G. Numan drops wise words - old vs new - blahblah

[aredj]

Lots of virus love at the beginning

[D-Collector]

I was like who the h**l is G. Newman? I think more people will check out the thread if you write Numan instead.

When you say Newman I think of this guy:



Anyway, an interesting video, thanks for the link! I think he is spot on with his views.

[griffin avid]

For a VSE music forum member to see the term Numan and think...Seinfeld First.....
Shame on you. The only thing I was thinking is whether or not these words are recently-wise or from some really old interview. If it's modern (and OLD vs NEW is such an old argument that this could be from anytime or era) then I'm interested to hear, modern like NOW, modern like about synths that are still available to purchase brand new.
lolz

If it's old then I don't care to listen beyond historical context, but that's just me.

[Stab Frenzy]

The original post has been edited, when first posted it said G. Newman.

[madtheory]

....

Click on "Youtube" it gives video info, usually. This is from 2007.

[griffin avid]

My comments were referring to the Thread Title.
I wouldn't have known it was a youtube video unless I entered the thread,
which would render the advice about 'getting more reads of the thread' pointless.

[Automatic Gainsay]

It's some guy who had a rock band that had a hit in the U.S. in 1979 that had a synthesizer in it.

[jaypodesta]

He doesn't look like Randy

[Cybercardinal]

G. Newman



Yeah I remember hugging my Virus C an xtra time after seeing that, "not only can it recreate the old synths it can do it better"

[GuyaGuy]

It's some guy who had a rock band that had a hit in the U.S. in 1979 that had a synthesizer in it.

Hrm. He was obviously a fan of Bowie and sure there were guitars and real drums. But most of the riffs and textures in Tubeway Army and Numan songs are from the synths. Karl Bartos has even dissed Numan for ripping off not only Kraftwerk's sound but also their look. That's not entirely accurate either, as far as I'm concerned, but it demonstrates that he was definitely considered electro at the time.

Or did you mean Randy Newman?!

[Blue Monster 65]

Heh heh heh ... right about now Aredj is making himself a list ... and most of you are on it!

Hadn't seen this video before - thanks for sharing.




(See? Now I'm not on the list! )

[Automatic Gainsay]

It's some guy who had a rock band that had a hit in the U.S. in 1979 that had a synthesizer in it.

Hrm. He was obviously a fan of Bowie and sure there were guitars and real drums. But most of the riffs and textures in Tubeway Army and Numan songs are from the synths. Karl Bartos has even dissed Numan for ripping off not only Kraftwerk's sound but also their look. That's not entirely accurate either, as far as I'm concerned, but it demonstrates that he was definitely considered electro at the time.

Or did you mean Randy Newman?!

I would definitely say he was inspired by Bowie and Kraftwerk, and absolutely... there were synths.
But I do feel inclined to bash at the mythos that has developed largely due to the internet and the very different European perspective.
When "Cars" came out, I was entranced. I had never heard anything like it, really (although amusingly enough, he reminded 10 year-old me a little bit of some of the darker synthy parts of The Cars). I bought "The Pleasure Principle," just like some Americans did. There was no internet to tell us it was anything other than rock with synths and a dark robotic mood. And that's what it was. There was much more "futuristic" and "electronic" music that came out 10 years before it. It was just rock with a cool aesthetic, and a focus on the synth (despite the fact that there was a bass player and drums). It was just another song on the radio, and synth-dorks-in-the-making like me really liked it and the rest of the album.
Nobody called it "Electro." Everyone called it "New Wave."
Frickin' "Wonderful Christmastime" had more synths in it.

I know that Numan was FAR more popular in Europe, and since the synthesizer/popular electronic music community is international and tight-knit, it's easy to blur history to fit a general perspective. But in 1979, all of us American kids just called this "rock." Just like we did with Bowie, and Tangerine Dream, and etc.

And as far as I recall, Numan only had the one hit in the U.S. And, if you were someone who lived in New York or L.A., and were able to go to clubs, you may have heard more from him. But as a 10 year old, if it wasn't on the radio, it simply didn't exist. Yeah, there were record stores, and sometimes they had weird stuff you didn't hear on the radio... but still. Gary Numan, in American terms, was a rock one-hit-wonder.

[Re-Member]

I'm from the US too and only knew of the song "Cars" from the radio as a kid. I'm actually a huge fan, but find the whole "godfather of electronic music" thing people label him with a bit ridiculous. He started off doing punk music and just happened to have had a really huge hit single using synths with it. I wouldn't write him off as a one hit wonder like it's a bad thing, he has a pretty large catalog of music and big fan base here in the US. But even now, his newest stuff sounds more aggressive and punk in spirit than anything that would get the typically get the "electronic" tag. Either way, he rocks the synths just fine and dandy.

Ironically, I saw him live a few years ago when he was doing the "Pleasure Principle" 30th anniversary tour and despite him and all his synth players using newer Virus synths, it all sounded much closer to the original album than this live VHS concert I have of him from 1981 using all analog synths. I can see his point about reliability being the number one factor not to tour with vintage gear; on that VHS tape, the synths sound pretty grating at times since they don't have any effects and keep drifting out of tune. He did have his keyboard players crammed inside these tiny light towers with fog machines... not exactly the brightest idea.

[AnalogKid]

The biggest influence on Gary Numan's early music was not Bowie or Kraftwerk (well, it can be argued that all synth/techno music was influenced by Kraftwerk). It was early John Foxx era Ultravox. Here's Numan talking about the influence of John Foxx era Ultravox on his music. Numan even says in this clip that he is credited with things that John Foxx/Ultravox did first:



After John Foxx left Ultravox. Ultravox would later reform with Midge Ure as the lead singer and obtain tremendous success with the release of their Vienna album (well, success in Europe anyway). After leaving Ultravox, John Foxx released his first solo album Metamatic in 1980. Unfortunately for John Foxx, Metamatic would be released months after Numan's blockbuster album Pleasure Principle. Metamatic was overshadowed by Gary Numan's sound, with the Pleasure Principle album selling by the millions worldwide.

Although Numan is often associated with synths, Metamatic is far more electronic sounding than Numan's Pleasure Principle album. Gary Numan was still using bass guitar and acoustic drums while John Foxx was using synth bass and electronic drums. The irony of ironies in this story is that John Foxx, who was such a huge influence on Numan, was accused by some of ripping off Gary Numan's sound. In fact, it was John Foxx and Ultravox that influenced Numan, not the other way around.

The reason that John Foxx was accused of ripping off the Numan sound was probably due to two reasons 1) The Metamatic solo album came out after Numan's Pleasure Principle 2) The only song on Metamatic to receive some attention on the radio in Europe was the song Underpass. Underpass makes heavy use of the Polymoog's vox humana sound just like Gary Numan's Cars song.

Here's Underpass from 1980. This is so much more musical than Cars in my opinion. Who knows, had Metamatic been released before Numan's Pleasure Principle, John Foxx could be widely known as a synth music innovator and not Gary Numan. If you like early synth music, you should pick up a copy of Metamatic. It really is a creative album:



One more bit on Numan. Many Americans were first introduced to Gary Numan when he performed Cars On Saturday Night Live (and a second song Praying to the Aliens from his album just prior to the Pleasure Principle mega-seller). Surprisingly, these Saturday Night Live performances are not available on Youtube (at least I couldn't find them). After searching for awhile, I was able to find a clip that contains both performances. Cars is first followed by Praying to the Aliens. Think of what this must have sounded like to American audiences in February 1980. This will be a real treat for you Gary Numan fans and fans of early synth music in general:

[Automatic Gainsay]

I remember "Praying to the Aliens!"
I don't know why, though.