Thursday, 29 May 2014

That's Entertainment : Gary Numan



This Saturday, I have the chance of a life time to go and see Gary Numan perform at the Metro.  After the week that was, it will be nice to take Lee out and enjoy it.

Wait a second.  Gary Numan?  Who?

Well let's put it this way: Gary Numan pioneered commercial electronic music and planted the seedlings that would become industrial rock.

Beginning as a punk in The Tubeway Army, he fused his science-fiction fascinations to the new-wave aesthetic and the sound of synthesisers in the late 1970's and never looked back.  Taking cold, austere, synthetic sounds and matching it to his nasally, expressionless almost robotic vocal, Numan's world was all dystopias, androids, processors and future-dreaming.  Seminally influential and milestone albums in Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon were released, giving him three consecutive #1 albums in the UK and gifting future generations the templates for electro-pop, re-visited by bands such as Fischerspooner during the 2001/2002 Electroclash period.

With early success, Gary Numan switched personas and sound styles to 'sell' his music. Equally lauded and derided for his unfeeling - perhaps wooden - presentation, Numan says that his stage presence was a mix of nerves, lack of showmanship and created only within the hour of first appearing on Top of the Pops.  However, he quickly engendered a rabid fan base that supported him even through the leaner years, and dubbed themselves 'Numanoids'.

With an album a year appearing throughout the 1980's, Numan changed images and soundscapes on each subsequent album, irritating music critics and often confusing punters who thought he was, at first, mad/eccentric and later, naff and silly.  Yet Gary Numan was the ultimate individualistic 'pop star' in the vein of David Bowie, morphing from one creation to the next, never sitting on his laurels or becoming stagnant.  And yes, some of his choices did not always work, but there was never time to worry as another album was just around the corner.

By the mid-nineties, his star had dimmed.  Shifting record labels and changes in musical tastes saw Gary plod from one critical disaster to the next, though personally, I'm interested in this work as he had nothing to lose at the time so was producing some interesting, if not 'different' works.  With the song Closer, Nine Inch Nails were a key alternative band riding high and Numan was inspired (and encouraged by his new wife) to strip away the pop elements and explore a darker, more textured industrial sound.  By the turn of the century, Numan had restored his critical reputation but independently releasing material, there were lulls between releases that, but all the while, Numan was doing things 'his way'.

Bands such as NIN, Foo Fighters, Marilyn Manson and Basement Jaxx all paid tribute to Numan in the early 2000s, and Numan beginning to hit a rich vein of form.  With a swag of albums that took gothic themes, Numan had found new purpose and rediscovered his mojo, resulting in a number of tours playing his 'classic' LPs in full and 2013's Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind) becoming his first UK Top 20 album in nearly 30 years.

Cars would have to be the song most are familiar with.  I sometimes forget Gary Numan isn't as 'big' as I think he is because I listen to him all the time.  However, if you like dark industrial rock or electro pop, Gary Numan definitely needs to be re-evaluated in your soundscape collections.  I find him equally entertaining and awe inspiring.  His early work - the stuff of sci-fi future dreaming - fuels my creativity.  There is something wonderful searching pictures of 'future cityscapes' on Google and listening to Numan's music; it would fit in perfectly on the soundtrack of Blade Runner.  

When all is said and done, I adore Gary Numan.  I look very much forward to seeing him perform tomorrow night.

Rock on!




















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