Another great innovator in the realm of electronic music is the iconic Gary Numan. His most popular works include “Cars” and his work with Tubeway Army “Are Friends Electric”. Gary Numan is an English born singer, composer, and musician who is most widely known for his use of synthesizers being fed through amps and effects processors designed for electric guitars. He was highly influenced by the band Kraftwerk and it shows through in his music and image.
His sounds were robotic, his image icy and without emotion, and his content was filled with paranoia and lonely darkness. He helped usher in the age of goth rock and the industrial music revolution. In the 90’s it became apparent how important of a role Gary Numan played in the new wave of music being produced when several big names such as Hole, The Foo Fighters, Marilyn Manson, and The Smashing Pumpkins covered many of his songs[1].
His melancholy attitude and industrial sounds being combined with pop beats were what made Gary Numan’s music so innovative. Interestingly enough, the style that Gary Numan is so famous for came as an accident. Before appearing on a television show, “Top of the Pops”, the make up crew had caked his face with make-up, to cover his intense acne, and darkened his eyes so they weren’t lost in the make-up. He then made his appearance, lacking showmanship and full of nerves, and produced a very stiff, robotic performance[2]. The combination of the image and performance stuck with him and thus the goth/emo persona was defined.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I was excited to see that someone wrote about Gary Numan and must confess that he's at the top of my list when I start up my iPod. I plan to do my week four podcast about him and his influence on musicians that followed him. I remembered hearing the story about the heavy makeup due to his acne and emotionless persona due to nerves from that interview as soon as I heard Karl Bartos say that Numan copied their image. I think the truth probably lies somewhere in between the two due to the obvious influence of Kraftwerk in Numan's music.
Hi Brian:
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate the research that you did about Gary Numan’s image being an “accident”. After hearing what one member of the Kraftwerk group said about Numan’s image, I felt Gary Numan was trying to imitate Kraftwerk.
Here, Karl Bartos, Composer, Kraftwerk referred, indirectly, to Gary Numan’s image and approach as a “parody”:
“We invented a statement…It’s fair enough if they (other artists) make a collage of synthesizer sounds, electronic drums, and their English pop music. It works fine and its cool..but but if you start wearing red shirts and black ties and look grim in the camera, it’s just a parody.” 1
Whether or not it was “an accident”, Gary Numan’s image was a successful approach for him. However, I don’t believe this is at all what he became known for. In a way, Kraftwerk still branded that image and held on to it. They were more like robots and you only thought of the song, not them. Gary Numan found a way to give his image the human touch, and that human was him.
Explained best by, Edwin Pouncey; Music Journalist and Artist;
“Gary Numan was a rockstar, no matter how he wished to cast himself and every time he came on and did “Cars”… You werent thinking ‘Wow, cars,’ you were thinking Gary Numan. Whereas when Kraftwerk came on and did ‘The Model,’ you thought, ‘the model’ because you had nothing to really identify with that song. With Gary Numan you knew there was this rather poorly-looking bloke with make up on and sort of making funny sweeping gestures, and singing about cars, in sort of a balladean kind of way. With Kraftwerk, who knows what they were really like. They were robots.” 2
In my opinion, Gary Numan certainly found his place in the Electronic Music scene and has become unforgettable, whether his image was a “parody” or an “accident”.
Great post, Brian!
1 "Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution”
by Prism Films; Karl Bartos, Composer, Kraftwerk; 2:47:15;
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v17166226D39Jw7dc2:48:55
2 "Kraftwerk and the Electronic Revolution”
by Prism Films; Edwin Pouncey; Music Journalist and Artist; 2:48:18; http://www.veoh.com/watch/v17166226D39Jw7dc2:48:55