and continued to work with the band on the Pleasure One and Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho albums. The song featured a 60-piece orchestra, arranged and conducted by John Wesley Barker, which was also featured on the single "Come Live with Me" and a third track on the parent album The Luxury Gap. In a 2016 interview, Ware said that he told Barker that he wanted the arrangement to be "sweeping and expressionistic", giving the theme from The Big Country as an example of the kind of sound required.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/26/heaven-17-how-we-made-temptation-martyn-ware-glenn-gregory |title=Heaven 17: how we made Temptation |last1=Watkins |first1=Jack |date=26 July 2016 |website=Theguardian.com |access-date=26 July 2016}}
Performance
Heaven 17 performed this song on Top of the Pops' 1000th edition in 1983.{{Cite episode |title=The Story of 1983 |episode-link= |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087lmbd |access-date=1 February 2017 |series=Top of the Pops |series-link=Top of the Pops |first= |last= |network=BBC |station=BBC 4 |date=6 Jan 2017 |season= |series-no= |number= |minutes=31 |time= |transcript= |transcript-url= |quote= |language=}}
Critical reception
Upon its release, the song was poorly received by Smash Hits reviewer Dave Rimmer who wrote: "The boys from the BEF seem hell-bent on making brilliant disco records. Unfortunately this isn't one of them. They've got all the right ideas, but seem to get them in the wrong order. And the smoochy vocal intro is horrid."{{cite magazine|last=Rimmer|first=Dave|date=14–27 April 1983|title=Singles|magazine=Smash Hits|volume=5|number=8|page=23}}
Retrospectively, Record Collector reviewer Daryl Easlea stated in 2012 that "'Temptation' remains the best Northern soul single written in another era",Daryl Easlea The Luxury Gap Collectors Edition, Record Collector, issue 407 7 October 2012 and described it in an earlier review for the BBC as typical of the "superiority" of Heaven 17's "hooks and nuances, fluid funk and sultry soul."Daryl Easlea [https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/vzmq/ Heaven 17 Penthouse And Pavement, The Luxury Gap, How Men Are Review] bbc.co.uk 2006
Remix and re-recording
In 1992, the song was remixed by Brothers in Rhythm and released on 9 November 1992.{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=19|date=7 November 1992}} This version charted at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, and reached No. 1 in the UK Dance Chart. The 1992 remix of "Temptation" was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January 1993 for sales exceeding 200,000 copies.
In 2008, the song was re-recorded for Heaven 17's album Naked as Advertised with Billie Godfrey as guest vocalist. On 19 October 2010, Heaven 17 performed the song on Later... with Jools Holland on BBC Two in the United Kingdom.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vjfsk|title=BBC Two - Later... with Jools Holland, Series 37, Episode 6|website=BBC}}
Music video
The music video for "Temptation" was directed by Irish-British filmmaker Steve Barron. It shows the band dressed in black in drab surroundings in a style of German Expressionism, and has segments of what looks like an abstract office interview between vocalist Glenn Gregory and actress Gillian de Terville (who lip syncs Carol Kenyon's vocals). Kenyon does not appear in the video because of a disagreement over appearance money.
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.{{cite AV media notes |title=The Luxury Gap |others=Heaven 17 |publisher=Virgin Records |year=1983 |id=V2253 |type=liner notes}}
Heaven 17
- Glenn Gregory - vocals
- Martyn Ware - synthesizers, Linn LM-1 programming, backing vocals, producer
- Ian Craig Marsh - synthesizers, producer
Additional personnel
- Greg Walsh - producer, engineer
- Carol Kenyon - vocals
- John Wesley Barker - orchestral arranger and conductor
Charts
=Original version=
=Brothers in Rhythm remix=
Cover versions
At the NME Awards 2007, Jarvis Cocker and Beth Ditto performed "Temptation", and released it as a charity single.{{cite web |url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/48787-jarvis-cocker-gossips-beth-ditto-cut-charity-single |title=Jarvis Cocker, Gossip's Beth Ditto Cut Charity Single |website=Pitchforkmedia.com |accessdate=18 January 2009 |archive-date=6 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080406042821/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/48787-jarvis-cocker-gossips-beth-ditto-cut-charity-single |url-status=dead }}
Cradle of Filth covered the song in 2006 on their album Thornography.
Heaven 17 collaborated on a new performance of the song with La Roux at Maida Vale Studios on 26 January 2010 for BBC 6 Music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/live/artists/heaven-17-la-roux|title=BBC - 6 Music - Heaven 17 and La Roux Live|website=Bbc.co.uk|accessdate=18 October 2019}} At Glastonbury on 25 June 2010, Glenn Gregory was invited on stage to perform the version again with La Roux during their set.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/la-roux-3-1224819|title=La Roux: 'Despite saying nobody likes him, I want to see Kanye West at Glastonbury'|date=26 June 2015|website=Nme.com|accessdate=18 October 2019}}
References in popular culture
"Temptation" was used in the 1996 film Trainspotting and appears on the second volume of the official soundtrack.{{Cite web|url=http://everythinggonegreen.blogspot.com/2015/09/trainspotting-to-return.html|website=Everythingsgonegreen.blogspot.com|title=Trainspotting To Return?|first=Mike|last=Hollywood|date=12 September 2015|accessdate=19 October 2019}} It was also used in a 2010 Plusnet advert, where the band were featured in a tongue-in-cheek appearance performing the song.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heaven17.com/history|title=Heaven 17 - History|website=Heaven17.com|accessdate=18 October 2019}}{{cite web |url=http://www.songofthesalesman.co.uk/ad.aspx?psong=Temptation |title=Music in Plusnet TV Adverts & Commercials , download mp3s by Heaven 17 from iTunes, Amazon & Play.com |website=www.songofthesalesman.co.uk |access-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140111191505/http://www.songofthesalesman.co.uk/ad.aspx?psong=Temptation |archive-date=11 January 2014 |url-status=dead}}
In September 2024, Ware said Rockstar Games had asked to license "Temptation" for its upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto VI for {{USD|7,500}} per writer; Ware countered with an offer for {{USD|75,000}} or "a reasonable royalty" but said Rockstar declined. Ware responded "Go fuck yourself", citing the estimated {{USD|8.6 billion}} revenue earned by the game's predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V.{{cite web |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/heaven-17-reject-7500-offer-from-grand-theft-auto-vi-for-use-of-temptation-3791720 |title=Heaven 17 reject $7500 offer from 'Grand Theft Auto VI' for use of 'Temptation' |last=Pilley |first=Max |work=NME |date=8 September 2024 |accessdate=9 September 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/heaven-17-singer-tells-rockstar-to-go-fk-yourself-after-iniquitous-gta-6-royalties-offer |title=Heaven 17 songwriter tells Rockstar to 'go f**k yourself' after 'iniquitous' GTA 6 royalties offer |last=Blake |first=Vikki |work=Eurogamer |date=8 September 2024 |accessdate=9 September 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/gta-6-music-licensing-controversy-heaven-17-temptation/ |title=Actual Former Rock Star Blows Up 'GTA 6' Offer to License a Song for $7,500, After 'GTA 5' Grossed $9 Billion |last=Prada |first=Luis |work=Vice |date=9 September 2024 |accessdate=11 September 2024 }} Naomi Pohl, the general secretary of the Musicians' Union, felt Ware's reaction was unsurprising and said the game's high profile would not necessarily translate to higher exposure for the song, noting that "streaming doesn't sustain careers".{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrdwzgq30go |title=Grand Theft Audio? The tricky business of music and gaming |last=Richardson |first=Tom |work=BBC News |date=10 September 2024 |accessdate=11 September 2024 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{discogs master|62892}}
{{Heaven 17}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temptation (Heaven 17 Song)}}
Category:Cradle of Filth songs
Category:Music videos directed by Steve Barron
Category:Music Week number-one dance singles
Category:Songs written by Glenn Gregory
Category:Songs written by Ian Craig Marsh