I’ve turned into one of those cranky old guys who’s able to listen to a band for a few minutes and cite who’s being ripped off and how. I think I’ve been one of those guys for a while, truth be told, but I’ve noticed it in myself a bit more in recent months than ever before. I think it has a lot to do with listening to the radio for the better part of a year, the songs that are hits and the bands that are big.
So there’s all this new wave stuff clogging the airwaves - I’ve mentioned the phenom before. I don’t really mind it- new wave/post-punk stuff is fucking amazing when done well. A lot of what’s on the radio, though, is pandering, looking more for the sound that’s going to move than paying homage to the old stuff. The phenom of homage vs. pale imitation is what endeared me to Radio 4 when they first started putting records out- they were an act that was doing what they loved before the whole thing became fashionable.
Me committing this next thought to type nullifies the sentiment almost instantly, but I’m going to say it anyway: I would totally fall hook, line and sinker for pretty much any band that was able to pull off a credible theft of Tubeway Army AND admit their theft. How sick would that be?
Gary Numan is best known for writing "Cars," one of my favorite songs ever (I tried to get it as a ringtone when my new phone came in the mail last week, but it wasn’t an available option. I went for "The Boys Are Back In Town" instead). Tubeway Army was his band before he decided to go solo. Numan wrote most of the songs himself, using the newest in new synth tones as he went. There’s this freshness about the record that’s still palpable and amazing as the guy pretty much invents the genre, signifiers and sounds, graphics, at the age of 22.
It all sounds familiar now in 2005, but, again, when Replicas was released in 1979 he was making it all up as he went along and defining the way kids think 25 years in the future. It’s time the man gets some props.
Article comments
1 - SFC Ski
"I’ve turned into one of those cranky old guys who’s able to listen to a band for a few minutes and cite who’s being ripped off and how. "
Right there with ya.
2 - godoggo
I only know Cars and that other song about aliens, but my recollection was that at the time he was considered a ripoff of Bowie's Low, which I think I endured once. I also recall him defending himself my noting that Beethoven and Mozart lived at the same time. Funny stuff.
3 - Alan
This album seemed to come from no-where on its original release and was truly groundbreaking stuff. Numan now has a much more industrial sound to his new music but its true what you say that a lot of stuff the young-uns are now playing has its roots in his earlier sound and im sure they wont disagree with that.
4 - ingo
numan is a genius!
5 - SFC SKI
Now, the listener can also marvel at just how groundbreaking some of these pioneers , especuially in the worlds of synths and electronica, really were.
6 - Eric Olsen
I really love this album - one of my favorites of the '70s and his best by far - totally agree it jumped out of nowhere
7 - Chuck
Numan *is* a genius.