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Gary Numan

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Gary Numan's real name is Gary Webb, and he was born in 1958 in Hammersmith, in West London. His father was a bus driver at Heathrow airport. At fifteen he was given a Gibson Les Paul guitar, and through advertisements in Melody Maker he played in several small bands. One of them became Tubeway Army, with Paul Gardiner on bass. He took his surname Numan from a plumber's advertisement in the Yellow Pages.

Music and breakthrough

Tubeway Army began in 1978 as a punk band. During the recording of the first album Numan found a Moog synthesizer that had been left behind in the studio, and so began the move to an electronic sound. In 1979 Are 'Friends' Electric? spent four weeks at number 1 in Britain, and the album Replicas also went to the top. That same year he continued under his own name. The Pleasure Principle (1979) and the single Cars both went to number 1, and Cars was also a hit in America. With Telekon (1980) he had his third number 1 album. After that his success declined, although he kept a loyal group of fans.

Influence

Numan is regarded as a pioneer of electronic pop music. The Pleasure Principle was a rock record without guitars: he ran his synthesizers through effects units, which gave a distorted, metallic sound. To this came his distinctive voice, his love of dark science fiction and his androgynous, robot-like appearance. He was a model for later bands such as Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and Goldfrapp.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Are 'Friends' Electric? by Tubeway Army and notice the heavy synthesizer parts. Hear how they sound like distorted guitar riffs, and how cool and detached Numan sounds as he sings above them.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Mentioned in other articles

See also

Categories: ArtistsSynthpop