Tubeway Army

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

Tubeway Army was a new wave band from London, formed in 1977 at the height of punk. Singer Gary Webb, who later called himself Gary Numan, was still playing in another group in 1976 and then found the bassist Paul Gardiner. With his uncle Jess Lidyard on drums, the group became a reality. The band signed to the independent label Beggars Banquet and in 1978 released the punk-style single That's Too Bad, which achieved little. After a violent concert in July 1978, Webb decided to turn the group into a studio band.

Music and breakthrough

On the album Tubeway Army from 1978 he used a Minimoog for the first time, almost by accident. The lyrics had dark, science-fiction themes, inspired by writers such as J. G. Ballard and Philip K. Dick. On Replicas in 1979 the synthesizer took the lead. The single Are 'Friends' Electric? and the album both reached number one in England in the summer of 1979. It was the first hit of the electronic age to be built on a synthesizer.

Influence

Afterwards Numan dropped the group name and continued under his own name, with the Tubeway Army musicians as his backing band. The band existed only briefly, but it showed that a pop song with a cool, mechanical sound could reach a large audience. In doing so it opened the door to the synth-pop with which the 1980s began. In School of Rock, Are 'Friends' Electric? appears as a listening tip at the start of that era.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1978Tubeway Army
• 1979Replicas

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• New wave GenreThe movement runs from guitar bands such as The Cure, The Police and The Smiths to synth bands such as Tubeway Army and Depeche Mode.

See also

• Tubeway Army