Gary Numan
Encyclopedia
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?
" (as Tubeway Army
) and "Cars
". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks
fed through guitar effects pedals.
Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music
. His use of themes from science fiction, and his combination of aggressive punk energy with electronics, have since been widely imitated.
, Gary Anthony James Webb was the son of a British Airways bus driver based at Heathrow Airport. Webb was educated at Town Farm Junior School Stanwell
, Ashford County Grammar School, Middlesex, Slough Grammar School
and Brooklands Technical College. He joined the Air Training Corps
as a teenager. He then briefly did various jobs including fork lift truck driver, air conditioning ventilator fitter and clerk in an accounts department. A guitar was purchased for him at an early age and he began writing songs when he was about 15 years old. He played in various bands, including Mean Street and The Lasers, before forming Tubeway Army
with his uncle, Jess Lidyard
, and Paul Gardiner
. His initial pseudonym was "Valerian", probably in reference to the hero in French science fiction comic series Valérian and Laureline. Later he picked the name "Numan" from an advert in the "Yellow Pages
" for a plumber "A. Neumann".
. After recording an album's worth of punk
-influenced demo tapes
(released in 1984 as The Plan), he was signed by Beggars Banquet Records
in 1978 and quickly released two singles, "That's Too Bad
" and "Bombers", neither of which charted.
A self-titled, New Wave
-oriented debut album
later that same year sold out its limited run and introduced Numan's fascination with dystopia
n science fiction and, more importantly, synthesizers. Tubeway Army's third single, the dark-themed and slow-paced "Down in the Park
" (1979) also failed to chart but it would prove to be one of Numan's most enduring and oft-covered songs; it was featured with other contemporary hits on the soundtrack for the movie Times Square
, and a live version of the song can also be seen in the movie Urgh! A Music War
. After exposure in a television advertisement
for Lee Cooper jeans with the jingle "Don't be a dummy", Tubeway Army released the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?
" in May 1979. The single took seven weeks before it finally reached #1 at the end of June; the parent album Replicas
simultaneously
", which peaked at #1 in the UK in 1979 and #1 in Canada and #9 in US in 1980. "Cars" and the 1979 album The Pleasure Principle
were both released under Numan's own (assumed) name. A sell-out tour ('The Touring Principle') followed; the concert video it spawned is often cited as the first full-length commercial music video release. The Pleasure Principle was a rock album with no guitars; instead, Numan used synthesizers fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve a distorted, phased, metallic tone. The Pleasure Principle remains one of Numan's most highly-regarded efforts to date. A second single from the album "Complex" made it to #6 in the UK charts
.
Around this time, Numan also developed his distinctive style. According to Numan, this was an unintentional result of acne
; before an appearance on Top of the Pops
, he had "spots everywhere, so they slapped about half an inch of white makeup on me before I'd even walked in the door. And my eyes were like pissholes in the snow, so they put black on there. My so-called image fell into place an hour before going on the show". His "wooden" stage presence was, in his words, a result of extreme self-consciousness and lack of "showmanship". He also wore costumes and openly proclaimed his influences: David Bowie
, Marc Bolan
, and contemporary electronic acts such as John Foxx
's Ultravox
. His persona was aloof, alien, and androgynous; Numan was not seen to be part of the punk
or New Romantic
movements. During this period, Numan generated an army of fans calling themselves "Numanoids", providing him with a fanbase which maintained their support through the latter half of the 1980s, when his fortunes began to fall precipitously.
In 1980 Numan topped the album charts with Telekon
, although the concurrent singles "We Are Glass
", "I Die: You Die
" and "This Wreckage
" reached #5, #6 and #20, respectively. The final studio album of what Numan retrospectively termed the "Machine" section of his career, Telekon reintroduced guitars to Numan's music and featured a wider range of synthesizers. The same year he embarked on his second major tour ("The Teletour") with an even more elaborate stage show than The Touring Principle the previous year. Although considered a success, Numan claimed the tour actually lost him a great deal of money because of the vast expense in mounting it. He announced his retirement from touring with a series of sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena
in April 1981, supported by experimental musician Nash the Slash
and Shock
, a rock/mime/burlesque troupe whose members included Barbie Wilde
, Tik and Tok
and Carole Caplin
. The decision to retire would be short-lived.
Moving away from the pure electro-pop that he had made his name with, Numan then experimented with jazz
, funk
and ethereal, rhythmic pop. His first album after his 1981 farewell concerts was the bleak, atmospheric and experimental Dance
(1981). The album charted as high as #3 on the UK charts
, but it only produced one hit single ("She's Got Claws") and then dropped out of the charts after only eight weeks. The album featured several distinguished guest players; Mick Karn
(bass, saxophone) and Rob Dean (guitar) of Japan
, Roger Mason (keyboards) of Models
and Roger Taylor
(drums) of Queen
.
With his former backing band, Chris John Payne (Keyboards, Viola) Russell Bell (Guitar) and Ced Sharpley (Drums) now reformed as Dramatis
, Numan contributed vocals to the minor hit "Love Needs No Disguise" from the album For Future Reference
. However, Numan's career had begun to experience a gradual decline, and he was eclipsed initially by acts such as Adam Ant
, and later by The Human League
, Duran Duran
, and Depeche Mode
. Each album also saw a new "image", none of which captured the public's imagination to nearly the same extent as the lonely android of 1979.
The more upbeat and danceable I, Assassin
(1982) fared less well than Dance. Despite spawning three Top 20 singles, the album peaked at No.8 and dropped out of the charts after six weeks. Numan supported the album with a concert tour in America in late 1982 (where he was living as a tax exile
), which were his first series of live shows since his farewell at Wembley.
Warriors
(1983) further developed Numan's jazz-influenced style and featured contributions from avant-garde music
ian Bill Nelson
(who fell out with Numan during recording and chose to be uncredited as the album's co-producer) and saxophonist Dick Morrissey
(who would play on most of Numan's albums until 1991). The album peaked at No.12 and, like I, Assassin, spent six weeks in the charts. Warriors was the last album Numan recorded for Beggars Banquet Records, and was supported by a 40-date UK tour (again with support from robotic mime and music duo Tik and Tok) – Numan's first live tour in the UK since his Wembley appearances in 1981. Numan's look for the album artwork and tour was a Mad Max
-influenced black leather costume against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, but this latest image change was scorned by the music press.
Now battling against the increasing public perception that he was a spent force, Numan issued a series of albums and singles on his own record label, Numa. As the decade continued, he experienced a creative malaise, trying to recapture his former chart glory with less distinguished albums, some of which were stylistically derivative of artists like Robert Palmer and Prince
. The first album released on Numa, 1984’s Berserker
was also notable for being Numan's first foray into music computers/samplers
, in this case the PPG Wave
. Berserker moved away from the fluid, fretless sound that characterised Numan's previous three albums, featuring instead harder-edged electric bass and drum sounds. The album was also accompanied by a striking blue-and-white visual image, a tour and a live album/video, but it divided critics and fans and commercially was Numan’s least successful release to that date. This year also saw the death of Paul Gardiner
, who was Numan's bassist and friend since his Tubeway Army days, from a fatal heroin overdose on 4 February 1984.
Numan's next album, The Fury
(1985), charted slightly higher than Berserker, and featured another new image of white suit and red bow tie. To date, The Fury is the last Numan album to crack the British Top 30.
Collaborations with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak
helped little, though two singles the duo recorded, "Change Your Mind", did see chart action, reaching No.17 and "No More Lies" reaching No.35 in 1988 in Britain. Numa Records, which had been launched in a flurry of idealistic excitement, folded after the release of Numan's Strange Charm album (1986). In addition to Numa's commercial failure, a lack of radio play (his records were removed from the BBC Radio 1
playlist
) and sales drained the fortune (he estimated £4.5 million) Numan had amassed in the late 1970s. Numan signed to IRS Records
and his final studio album of the 80s, the edgy, industrial-funk Metal Rhythm
(1988) found favour with fans and scored some positive reviews in the UK music press, but it sold poorly. Metal Rhythms sales were arguably confounded by the lack of strong promotion and IRS's inappropriate choices of singles (the record label also changed the album's title to New Anger, changed the album colour shade from black to blue, and remixed several of its tracks for its American release against Numan's wishes). 1989 saw the release of the Sharpe + Numan album Automatic. A more lightweight-pop effort than Numan's solo albums, Automatic fared less well than Metal Rhythm, and has been out of print since its initial release, fetching high prices on auction sites.
. His future wife Gemma encouraged him to strip away the influences of the previous years. Numan re-evaluated his career and went in a harsher, more industrial
direction with his songwriting on the album Sacrifice
— for the first time he played almost all the instruments himself. The move was critically well-received, as Numan's harder and darker sound emerged just as Numan-influenced bands like Nine Inch Nails
were enjoying their first rush of fame. The influence was two-way; Numan claimed that Nine Inch Nails' song "Closer" is his favourite hit single of all time, and influenced his music. Sacrifice was the last album Numan made before shutting down Numa Records permanently. His next two albums, Exile
(1997) and Pure
(2000), restored his critical reputation. Numan toured the U.S. in support of Exile, his first stateside concerts since the early 1980s.
Numan has become acknowledged and respected by his peers, with such musicians as Dave Grohl
(of Foo Fighters
and Nirvana
), Trent Reznor
(of Nine Inch Nails
), and Marilyn Manson
proclaiming his work an influence and recording cover versions of old Numan hits. The band Basement Jaxx
had a huge hit in 2002 with "Where's Your Head At?
", which relied on a sample of Numan's "M.E." – from The Pleasure Principle – for its hook. Fear Factory
produced a cover of "Cars" (featuring a prominent guest appearance by Numan himself) for the digipak
version of their album Obsolete
. Nine Inch Nails covered the song "Metal" on The Fragile
remix album Things Falling Apart
as did Afrika Bambaataa
(with Numan himself) on the album Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light
. "Cars" remains Numan's most enduring song; it was a hit again in 1987 (remixed by Zeus B. Held) and 1996, in the latter case thanks to an appearance in an advert for Carling
beer. In 2000 DJ Armand Van Helden
sampled the track and mixed it up in his single "Koochy" which conquered the dancefloors. In 2002, UK pop trio Sugababes
scored a #1 with "Freak Like Me" – a mashup
of Adina Howard
's "Freak Like Me" and "Are Friends Electric?" by Numan's Tubeway Army.
Other musicians, and at least one comedian, who have sung Numan's praises in recent years include Beck
, Grant Nicholas
, Tricky
, Damon Albarn
& Matt Sharp
, Jarvis Cocker
, Queens of the Stone Age
, David Bowie
, Noel Fielding
and Afrika Bambaataa, who spoke of the influence Numan's music had on the fledgling American DJ scene: "In the late 70s and early 80s Gary had the rhythms that DJs wanted to get hold of and people waited for his records on the dance floor." "Cars" was featured on the soundtrack for the blockbuster 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
as part of the New Wave
radio station Wave 103, although it did not appear on the soundtrack CD release for the game. "Are Friends Electric" appeared on EA's game Need For Speed: Carbon
in 2006.
In 2002, Numan enjoyed chart success once again with the single "Rip", reaching #29 in the UK chart and in 2003 with the Gary Numan vs Rico single "Crazier", which reached #13 in the UK chart. Rico also worked on the remix album Hybrid which featured reworkings of older songs in a more contemporary industrial style as well as new material. Other artists and producers who contributed on these remixes included Curve
, Flood, Andy Gray
, Alan Moulder
, New Disease and Sulpher. 2003 also saw Numan performing the vocals on a track named "Pray For You" on the Plump DJs album Eargasm, which was well received. In 2004 Numan took control of his own business affairs again, launching the label Mortal Records and releasing a series of live DVDs. In late 2006, Numan announced on his website that recording would begin on his new album in January 2007, with Ade Fenton co-producing. Numan stated "think of Jagged and Pure, but faster, with bigger choruses, more energy, and more aggression" to describe the album's intended sound. The album, Jagged
, was duly released on 13 March 2006. An album launch gig took place at The Forum, London on 18 March followed by UK, European and US tours in support of the release. Numan also launched a Jagged website to showcase the new album, and made plans to have his 1981 farewell concert (previously released as Micromusic on VHS) issued on DVD by November 2006 as well as releasing the DVD version of the Jagged album launch gig. Numan undertook a Telekon 'Classic Album' tour in the UK in December 2006.
On 6 November 2006, Numan took part in the Sky1 reality show The Race
. It pitted ten celebrities (five male, five female) against each other in a series of Formula One
-style car races
. These races were held at Silverstone
over the next five days, and varied in racing styles, ultimately culminating in one final Grand Prix race on Sunday, 12 November. Numan did win on the overall leaderboard, though he lost the final race to AC/DC
lead singer Brian Johnson
.
Numan contributed vocals to four tracks on the April 2007 release of Fenton's debut solo album Artificial Perfect on his new industrial/electronic label Submission, including songs "The Leather Sea", "Slide Away", "Recall" and the first single to be taken from the album, "Healing". The second single to be released in the UK was "The Leather Sea" on 30 July 2007.
He sold out a fifteen-date UK tour in Spring 2008 during which he performed his 1979 number one album Replicas in full, and all the Replicas-era music including B-sides. The highly successful tour also raised Numan's profile in the media again due to the fact that it coincided with his 30th anniversary in the music business. The tour was also notable for the Manchester gig on 8 March 2008 which also happened to fall on his 50th birthday. The band, along with wife Gemma, helped Numan celebrate by bringing a large cake onstage. A recording of the concert was released on DVD under the title "Replicas Live
".
In November 2007, Numan confirmed via his website that work on a new album, with the working title of Splinter, would be under way throughout 2008, after finishing an alternate version of Jagged (called Jagged Edge
) and the CD of unreleased songs from his previous three albums (confirmed to be titled Dead Son Rising on 1 December 2008 via official mailing list message). He wrote that Splinter was likely to be released in early 2010. Numan has recently completed a four-date run of gigs in Australia and will be touring the UK in the coming months.
In July 2009, Gary Numan appeared as a special guest at the "Wave Goodbye" Nine Inch Nails
concert at The O2 arena (London)
in London. Before coming on stage, Trent Reznor
explained how Numan was "vitally important and a huge inspiration" to him during the past 20 years. Numan then went on to play two songs with Nine Inch Nails; "Cars" and "Metal". Numan appeared once again at the final run of the "Wave Goodbye" shows in Los Angeles, CA. In August 2009 he played at the Hevy Music Festival
in Folkestone
, UK. On 2 September 2009 at the Hollywood Palladium, Numan joined Reznor on stage to perform "Metal" and "Cars" near the end of the Nine Inch Nails set. He then joined the band onstage a third time at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA, this time performing "Metal" and "I Die: You Die" from the album Telekon. He then joined them a fourth time at the Henry Fonda Theater, performing "Down In The Park", "Metal" and "Cars". Mike Garson
initially played "Down In The Park (Piano Version)" before they started the song. He then joined them for the final show at the Wiltern Theater.
In a September 2009 interview with The Quietus, Numan says that he and Trent Reznor plan to make music together.
. As a result, the tour was not only postponed but expanded, and his Pleasure Principle 30th Anniversary Tour's American and Mexican dates began on 17 October 2010, at Firestone Live in Orlando, Florida
.
Gary Numan toured Australia in May 2011 performing his seminal album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Joining him on tour was renowned Australian electronic band Severed Heads
, coming out of retirement especially for the shows.
Numan lent his vocals to the track "My Machines" off Battles
's 2011 album "Gloss Drop
". He has been chosen by Battles
to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas
festival that they co-curate in December 2011 in Minehead, England. Numan's new album Dead Son Rising
was released on 16 September 2011 which was also the first date of the Dead Son Rising U.K tour. A second phase of shows will follow in December 2011. The tour is supported by welsh soloist Jayce Lewis
.
Numan also provided narration for Voltaire
's short film Odokuro in 2011.
motifs and images in his music. Numan was an outspoken supporter of the Conservative Party
and of Margaret Thatcher
after her inauguration as Prime Minister. He later expressed regret for giving his public support, calling it "a noose around my neck". He has recently said that he considers himself neither left-wing nor right-wing and that he does not support Tony Blair
or David Cameron
. He also said, "I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money."
Numan married a member of his fan club
, Gemma O'Neill, a native of Sidcup
. In 2003, after some pregnancy difficulties, the couple had their first child, Raven. In 2005 they had a second daughter, Persia. In 2007 the couple had their third child, Echo. Numan resides with his family in East Sussex
. He published his autobiography, Praying to the Aliens, in 1997 (updated edition 1998), in collaboration with Steve Malins. (Malins also wrote the liner notes for most of the CD reissues of Numan's albums in the late 1990s, as well as executive producing the Hybrid album in 2003.)
Numan is known for his love of flying, a passion which has featured in some of his music videos ("Warriors", "I Can't Stop"). He has owned several small aircraft. Numan was a member of the Air Training Corps. He is one of a very small handful of flyers with the credentials and qualifications to train aerobatic instructor pilots. He was once forced to emergency-land his light aircraft on a Southampton
motorway.
Numan is referenced several times in the BBC TV series The Mighty Boosh
as Vince Noir, one of the main characters, is a huge Gary Numan fan. Examples of this are in the episode "Tundra"
where Numan gives Noir a lift to the Antarctic in his personal jet (a black jet with a red trim with "NUMAN" written in white), in the episode "Electro"
Numan's influence is clear to see on Noir when he joins electro band "Kraftwork Orange". Along with making several other references to Numan (notably a scene where Noir states he's made some 'tapes' for a journey saying "This is the best of the 60s (holding one tape), this is the best of the 70s (holding another tape) and THIS (picks up a horde of tapes) is Gary Numan!"), Numan guest-starred in "The Power of the Crimp"
, being locked in a cupboard and is used (unsuccessfully) to cheer Vince up.
At age 15, after a series of outbursts in which Numan would "smash things up, scream and shout, get in people's faces and break stuff", he was prescribed antidepressants and anxiolytics. Numan has stated he has Asperger syndrome
, an autism spectrum disorder which causes restricted social and communication skills. In a 2001 interview, he said: "Polite conversation has never been one of my strong points. Just recently I actually found out that I'd got a mild form of Asperger's syndrome which basically means I have trouble interacting with people. For years, I couldn't understand why people thought I was arrogant, but now it all makes more sense.".
Following the harassment of his wife while his family was walking on High Street
and the 2011 England Riots
Numan filed papers to immigrate to the United States. He plans to live in Santa Monica, California
. Numan said "Every village and town in England has a bunch of thugs running around in it. The riots were the nail in the coffin".
In late August 2011, in the Q&A section of NuWorld, in answer to the question "Is it true you now hate England and want to leave?" he replied, "No, that’s utter rubbish." He explained that he'd "never been abused in my local high street," and has "made no firm decision about leaving the UK" but thugs are helping make such a decision, pointing out that the rioting "makes us look like a country of ignorant savages, beating up people already injured, pretending to help while stealing their things, hitting old men, killing them." He went on to explain that soundtracks may be a logical step, as he gets older and since "in the UK we have no meaningful film industry to speak of," a move to the U.S. might be more reasonable. He concluded by saying his family are highest priority and, "If I see somewhere that seems safer, happier and will give them a better life than the UK, I’ll take them there if I possibly can."
Are 'Friends' Electric?
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" is a 1979 song written by Gary Numan, released under the name of his then-band Tubeway Army as a single and on the album Replicas...
" (as Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...
) and "Cars
Cars (song)
Fear Factory, an American industrial metal band, recorded a version of "Cars" and released it as the second single from their third studio album, Obsolete. The song was only included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipak re-release of Obsolete and would be instrumental in breaking Fear...
". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
fed through guitar effects pedals.
Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
. His use of themes from science fiction, and his combination of aggressive punk energy with electronics, have since been widely imitated.
Early life
Born in HammersmithHammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, Gary Anthony James Webb was the son of a British Airways bus driver based at Heathrow Airport. Webb was educated at Town Farm Junior School Stanwell
Stanwell
Stanwell is a suburban village in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne. It is located 15.7 miles west south-west of Charing Cross and half a mile from the southern boundary of London Heathrow Airport and the London Borough of Hillingdon...
, Ashford County Grammar School, Middlesex, Slough Grammar School
Slough Grammar School
The school is a Language College, a Science College, a Leading Edge School, an ICT-Focus School, a Training School, an International School under the International Baccalaureate Organization and a participant in the Primary Language Initiative. From September 2004 it has offered some International...
and Brooklands Technical College. He joined the Air Training Corps
Air Training Corps
The Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...
as a teenager. He then briefly did various jobs including fork lift truck driver, air conditioning ventilator fitter and clerk in an accounts department. A guitar was purchased for him at an early age and he began writing songs when he was about 15 years old. He played in various bands, including Mean Street and The Lasers, before forming Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...
with his uncle, Jess Lidyard
Jess Lidyard
Jess Lidyard is the former drummer of Tubeway Army. He is bandleader Gary Numan's uncle, and played on the band's self-titled debut album and on the highly successful Replicas, which featured the hit "Are 'Friends' Electric?"...
, and Paul Gardiner
Paul Gardiner
Paul Gardiner was a British musician who played bass guitar with Gary Numan and Tubeway Army as well as material under his own name.-Biography:...
. His initial pseudonym was "Valerian", probably in reference to the hero in French science fiction comic series Valérian and Laureline. Later he picked the name "Numan" from an advert in the "Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...
" for a plumber "A. Neumann".
Tubeway Army
Numan rose to prominence at the end of the 1970s as front man, writer and producer for Tubeway ArmyTubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...
. After recording an album's worth of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
-influenced demo tapes
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
(released in 1984 as The Plan), he was signed by Beggars Banquet Records
Beggars Banquet Records
Beggars Banquet is an English independent record label that began as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin, and is part of the Beggars Group of labels...
in 1978 and quickly released two singles, "That's Too Bad
That's Too Bad
"That's Too Bad" is the debut single by Tubeway Army, the band which provided the initial musical vehicle for Gary Numan. It was released in February 1978 by independent London record label Beggars Banquet...
" and "Bombers", neither of which charted.
A self-titled, New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
-oriented debut album
Tubeway Army (album)
Tubeway Army is the debut album by Gary Numan and his band Tubeway Army, released in 1978. Its initial limited-edition run of 5000 sold out but did not chart...
later that same year sold out its limited run and introduced Numan's fascination with dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n science fiction and, more importantly, synthesizers. Tubeway Army's third single, the dark-themed and slow-paced "Down in the Park
Down in the Park
"Down in the Park" is a 1979 single written and recorded by Gary Numan with his band Tubeway Army. The first cut from the album Replicas, it was not a hit when released but has long been a critical and fan favourite and for many years was described by Numan as his best composition.-Style:Like the...
" (1979) also failed to chart but it would prove to be one of Numan's most enduring and oft-covered songs; it was featured with other contemporary hits on the soundtrack for the movie Times Square
Times Square (film)
Times Square is a 1980 film starring Trini Alvarado, Robin Johnson, and Tim Curry. The plot of the film essentially embodies a punk rock ethic - misunderstood youth forming a band and, through music, articulating their frustrations toward adult authority, personified in the film as parents, the...
, and a live version of the song can also be seen in the movie Urgh! A Music War
Urgh! A Music War
Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, New Wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Magazine, The Go-Go's, The Fleshtones, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, XTC, Devo, The Cramps, Oingo Boingo, Dead...
. After exposure in a television advertisement
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
for Lee Cooper jeans with the jingle "Don't be a dummy", Tubeway Army released the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?
Are 'Friends' Electric?
"Are 'Friends' Electric?" is a 1979 song written by Gary Numan, released under the name of his then-band Tubeway Army as a single and on the album Replicas...
" in May 1979. The single took seven weeks before it finally reached #1 at the end of June; the parent album Replicas
Replicas (album)
Replicas is an album by Tubeway Army, released in 1979. It was the second and final Tubeway Army LP, following a self-titled debut the previous year...
simultaneously
As Gary Numan
A few months later Numan found success in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with "CarsCars (song)
Fear Factory, an American industrial metal band, recorded a version of "Cars" and released it as the second single from their third studio album, Obsolete. The song was only included as a bonus track on the limited edition digipak re-release of Obsolete and would be instrumental in breaking Fear...
", which peaked at #1 in the UK in 1979 and #1 in Canada and #9 in US in 1980. "Cars" and the 1979 album The Pleasure Principle
The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)
The Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979...
were both released under Numan's own (assumed) name. A sell-out tour ('The Touring Principle') followed; the concert video it spawned is often cited as the first full-length commercial music video release. The Pleasure Principle was a rock album with no guitars; instead, Numan used synthesizers fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve a distorted, phased, metallic tone. The Pleasure Principle remains one of Numan's most highly-regarded efforts to date. A second single from the album "Complex" made it to #6 in the UK charts
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Personality and style
Numan bewildered the music press. He was a driven, creative, angst-ridden 21-year-old loner who still lived with his parents at the peak of his success. While angry like his punk contemporaries, Numan could not relate to the specific political issues they were singing about. Numan suppressed his anger and "got really hung up with this whole thing of not feeling, being cold about everything, not letting emotions get to you, or presenting a front of not feeling".Around this time, Numan also developed his distinctive style. According to Numan, this was an unintentional result of acne
Acne
Acne is a general term used for acneiform eruptions. It is usually used as a synonym for acne vulgaris, but may also refer to:*Acne aestivalis*Acne conglobata*Acne cosmetica*Acne fulminans*Acne keloidalis nuchae*Acne mechanica...
; before an appearance on Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
, he had "spots everywhere, so they slapped about half an inch of white makeup on me before I'd even walked in the door. And my eyes were like pissholes in the snow, so they put black on there. My so-called image fell into place an hour before going on the show". His "wooden" stage presence was, in his words, a result of extreme self-consciousness and lack of "showmanship". He also wore costumes and openly proclaimed his influences: David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
, and contemporary electronic acts such as John Foxx
John Foxx
John Foxx is an English singer, artist, photographer and teacher. He was the original lead singer of the band Ultravox before being replaced by Midge Ure, when he left to embark on a solo career in 1979...
's Ultravox
Ultravox
Ultravox is a British New Wave rock band. They were one of the primary exponents of the British electronic pop music movement of the late 1970s/early 1980s. The band was particularly associated with the New Romantic and New Wave movements....
. His persona was aloof, alien, and androgynous; Numan was not seen to be part of the punk
Punk fashion
Punk fashion is the clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, jewelry, and body modifications of the punk subculture. Punk fashion varies widely, ranging from Vivienne Westwood designs to styles modeled on bands like The Exploited. The distinct social dress of other subcultures and art movements, including...
or New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
movements. During this period, Numan generated an army of fans calling themselves "Numanoids", providing him with a fanbase which maintained their support through the latter half of the 1980s, when his fortunes began to fall precipitously.
1980s
Telekon
Released in 1980, Telekon is the fourth studio album, and second album under his own name, by the British musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK charts in September 1980, making it his third and consecutive no.1 album....
, although the concurrent singles "We Are Glass
We Are Glass
"We Are Glass" is a Gary Numan single released in 1980. Its up-tempo beat, scratchy guitars and pitch-bending synthesizer effects made it a prime example of the synthpop of the time....
", "I Die: You Die
I Die: You Die
"I Die: You Die" is a Gary Numan single from 1980. Released shortly before his fourth album, Telekon, it continued the anthemic style Numan had begun earlier in the year with "We Are Glass". The composer himself described the two singles as "Much the same thing...
" and "This Wreckage
This Wreckage
"This Wreckage" is a song written and performed by Gary Numan. It was featured as the opening track on his 1980 LP Telekon and was the third and final single to be released from that album .Described by Numan as a "self-portrait" song, "This Wreckage" foreshadowed his temporary retirement from...
" reached #5, #6 and #20, respectively. The final studio album of what Numan retrospectively termed the "Machine" section of his career, Telekon reintroduced guitars to Numan's music and featured a wider range of synthesizers. The same year he embarked on his second major tour ("The Teletour") with an even more elaborate stage show than The Touring Principle the previous year. Although considered a success, Numan claimed the tour actually lost him a great deal of money because of the vast expense in mounting it. He announced his retirement from touring with a series of sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...
in April 1981, supported by experimental musician Nash the Slash
Nash the Slash
Nash the Slash is a Canadian musician. Though a multi-instrumentalist, he is known primarily for playing electric violin and mandolin, as well as harmonica, keyboards, glockenspiel, and other instruments .Nash worked as a solo artist beginning in 1975, then founded the progressive rock band FM in...
and Shock
Shock (troupe)
Shock is a music/mime/dance/pop group that was notable in the early 1980s for supporting English pop groups such as Gary Numan, Adam and the Ants, Depeche Mode and Famous Names, led by Steve Fairnie....
, a rock/mime/burlesque troupe whose members included Barbie Wilde
Barbie Wilde
Barbie Wilde is a Canadian actress and writer, perhaps best known for appearing as the Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser II - the second of eight Hellraiser films based on Clive Barker's novella, The Hellbound Heart...
, Tik and Tok
Tik and Tok
Tik and Tok are the robotic mime and music duo of Tim Dry and Sean Crawford. They began performing together with SHOCK: a rock/mime/burlesque/music troupe in the early 1980s with Barbie Wilde, Robert Pereno, L.A. Richards and Carole Caplin....
and Carole Caplin
Carole Caplin
Carole Caplin was the style adviser to Cherie Blair and a fitness adviser to Tony Blair, when he was the British Prime Minister...
. The decision to retire would be short-lived.
Moving away from the pure electro-pop that he had made his name with, Numan then experimented with jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and ethereal, rhythmic pop. His first album after his 1981 farewell concerts was the bleak, atmospheric and experimental Dance
Dance (Gary Numan album)
Dance is the fifth studio album, the third under his own name, by the British musician Gary Numan, released in 1981. It is his first release after announcing his retirement from touring in April 1981...
(1981). The album charted as high as #3 on the UK charts
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, but it only produced one hit single ("She's Got Claws") and then dropped out of the charts after only eight weeks. The album featured several distinguished guest players; Mick Karn
Mick Karn
Andonis Michaelides , better known as Mick Karn, was an English multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who came to fame as the bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982....
(bass, saxophone) and Rob Dean (guitar) of Japan
Japan (band)
Japan were a British New Wave group, formed in 1974 in Catford, South London. The band achieved success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement .- History :The band began as a group of friends...
, Roger Mason (keyboards) of Models
Models (band)
Models were an alternative rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1978 and went into hiatus in 1988. They are often incorrectly referred to as The Models. They re-formed in 2000, 2006 and 2008 to perform reunion concerts. "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", their only No. 1 hit,...
and Roger Taylor
Roger Meddows-Taylor
Roger Meddows Taylor , known as Roger Taylor, is a British musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of British rock band Queen. As a drummer he is known for his "big" unique sound and is considered one of...
(drums) of Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
.
With his former backing band, Chris John Payne (Keyboards, Viola) Russell Bell (Guitar) and Ced Sharpley (Drums) now reformed as Dramatis
Dramatis
Dramatis were an English synthpop band from the early 1980s. Chris Payne , Russell Bell , Cedric Sharpley , and Denis Haines were all originally members of Gary Numan's backing band. They formed Dramatis following Numan's announced retirement in April 1981.They released six singles and one album...
, Numan contributed vocals to the minor hit "Love Needs No Disguise" from the album For Future Reference
For Future Reference
For Future Reference is the only studio album to be released by the British synthpop band Dramatis. The album itself failed to reach the UK Albums Chart, however, one of the three singles released from the album, "Love Needs No Disguise" with Gary Numan providing vocals reached number 33 on the UK...
. However, Numan's career had begun to experience a gradual decline, and he was eclipsed initially by acts such as Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
, and later by The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
, Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
, and Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode
Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. The group's original line-up consisted of Dave Gahan , Martin Gore , Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke...
. Each album also saw a new "image", none of which captured the public's imagination to nearly the same extent as the lonely android of 1979.
The more upbeat and danceable I, Assassin
I, Assassin
I, Assassin is the sixth studio album by Gary Numan. Released in 1982, it reached no.8 on the UK charts.Three songs; "Music for Chameleons", "We Take Mystery " and "White Boys and Heroes" were released as singles from the album and all reached the UK Top 20 I, Assassin is the sixth studio album...
(1982) fared less well than Dance. Despite spawning three Top 20 singles, the album peaked at No.8 and dropped out of the charts after six weeks. Numan supported the album with a concert tour in America in late 1982 (where he was living as a tax exile
Tax exile
A tax exile is one who chooses to leave a country with a high tax burden and instead to reside in a foreign nation or jurisdiction which takes a lower portion of earnings. Going into tax exile is a means of tax mitigation or avoidance.-Legal status:...
), which were his first series of live shows since his farewell at Wembley.
Warriors
Warriors (Gary Numan album)
Warriors is the seventh studio album by the British musician Gary Numan, released in 1983. It was his last studio album released on Beggars Banquet Records.-Preproduction:...
(1983) further developed Numan's jazz-influenced style and featured contributions from avant-garde music
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
ian Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson (musician)
Bill Nelson is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, painter and experimental musician...
(who fell out with Numan during recording and chose to be uncredited as the album's co-producer) and saxophonist Dick Morrissey
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :...
(who would play on most of Numan's albums until 1991). The album peaked at No.12 and, like I, Assassin, spent six weeks in the charts. Warriors was the last album Numan recorded for Beggars Banquet Records, and was supported by a 40-date UK tour (again with support from robotic mime and music duo Tik and Tok) – Numan's first live tour in the UK since his Wembley appearances in 1981. Numan's look for the album artwork and tour was a Mad Max
Mad Max
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...
-influenced black leather costume against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, but this latest image change was scorned by the music press.
Now battling against the increasing public perception that he was a spent force, Numan issued a series of albums and singles on his own record label, Numa. As the decade continued, he experienced a creative malaise, trying to recapture his former chart glory with less distinguished albums, some of which were stylistically derivative of artists like Robert Palmer and Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
. The first album released on Numa, 1984’s Berserker
Berserker (Gary Numan album)
Berserker is the eighth studio album, and sixth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1984. It was his first album to be released under Numan's own record label, Numa Records.-Overview:...
was also notable for being Numan's first foray into music computers/samplers
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
, in this case the PPG Wave
Palm Products GmbH
Palm Products GmbH was a highly-regarded manufacturer of audio synthesizers. Founded and owned by Wolfgang Palm, PPG was located in Hamburg, Germany and, for 12 years from around 1975 to 1987, manufactured an acclaimed and eclectic range of electronic musical instruments, all designed by Palm.-...
. Berserker moved away from the fluid, fretless sound that characterised Numan's previous three albums, featuring instead harder-edged electric bass and drum sounds. The album was also accompanied by a striking blue-and-white visual image, a tour and a live album/video, but it divided critics and fans and commercially was Numan’s least successful release to that date. This year also saw the death of Paul Gardiner
Paul Gardiner
Paul Gardiner was a British musician who played bass guitar with Gary Numan and Tubeway Army as well as material under his own name.-Biography:...
, who was Numan's bassist and friend since his Tubeway Army days, from a fatal heroin overdose on 4 February 1984.
Numan's next album, The Fury
The Fury (album)
The Fury is the ninth studio album, and seventh under his own name, by electronic pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1985. It saw him continuing to explore the sampling-heavy industrial sound he had developed for the previous album Berserker in 1984...
(1985), charted slightly higher than Berserker, and featured another new image of white suit and red bow tie. To date, The Fury is the last Numan album to crack the British Top 30.
Collaborations with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak
Shakatak
Shakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...
helped little, though two singles the duo recorded, "Change Your Mind", did see chart action, reaching No.17 and "No More Lies" reaching No.35 in 1988 in Britain. Numa Records, which had been launched in a flurry of idealistic excitement, folded after the release of Numan's Strange Charm album (1986). In addition to Numa's commercial failure, a lack of radio play (his records were removed from the BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
playlist
Playlist
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. They can be played in sequential or shuffled order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio broadcasting and personal computers.-In radio:...
) and sales drained the fortune (he estimated £4.5 million) Numan had amassed in the late 1970s. Numan signed to IRS Records
I.R.S. Records
I.R.S. Records was a record label, started in the United States in 1979 by Miles Copeland III along with Jay Boberg and Carl Grasso. Miles was also the manager of Wishbone Ash, The Police, and later, Sting, as well as other bands. I.R.S. was the sister label of Copeland's Illegal Records .I.R.S...
and his final studio album of the 80s, the edgy, industrial-funk Metal Rhythm
Metal Rhythm
Metal Rhythm is the 11th studio album, and 9th under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1988. It is his first album released through IRS Records.- Overview :...
(1988) found favour with fans and scored some positive reviews in the UK music press, but it sold poorly. Metal Rhythms sales were arguably confounded by the lack of strong promotion and IRS's inappropriate choices of singles (the record label also changed the album's title to New Anger, changed the album colour shade from black to blue, and remixed several of its tracks for its American release against Numan's wishes). 1989 saw the release of the Sharpe + Numan album Automatic. A more lightweight-pop effort than Numan's solo albums, Automatic fared less well than Metal Rhythm, and has been out of print since its initial release, fetching high prices on auction sites.
1990s
In 1991, Numan ventured into film-scoring by co-composing the music for The Unborn with Michael R. Smith (the score was later released as an instrumental album in 1995, Human). After Outland (1991), another critical and commercial disappointment and his second and last studio album with IRS, Numan reactivated Numa Records, under which he would release his next two albums. However, even Numan considers his 1992 Machine + Soul, a misguided attempt at a purely commercial release recorded solely to pay off debts, a career low point. The album sold only a few thousand copies. By 1994, Numan decided to stop attempting to crack the pop market and concentrate instead on exploring more personal themes, including his vocal atheismAtheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. His future wife Gemma encouraged him to strip away the influences of the previous years. Numan re-evaluated his career and went in a harsher, more industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
direction with his songwriting on the album Sacrifice
Sacrifice (Gary Numan album)
Sacrifice is a 1994 album by Gary Numan. Its release followed a self-acknowledged career low point, Machine + Soul , and is often cited as marking the start of a critical and artistic rejuvenation for the one-time pop star...
— for the first time he played almost all the instruments himself. The move was critically well-received, as Numan's harder and darker sound emerged just as Numan-influenced bands like Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
were enjoying their first rush of fame. The influence was two-way; Numan claimed that Nine Inch Nails' song "Closer" is his favourite hit single of all time, and influenced his music. Sacrifice was the last album Numan made before shutting down Numa Records permanently. His next two albums, Exile
Exile (Gary Numan album)
Exile is a 1997 album by Gary Numan. Its release continued a surprise critical upswing in Numan's career which began three years earlier with the release of Sacrifice....
(1997) and Pure
Pure (Gary Numan album)
Pure is a 2000 album by Gary Numan, the follow-up to 1997's Exile.-Music and lyrics:Lyrically, Pure was seen as continuing the composer’s attacks on Christian dogma but in a somewhat more personal fashion than on Exile. Many critics considered it Numan’s most aggressive album musically, with its...
(2000), restored his critical reputation. Numan toured the U.S. in support of Exile, his first stateside concerts since the early 1980s.
2000s
Dave Grohl
David Eric "Dave" Grohl is an American rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, and singer-songwriter who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter for Foo Fighters; the former drummer for Nirvana and Scream; and the current drummer for Them Crooked Vultures...
(of Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...
and Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
), Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
(of Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
), and Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson (person)
Marilyn Manson is an American musician, artist and former music journalist known for his controversial stage persona and image as the lead singer of the eponymous band Marilyn Manson...
proclaiming his work an influence and recording cover versions of old Numan hits. The band Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx are a British electronic dance music duo from London, England consisting of Felix Buxton born 1971 and Simon Ratcliffe born 1 December 1969. They first rose to popularity in the late 1990s...
had a huge hit in 2002 with "Where's Your Head At?
Where's Your Head At?
"Where's Your Head At" is a song by British electronic dance music duo Basement Jaxx. It was released as a single from their second album, Rooty, in 2001. The song was recorded in early 2001 and is based around samples from Gary Numan's songs "M.E." and "This Wreckage"...
", which relied on a sample of Numan's "M.E." – from The Pleasure Principle – for its hook. Fear Factory
Fear Factory
Fear Factory is an American industrial metal band. Formed in 1989, they have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes. Over the course of their career they have evolved from a succession of styles, as well as steadily pioneered a combination of the styles death metal,...
produced a cover of "Cars" (featuring a prominent guest appearance by Numan himself) for the digipak
Digipak
Digipak is a patented style of CD, DVD or BD packaging, and is a registered trademark of AGI World Ltd., an Atlas Holdings company.-Features:...
version of their album Obsolete
Obsolete (album)
Obsolete is the third studio album by American industrial metal band Fear Factory, released on July 28, 1998. Conceptually, it is a sequel to 1995's Demanufacture...
. Nine Inch Nails covered the song "Metal" on The Fragile
The Fragile
In terms of narrative, virtually no references are made to the aspects depicted in The Downward Spiral. Like The Downward Spiral, The Fragile is a concept album, but, as a double album, is nearly twice the length of its predecessor. Reznor's vocals, for the most part, are much more melodic and...
remix album Things Falling Apart
Things Falling Apart
-Vinyl version:-Chart positions:-External links:* * * * * *...
as did Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa is an American DJ from the South Bronx, New York who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the three originators of break-beat deejaying, and is respectfully known as the "Grandfather" and the Amen Ra of Universal...
(with Numan himself) on the album Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light
Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light
Dark Matter: Moving at the Speed of Light was a 2004 album by Afrika Bambaata, which was released on Tommy Boy Entertainment.-Track listing:# Got That Vibe - # Metal...
. "Cars" remains Numan's most enduring song; it was a hit again in 1987 (remixed by Zeus B. Held) and 1996, in the latter case thanks to an appearance in an advert for Carling
Carling
Carling brands are currently owned by the Molson Coors Brewing Company. In South Africa it is distributed by SABMiller.Carling Black Label is the name of a brand of Canadian lager in Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and South Africa...
beer. In 2000 DJ Armand Van Helden
Armand Van Helden
Armand Van Helden is a record producer, DJ and remixer whose biggest commercial successes came from his remixes of the 1996 Tori Amos song "Professional Widow" , which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1997, and his own track "U Don't Know Me ", which went to number 1...
sampled the track and mixed it up in his single "Koochy" which conquered the dancefloors. In 2002, UK pop trio Sugababes
Sugababes
The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...
scored a #1 with "Freak Like Me" – a mashup
Mashup (music)
A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
of Adina Howard
Adina Howard
Adina Howard is an American R&B singer who rose to prominence during the mid 1990s with her debut album, Do You Wanna Ride? and her debut single, "Freak Like Me". Howard is known for her sexual image and provocative songs...
's "Freak Like Me" and "Are Friends Electric?" by Numan's Tubeway Army.
Other musicians, and at least one comedian, who have sung Numan's praises in recent years include Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas
Grant Nicholas is a Welsh musician, best known as the lead singer and lead guitarist of the rock band Feeder, along with bassist Taka Hirose and drummer Karl Brazil.-Early years:...
, Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
, Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
& Matt Sharp
Matt Sharp
Matthew Kelly Sharp is a founding member and former bassist for the band Weezer. In 1994, he started a band called The Rentals and released their debut album shortly after Weezer's first release, their second album in 1999, and an EP in 2007...
, Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
, Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age is an American rock band from Palm Desert, California, United States, formed in 1997. The band's line-up has always included founding member Josh Homme , with the current line-up including longtime members Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo , alongside Michael Shuman and...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding
Noel Fielding is a British artist, comedian and actor. He is known for his roles as Vince Noir in The Mighty Boosh, which he co-writes with comedy partner Julian Barratt, and as team captain on the music panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks.-Stand-up comedy:Noel Fielding performed regularly as a...
and Afrika Bambaataa, who spoke of the influence Numan's music had on the fledgling American DJ scene: "In the late 70s and early 80s Gary had the rhythms that DJs wanted to get hold of and people waited for his records on the dance floor." "Cars" was featured on the soundtrack for the blockbuster 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
as part of the New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
radio station Wave 103, although it did not appear on the soundtrack CD release for the game. "Are Friends Electric" appeared on EA's game Need For Speed: Carbon
Need for Speed: Carbon
Need for Speed: Carbon, also known as NFS Carbon or NFSC, is an Electronic Arts video game belonging to the Need for Speed series. Released in 2006, it is the tenth installment, preceded by Need for Speed: Most Wanted, succeeded by Need for Speed: ProStreet in release order and succeeded by Need...
in 2006.
In 2002, Numan enjoyed chart success once again with the single "Rip", reaching #29 in the UK chart and in 2003 with the Gary Numan vs Rico single "Crazier", which reached #13 in the UK chart. Rico also worked on the remix album Hybrid which featured reworkings of older songs in a more contemporary industrial style as well as new material. Other artists and producers who contributed on these remixes included Curve
Curve (band)
Curve was an English music group formed in 1990 chiefly around the collaboration of singer/songwriter Toni Halliday and bassist/guitarist/programmer Dean Garcia.-History:...
, Flood, Andy Gray
Andy Gray (musician)
Andy Gray is a British songwriter, composer, and record producer.-Film scores:*TT3D: Closer to the Edge *CSI Miami original song*Saab Saab North America...
, Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder
Alan Moulder is one of Britain's premier alternative rock record producers. He has worked with such artists as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Elastica, Gary Numan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Curve, Ride, Lush and My Bloody Valentine, Lostprophets, Shihad, Ivyrise and Placebo, as well as with many American...
, New Disease and Sulpher. 2003 also saw Numan performing the vocals on a track named "Pray For You" on the Plump DJs album Eargasm, which was well received. In 2004 Numan took control of his own business affairs again, launching the label Mortal Records and releasing a series of live DVDs. In late 2006, Numan announced on his website that recording would begin on his new album in January 2007, with Ade Fenton co-producing. Numan stated "think of Jagged and Pure, but faster, with bigger choruses, more energy, and more aggression" to describe the album's intended sound. The album, Jagged
Jagged
Jagged is a 2006 album by Gary Numan, his first original album in over five years, following Pure in 2000. Stylistically Jagged was a development of its predecessor's chorus-driven, anthemic industrial sound, utilising heavier electronics and more prominent live drumming...
, was duly released on 13 March 2006. An album launch gig took place at The Forum, London on 18 March followed by UK, European and US tours in support of the release. Numan also launched a Jagged website to showcase the new album, and made plans to have his 1981 farewell concert (previously released as Micromusic on VHS) issued on DVD by November 2006 as well as releasing the DVD version of the Jagged album launch gig. Numan undertook a Telekon 'Classic Album' tour in the UK in December 2006.
On 6 November 2006, Numan took part in the Sky1 reality show The Race
The Race (TV series)
The Race was a one-off reality television programme broadcast on Sky One in the UK in November 2006, hosted by Denise van Outen. The show pitted two teams of celebrities against one another; each led by a professional Formula One racing driver in a battle of the sexes.-Contestants:The Boys :*Nigel...
. It pitted ten celebrities (five male, five female) against each other in a series of Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
-style car races
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
. These races were held at Silverstone
Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is an English motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side...
over the next five days, and varied in racing styles, ultimately culminating in one final Grand Prix race on Sunday, 12 November. Numan did win on the overall leaderboard, though he lost the final race to AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
lead singer Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson is an English singer and lyricist who has been the lead singer for the rock band AC/DC since 1980. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 along with the other members of the band....
.
Numan contributed vocals to four tracks on the April 2007 release of Fenton's debut solo album Artificial Perfect on his new industrial/electronic label Submission, including songs "The Leather Sea", "Slide Away", "Recall" and the first single to be taken from the album, "Healing". The second single to be released in the UK was "The Leather Sea" on 30 July 2007.
Replicas Live
Replicas Live is a live album by English musician Gary Numan. The album was released in 2008 by Mortal Records and is a recording of Numan's 8 March 2008, Replicas concert at the Manchester Academy. This was the second of Numan's 'classic album' tours....
".
In November 2007, Numan confirmed via his website that work on a new album, with the working title of Splinter, would be under way throughout 2008, after finishing an alternate version of Jagged (called Jagged Edge
Jagged Edge (Gary Numan album)
Jagged Edge is a 2-disc album of alternate versions and remixes of songs from the album Jagged. When Numan started recording the album Jagged he was to use Andy Gray as the producer, who previously worked on the 2-disc compilation album Hybrid...
) and the CD of unreleased songs from his previous three albums (confirmed to be titled Dead Son Rising on 1 December 2008 via official mailing list message). He wrote that Splinter was likely to be released in early 2010. Numan has recently completed a four-date run of gigs in Australia and will be touring the UK in the coming months.
In July 2009, Gary Numan appeared as a special guest at the "Wave Goodbye" Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
concert at The O2 arena (London)
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...
in London. Before coming on stage, Trent Reznor
Trent Reznor
Michael Trent Reznor is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and leader of industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. Reznor is also a member of How to Destroy Angels alongside his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross. He was previously associated with bands Option 30,...
explained how Numan was "vitally important and a huge inspiration" to him during the past 20 years. Numan then went on to play two songs with Nine Inch Nails; "Cars" and "Metal". Numan appeared once again at the final run of the "Wave Goodbye" shows in Los Angeles, CA. In August 2009 he played at the Hevy Music Festival
Hevy Music Festival
Hevy Music Festival is a rock festival that takes place annually near Folkestone in the UK. It was originally held on 1 August 2009 on Folkestone seafront as a one-day festival with Feeder, Gary Numan and Ash as headliners. In 2010 it moved to Port Lympne Wild Animal Park and grew to a weekend...
in Folkestone
Folkestone
Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway District of Kent, England. Its original site was in a valley in the sea cliffs and it developed through fishing and its closeness to the Continent as a landing place and trading port. The coming of the railways, the building of a ferry port, and its...
, UK. On 2 September 2009 at the Hollywood Palladium, Numan joined Reznor on stage to perform "Metal" and "Cars" near the end of the Nine Inch Nails set. He then joined the band onstage a third time at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA, this time performing "Metal" and "I Die: You Die" from the album Telekon. He then joined them a fourth time at the Henry Fonda Theater, performing "Down In The Park", "Metal" and "Cars". Mike Garson
Mike Garson
Mike Garson is an American pianist, most notable for his work with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Billy Corgan, Free Flight, and The Smashing Pumpkins.- Early career :...
initially played "Down In The Park (Piano Version)" before they started the song. He then joined them for the final show at the Wiltern Theater.
In a September 2009 interview with The Quietus, Numan says that he and Trent Reznor plan to make music together.
2010s
He was set to perform a small number of American live dates in April 2010, including a Coachella Festival appearance in California, but had to cancel because air travel in Europe was halted by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were volcanic events at Eyjafjöll in Iceland which, although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption...
. As a result, the tour was not only postponed but expanded, and his Pleasure Principle 30th Anniversary Tour's American and Mexican dates began on 17 October 2010, at Firestone Live in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
.
Gary Numan toured Australia in May 2011 performing his seminal album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Joining him on tour was renowned Australian electronic band Severed Heads
Severed Heads
Severed Heads is an Australian electronic music group based and founded in Sydney in 1979 as Mr. and Mrs. No Smoking Sign. The original members were Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright, and were soon joined by Tom Ellard. Fielding and Wright eventually left the group, leaving Ellard as a singular...
, coming out of retirement especially for the shows.
Numan lent his vocals to the track "My Machines" off Battles
Battles (band)
Battles is an American experimental rock group, founded in 2002 in New York City, comprising guitarists Ian Williams and Dave Konopka , and drummer John Stanier .-Biography:...
's 2011 album "Gloss Drop
Gloss Drop
Gloss Drop is the second studio album by American experimental rock band Battles. The band have announced a spring tour in support of the record.It is the band's first release since the departure of Tyondai Braxton...
". He has been chosen by Battles
Battles (band)
Battles is an American experimental rock group, founded in 2002 in New York City, comprising guitarists Ian Williams and Dave Konopka , and drummer John Stanier .-Biography:...
to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
festival that they co-curate in December 2011 in Minehead, England. Numan's new album Dead Son Rising
Dead Son Rising
Dead Son Rising is the 16th studio album by the British musician Gary Numan, released on 15 September 2011.On 12 August 2011, The Quietus debuted a radio edit of the song "Dead Sun Rising" on their website. On 28 August 2011, the official Gary Numan website debuted a short "promo edit" of the video...
was released on 16 September 2011 which was also the first date of the Dead Son Rising U.K tour. A second phase of shows will follow in December 2011. The tour is supported by welsh soloist Jayce Lewis
Jayce Lewis
Jayce Lewis is a Welsh solo artist from Bridgend. He was a respected guitarist and drummer before embarking on a solo career.-Musicianship:...
.
Numan also provided narration for Voltaire
Voltaire (musician)
Voltaire , is a popular dark cabaret Cuban-American musician...
's short film Odokuro in 2011.
Personal life
Numan is a positive atheist and has incorporated anti-religiousAntitheism
Antitheism is active opposition to theism. The etymological roots of the word are the Greek 'anti-' and 'theismos'...
motifs and images in his music. Numan was an outspoken supporter of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and of Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
after her inauguration as Prime Minister. He later expressed regret for giving his public support, calling it "a noose around my neck". He has recently said that he considers himself neither left-wing nor right-wing and that he does not support Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
or David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
. He also said, "I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money."
Numan married a member of his fan club
Fan club
A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well-known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person...
, Gemma O'Neill, a native of Sidcup
Sidcup
Sidcup is a district in South East London in the London Borough of Bexley and small parts of the district in the London Borough of Greenwich.Located south east of Charing Cross, Sidcup is bordered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bromley and Kent County Council, and whilst now part of...
. In 2003, after some pregnancy difficulties, the couple had their first child, Raven. In 2005 they had a second daughter, Persia. In 2007 the couple had their third child, Echo. Numan resides with his family in East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
. He published his autobiography, Praying to the Aliens, in 1997 (updated edition 1998), in collaboration with Steve Malins. (Malins also wrote the liner notes for most of the CD reissues of Numan's albums in the late 1990s, as well as executive producing the Hybrid album in 2003.)
Numan is known for his love of flying, a passion which has featured in some of his music videos ("Warriors", "I Can't Stop"). He has owned several small aircraft. Numan was a member of the Air Training Corps. He is one of a very small handful of flyers with the credentials and qualifications to train aerobatic instructor pilots. He was once forced to emergency-land his light aircraft on a Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
motorway.
Numan is referenced several times in the BBC TV series The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh
The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. Developed from three stage shows and a six episode radio series, it has since spawned a total of twenty television episodes for BBC Three and two live tours of the UK, as well as two live shows in the...
as Vince Noir, one of the main characters, is a huge Gary Numan fan. Examples of this are in the episode "Tundra"
The Mighty Boosh (series 1)
The Mighty Booshs first series was originally broadcast between 18 May 2004 and 6 July 2004. The series features five main cast members; Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Rich Fulcher, Michael Fielding and Dave Brown. The first series centers on Howard Moon and Vince Noir , and the adventures they...
where Numan gives Noir a lift to the Antarctic in his personal jet (a black jet with a red trim with "NUMAN" written in white), in the episode "Electro"
The Mighty Boosh (series 1)
The Mighty Booshs first series was originally broadcast between 18 May 2004 and 6 July 2004. The series features five main cast members; Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Rich Fulcher, Michael Fielding and Dave Brown. The first series centers on Howard Moon and Vince Noir , and the adventures they...
Numan's influence is clear to see on Noir when he joins electro band "Kraftwork Orange". Along with making several other references to Numan (notably a scene where Noir states he's made some 'tapes' for a journey saying "This is the best of the 60s (holding one tape), this is the best of the 70s (holding another tape) and THIS (picks up a horde of tapes) is Gary Numan!"), Numan guest-starred in "The Power of the Crimp"
The Mighty Boosh (series 3)
The Mighty Booshs third series was originally broadcast between 15 November 2007 and 20 December 2007. The series features five main cast members; Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Rich Fulcher, Michael Fielding and Dave Brown. The third series revolves around Howard Moon and Vince Noir , and the...
, being locked in a cupboard and is used (unsuccessfully) to cheer Vince up.
At age 15, after a series of outbursts in which Numan would "smash things up, scream and shout, get in people's faces and break stuff", he was prescribed antidepressants and anxiolytics. Numan has stated he has Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
, an autism spectrum disorder which causes restricted social and communication skills. In a 2001 interview, he said: "Polite conversation has never been one of my strong points. Just recently I actually found out that I'd got a mild form of Asperger's syndrome which basically means I have trouble interacting with people. For years, I couldn't understand why people thought I was arrogant, but now it all makes more sense.".
Following the harassment of his wife while his family was walking on High Street
High Street
High Street, or the High Street, is a metonym for the generic name of the primary business street of towns or cities, especially in the United Kingdom. It is usually a focal point for shops and retailers in city centres, and is most often used in reference to retailing...
and the 2011 England Riots
2011 England riots
Between 6 and 10 August 2011, several London boroughs and districts of cities and towns across England suffered widespread rioting, looting and arson....
Numan filed papers to immigrate to the United States. He plans to live in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
. Numan said "Every village and town in England has a bunch of thugs running around in it. The riots were the nail in the coffin".
In late August 2011, in the Q&A section of NuWorld, in answer to the question "Is it true you now hate England and want to leave?" he replied, "No, that’s utter rubbish." He explained that he'd "never been abused in my local high street," and has "made no firm decision about leaving the UK" but thugs are helping make such a decision, pointing out that the rioting "makes us look like a country of ignorant savages, beating up people already injured, pretending to help while stealing their things, hitting old men, killing them." He went on to explain that soundtracks may be a logical step, as he gets older and since "in the UK we have no meaningful film industry to speak of," a move to the U.S. might be more reasonable. He concluded by saying his family are highest priority and, "If I see somewhere that seems safer, happier and will give them a better life than the UK, I’ll take them there if I possibly can."
Discography
- Tubeway ArmyTubeway Army (album)Tubeway Army is the debut album by Gary Numan and his band Tubeway Army, released in 1978. Its initial limited-edition run of 5000 sold out but did not chart...
(1978) (with Tubeway ArmyTubeway ArmyTubeway Army were a London-based punk rock and new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. They were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single Are 'Friends' Electric? and its parent album Replicas both topping the UK Album Chart in mid-1979.-Line-up:The...
) - ReplicasReplicas (album)Replicas is an album by Tubeway Army, released in 1979. It was the second and final Tubeway Army LP, following a self-titled debut the previous year...
(1979) (with Tubeway Army) - The Pleasure PrincipleThe Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan album)The Pleasure Principle is the third studio album, and debut album under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1979...
(1979) (Numan's first album under his own name) - TelekonTelekonReleased in 1980, Telekon is the fourth studio album, and second album under his own name, by the British musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK charts in September 1980, making it his third and consecutive no.1 album....
(1980) - DanceDance (Gary Numan album)Dance is the fifth studio album, the third under his own name, by the British musician Gary Numan, released in 1981. It is his first release after announcing his retirement from touring in April 1981...
(1981) - I, AssassinI, AssassinI, Assassin is the sixth studio album by Gary Numan. Released in 1982, it reached no.8 on the UK charts.Three songs; "Music for Chameleons", "We Take Mystery " and "White Boys and Heroes" were released as singles from the album and all reached the UK Top 20 I, Assassin is the sixth studio album...
(1982) - WarriorsWarriors (Gary Numan album)Warriors is the seventh studio album by the British musician Gary Numan, released in 1983. It was his last studio album released on Beggars Banquet Records.-Preproduction:...
(1983) - BerserkerBerserker (Gary Numan album)Berserker is the eighth studio album, and sixth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1984. It was his first album to be released under Numan's own record label, Numa Records.-Overview:...
(1984) - The Fury (1985)
- Strange CharmStrange CharmStrange Charm is the tenth studio album, and eighth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1986 through by Numa Records. The album was not released in the United States until 1999 when it was issued in a digitally remastered form with five bonus tracks by Cleopatra...
(1986) - Metal RhythmMetal RhythmMetal Rhythm is the 11th studio album, and 9th under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1988. It is his first album released through IRS Records.- Overview :...
(1988) (New Anger in the United States) - AutomaticAutomatic (Gary Numan album)Automatic is a 1989 album released by Sharpe + Numan . The album was an attempt to recapture their success of their collaboration single "Change Your Mind", which reached number 17 in the UK charts in 1985...
(1989) (With Bill Sharpe) - OutlandOutland (Gary Numan album)Outland is the 13th studio album, and tenth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1991. It was Numan's second and last studio album to be released by IRS Records, reaching #39 on the UK charts...
(1991) - Machine and Soul (1992)
- SacrificeSacrifice (Gary Numan album)Sacrifice is a 1994 album by Gary Numan. Its release followed a self-acknowledged career low point, Machine + Soul , and is often cited as marking the start of a critical and artistic rejuvenation for the one-time pop star...
(1994) (Dawn in the US) - ExileExile (Gary Numan album)Exile is a 1997 album by Gary Numan. Its release continued a surprise critical upswing in Numan's career which began three years earlier with the release of Sacrifice....
(1997) - PurePure (Gary Numan album)Pure is a 2000 album by Gary Numan, the follow-up to 1997's Exile.-Music and lyrics:Lyrically, Pure was seen as continuing the composer’s attacks on Christian dogma but in a somewhat more personal fashion than on Exile. Many critics considered it Numan’s most aggressive album musically, with its...
(2000) - HybridHybrid (Gary Numan album)Hybrid is a remix album, consisting of songs by Gary Numan remixed by other artists, plus three new tracks created specifically for the album. Hybrid was recorded in autumn of 2002 and released in March 2003 with a collaboration from various industrial rock/heavy rock musicians such as Rico,...
(2003) - JaggedJaggedJagged is a 2006 album by Gary Numan, his first original album in over five years, following Pure in 2000. Stylistically Jagged was a development of its predecessor's chorus-driven, anthemic industrial sound, utilising heavier electronics and more prominent live drumming...
(2006) - Dead Son RisingDead Son RisingDead Son Rising is the 16th studio album by the British musician Gary Numan, released on 15 September 2011.On 12 August 2011, The Quietus debuted a radio edit of the song "Dead Sun Rising" on their website. On 28 August 2011, the official Gary Numan website debuted a short "promo edit" of the video...
(2011)