Gary is the Godfather of synth pop. He kicked the doors open for all New Wave music, I'll fight anyone who disagrees. The music he is making today, is equally groundbreaking. Love him so much.
Bebe and Louis Barron who created the first fully Synthetic soundtrack for the movie Forbidden anet in the 50's and many of their peers who were experimenting with Electronic Music are the parents of Synth Pop. I suggest you look them and these other artists up on TH-cam, as some of their music is available on it, along with the history of synthesizers and it's influence on music of the 60's - 80's. It's amazing how the progress in electronics and early electric music led to this and other styles of music like techno, house, industrial, rap, etc, not that Gary didn't play his part ong with many artists of the 8o's.
To be fair, Gary Numan (and Tubeway Army before) were a traditional Punk Drums / Bass / Guitar band with a sprinkling of synth on top. Cedric Sharpley (on Cars) was a truly superb metronomic drummer and lends the song to having a drum machine backbeat. Paul Gardiner on Bass guitar was nothing electronic at all. All this being said, what Gary certainly did do was POPULARISE the genre. Hip Hop was built on Gary Numan samples.
Ahhh, dear, sweet Gary Numan. One of the nicest guys in the business, he had some really rough times at the hands of the awful bloodthirsty music press at the time. Yet, eventually, he prevailed, reinvented himself and is still there today doing his thing, while also becoming hugely respected by some very famous later bands such as Nine Inch Nails. I think he had the last laugh. I respect him enormously.
Yep, think he got the electronic nerd who wasnt "attractive" for a time when new wave "boy bands" were coming out. But his music has stood test of time big time and hugely influential. And as you said, absolute gentleman.
Gary Numan and Tubeway Army are still very much underrated. They influenced so many artists starting in the 80s up until today. And after the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame recently inducted Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode Numan should be the next one to be inducted as an electronic pioneer.
There weren’t many artists who could get away with an instrumental chorus but Gary Numan made his so epic that they were still brilliant. Nothing to sing along to, just enjoy the power of the synths.
"Whenever I heard this on the radio(in the 1980's);the entire music had in my opinion a space'age sound, something from the future: When seeing him,perhaps on then MTV television,Mr.Gary Numan looked conspicuous,almost atometon--an android look,and slow'motion move'when he walked out on the floor. . ."10--30--2022"
There's a video on YT where Numan was recently interviewed and he talks about the first time he ever saw/heard a Mini Moog. It happened purely by chance, and because of that chance encounter, he helped define a new genre of music that lives on 40 years later. What a legend.
I saw this in 1981on mtv at 7 years old...it sounded so futuristic....4 decades later and it still sounds like the future...a timeless masterpiece... keep in mind Gary had barely started playing synths when he recorded this in 79...after switching from guitars....its a work of genius to make something that still retains its futuristic sound over 40 years later...truly stunning
Gary Numan is the Godfather of synth! Nothing more, nothing less! 'The Pleasure Principle' (which this track was taken from) is one of my all time favourite albums. There's not one duff track on that album, they're all phenomenon imo.
Have you tried Kraftwerk? They kickstarted this genre in the early 70's and inspired many bands. Try Das Model fron 1978 as a starter. But a couple of my favourites are autobahn from 1974 and Computerworld
One of the pioneers of electronic music and synth pop. This was probably the breakthrough song for the whole genre. It became a huge crossover, international hit. In 1979 this sounded revolutionary, even alien, to the ears of most people. After this, there was an explosion of synth pop in the UK, with acts like Human League, The Eurythmics, The Pet Shop Boys, Yazoo/Yaz etc etc.
What MTV did was give many of the European Artists who were not getting airtime in America, this helped bring forth the second European Wave. Thankfully with social media, we are not reliant upon radio stations or cable channels to play artists from a variety of styles or that play styles of music that may have a smaller audience. We are free to go back to the music we grew up with and to discover new artists inspired by the music we grew up with.
This song is a blessing and a curse for Numan, as he instantly was a smash when this hit the airwaves. I could not believe US radio did not play anything else but this song. I followed him for years after this came out, getting his old Tubeway Army records and all the stuff through Berserker. He had the earth fall out from underneath him, as he drastically dropped off. Many other artists have gone through a pitfall in their career. After floundering for a bit, but, he is back with a powerful punch ~ still very, very original. I went to go see him twice, once in 2019 and just recently, in 2022. He is absolutely incredible live - such an original talent. I am so glad he has a new audience with his new music, but, I am a serious fan of his synth and funk periods ~ just nostalgic, I guess.
One of the pioneers of electronic synths and electronic pop in general …. I remember the first time I heard this it blew me away and I went out and got the album and played it for a looong time …. Mum always asked to make sure I was wearing my headphones as she was going nuts after the 100th play of it !!! So many classic tracks and you can look up his official videos via Google and every one is a hit !!
Numan wrote this on a bass guitar; I just saw him live a few days ago, and he still absolutely slays it on stage for being in his 60s. This song, though he didn't realize it at the time, was just such a groundbreaking moment in pop music. His new stuff (oh btw he's been steadily releasing new music for the last 40 years) is excellent too, but much more darkwave/industrial sounding. He's an absolute legend.
Gary numan is still knocking songs out and you should definitely listen to my name is ruin, it's a absolute belter and also has his 12yr old daughter singing on it
Gary's visual self-awareness here was perfect - his facial expressions morphed so smoothly and never missed a beat. I reckon you could take a freeze frame of any part of this performance and use it as a publicity shot. Incredible.
Amazing to think this was from 1979... I was barely 7 years old, and in a world where parents were still playing disco, or Abba, when this came on the radio/ record, it was otherworldly!
Here you have one of the first new wave hits. He uses a bit of aesthetic of Kraftwerk (German electronic band, who influenced a lot of electronic artists). He's seen as a pioneer of synthpop. He recently made a track with Jean Michel Jarre (French synth pioneer).
This was my favourite song for ages! I bought the single (which came out in 1979) and was at number one in the UK charts at the end of the year and it was the official first number one of the eighties. I played this over and over and over until it was almost worn out! (I still have that 45!) Well, I was young... but I sometimes still do it. This is Numan at his finest.
It was 1979 not 1980. Befiore that in 1978 he had a huge hit with"Are Friends Electric?". It was number 1 in Australa- I am still huge into Gary- check out his more recent music!
I was 12yrs old 1979 I was at the skating rink imagine hearing this at the skating rink and 1979 before the computer age breakbeats and anything else it was phenomenal I still get very emotional on the last minute and a half.
Born in 1975 I absorbed so much of this as a kid without knowing it. I now listen to this walking around with my retro 80s clothes on still living the synth dream in my head 👌
While I agree that Gary Numan's music is amazing back then and today; I am amazed at how many remixes, mashups, and mixes/vs of a song we can find on TH-cam. Who knew how good two different songs by two different artists could sound, or how good a remixed, cover, etc, of a song could sound. I think it all shows respect and love for the original artists,and reaction videos help introduce new people to these artists from all those years ago.
It’s a timeless masterpiece. Always love to listen to it. Glad to see you enjoyed it too. ‘Down in the park’ (maybe the live version?) should be your next one to continue the G Numan discovery journey
Gary Numan's voice sounded like another of his synthesizers. "Cars" was the biggest hit of the Summer of 1980. It blasted out of every car window, every jukebox in every bar and restaurant, and every radio station, many times per hour. It sounded completely novel and fresh. Note that two members of Numan's band were also founding and ongoing members of Gary's favourite band, Ultravox. Although the world credits Numan with starting the New Wave electro-Punk movement, he credits Ultravox with being first and most innovative, under their initial singer-writer, John Foxx. But it was with their second singer that Ultravox became famous and rich, Midge Ure. Both leaders wrote some fantastic songs, which you ought to seek out. You have already reacted to Midge Ure's "Vienna"... th-cam.com/video/WUWoEs8CIeo/w-d-xo.html "Young Savage" with John Foxx. Not as refined a voice as Midge Ure's but amazing charisma in concert. Also: "Frozen Ones" th-cam.com/video/BZ4SAmCKpFE/w-d-xo.html
One of his polymoogs, the 280a was up for sale in abc music in Addlestone, Surrey back in 1991. Because I had bought an expensive synthesiser the year before, I stupidly didn't buy a piece of music history. I found a 12" picture disc of down in the park which I also should have bought. Regrets
Gary is a bit of a character off stage. Very creative, he is always involved with some project. He is a prominent stunt pilot in the U.K. I think he flies a restored P-51 Mustang fighter. Very interesting guy he is.
Billy Currie of Ultravox was playing keyboards, synth’s etc on this; he worked with Ultravox and Visage at the same time, underrated multi instrumentalist and nice guy. x
To synthbuffs out there, the synthesisers used are Moog Minimoog and Moog Polymoog. Nowadays a Pricey one and a Rare one in good condition. Polymoog is nowadays seen as a very versatile organ - type instrument due to the way it is constructed but it can play 72 notes simultaneously. However they were fairly fragile instruments.
This song was phenomenal back in 1979. Today it's just awesome LOL this song had no chorus and it didn't rhyme. Gary has and still is making excellent music.
Hi this song I heard at age 9 Was about to take my bath I used to listen to my radio here in Toronto called CFTR and also Chum FM. Stepped in my Bathroom suddenly heard this weird intro stud still till the song was through. After that I search the radio to hear that song and to find the name and who sang the song. I would hit miss the song just hear the piece. Or the name cars. I'm thinking they are men dressed in tires at 9 years old the sound was out of this world to me. I knew the band called cars and though they sang it. What I did was go to now obsolete one of our Canadian record shop called Sam The Record man tried to explain the son and first record played was it. age10 was the first record and album I bought in my life. I loved the Drummer in the band. Cedric Sharpley R.I.P 2013 Cancer. I have all the best covers and Remixes from Cars. This song was written in 5 minutes. It about road rage. He was driving and accidently cut a car off. The driver chased him down He locked his doors and the driver tried doors to beat him and took off to get away where he drove on the sidewalk with people jumping out of the way until he got away. That's the meaning of the song. I got a couple picz of my car on my website www.smileyshottpicz.ca show some love to guestbook so I know you've blessed my site. Thanks Salot Smiley.
The electronic music representing these artists trying again has again with a more metallic music, the spatial word is also coming to mind. In France two artists came out of the lot in this kind of Synthpop electronic music, Jean Michel Jarre (example = Oxygene ,Equinoxe) and Jacno (Triangle ). I did not know this artist Gary Numan ..Welay later this kind of music makes me think of Paul Hardcastle's title "Nineteen", although differ in his composition.
It's interesting that Cars is one of the pioneering synth-driven songs ever and that Gary Numan is one of the synthesizer legends in music. His band, Tubeway Army, was a punk band, and they were signed to record a punk album by their record label. Numan did not know anything about synthesizers until he came across a Moog during his debut album's recording sessions. He states that synthesizers were basically something with dials on it to him. He was a guitarist in a punk band. Numan then states that he became obsessed with electronic music overnight once he discovered the Moog. Thus, synths were now employed into their musical sound. From punk rock, it went to synth-pop. When his record label heard the finished recordings of their album, they were angry and it is said that one member of the label was so upset about the sound, he wanted to fight Numan. Interesting how serendipity works in life. If Numan did not discover the Moog, who knows? The world may never have been introduced to Gary Numan and Tubeway Army. One thing is certain, the Cars we know of today wouldn't be the Cars that we know of today.
Must admit, I loved watching you love this. I bought “Bombers” in 1978. “Cars” came a year later. He was so ahead of his time, and he is STILL producing amazing music to this day. Check out his latest #2 album “Intruder” ❤️❤️❤️
In the late '70s synthesizers were insainly expensive. With the amount of synthesisers io stage, you could have almost bought a small house. "Cars" practially jump started the New Wave movement.
I always wait until I have time to watch your videos. But not this video. I made time for this one. I knew you would love it. I may have remembered wrong, but I'm fairly sure that Gary was only young when he wrote and recorded this track. And boy oh boy is he CUTE!
I've always loved this song and this video, so ahead of their time. You might also like his songs "Are Friends Electric?" and "Down In The Park." And more recently he did some really great updated versions of some of his older songs.
I know you have a thing for this era, have you ever done a reaction to a band called Yazoo? Couple of great tracks by them are "Don't Go" and "Only You", "Only You" is imo one of the best songs of the decade.
Got to say you and that young accountancy student (who should be a music journalist) are my favourite reactors. I can tell the ones who are just going through the motions from those who are genuinely enthusiastic about art. God bless you brother.
I'll never regret being born in an era when this was the type of music that dominated my growing up days. How lucky we were!
I’d go back to that time in a heartbeat.
So true
79/88, the great years...
I’m 53 and still listen to all that music now. So good. So fresh then and now!
Born 1966 and know exactly where you are coming from..
Gary is the Godfather of synth pop. He kicked the doors open for all New Wave music, I'll fight anyone who disagrees. The music he is making today, is equally groundbreaking. Love him so much.
Bebe and Louis Barron who created the first fully Synthetic soundtrack for the movie Forbidden anet in the 50's and many of their peers who were experimenting with Electronic Music are the parents of Synth Pop. I suggest you look them and these other artists up on TH-cam, as some of their music is available on it, along with the history of synthesizers and it's influence on music of the 60's - 80's. It's amazing how the progress in electronics and early electric music led to this and other styles of music like techno, house, industrial, rap, etc, not that Gary didn't play his part ong with many artists of the 8o's.
Ironically the Cars were the first New Wave Rock group but Gary came in right after
Vincent Clarke.
To be fair, Gary Numan (and Tubeway Army before) were a traditional Punk Drums / Bass / Guitar band with a sprinkling of synth on top. Cedric Sharpley (on Cars) was a truly superb metronomic drummer and lends the song to having a drum machine backbeat. Paul Gardiner on Bass guitar was nothing electronic at all. All this being said, what Gary certainly did do was POPULARISE the genre. Hip Hop was built on Gary Numan samples.
Can’t believe this song was 42 years ago! Reached Number 1 in the UK in September 1979, giving Gary his second chart topper of the year.
Ahhh, dear, sweet Gary Numan. One of the nicest guys in the business, he had some really rough times at the hands of the awful bloodthirsty music press at the time. Yet, eventually, he prevailed, reinvented himself and is still there today doing his thing, while also becoming hugely respected by some very famous later bands such as Nine Inch Nails. I think he had the last laugh. I respect him enormously.
Yep, think he got the electronic nerd who wasnt "attractive" for a time when new wave "boy bands" were coming out. But his music has stood test of time big time and hugely influential.
And as you said, absolute gentleman.
He even gave me permission recently to do this, "Vans" for charity. 👍
th-cam.com/video/K21GzpBL6Hk/w-d-xo.html
Gary Numan and Tubeway Army are still very much underrated. They influenced so many artists starting in the 80s up until today. And after the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame recently inducted Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode Numan should be the next one to be inducted as an electronic pioneer.
There is nothing else that can be said but it’s a true classic. Those synths just cut right through you. I love his deadpan style too, very serious.
I never tire of this song. New Wave Hall of Fame for me.
"Are friends electric?" was another great synth anthem from Numan
@François Fair enough.
There weren’t many artists who could get away with an instrumental chorus but Gary Numan made his so epic that they were still brilliant. Nothing to sing along to, just enjoy the power of the synths.
100% dirty and ahead of the pack. And still going strong now…🔥 We were so spoilt in the UK from 1980-83.
AND late 70's!!
"Whenever I heard this on the radio(in the 1980's);the entire music had in my opinion a space'age sound, something from the future: When seeing him,perhaps on then MTV television,Mr.Gary Numan looked conspicuous,almost atometon--an android look,and slow'motion move'when he walked out on the floor. . ."10--30--2022"
My great Father r.i.p. and i watched Gary Numan in concert 35years ago and he still is a good man and musician.What a style!!
M.E. Is a fantastic track. Used by Basement Jaxx in ‘Where’s your head at’
There's a video on YT where Numan was recently interviewed and he talks about the first time he ever saw/heard a Mini Moog. It happened purely by chance, and because of that chance encounter, he helped define a new genre of music that lives on 40 years later. What a legend.
I saw this in 1981on mtv at 7 years old...it sounded so futuristic....4 decades later and it still sounds like the future...a timeless masterpiece...
keep in mind Gary had barely started playing synths when he recorded this in 79...after switching from guitars....its a work of genius to make something that still retains its futuristic sound over 40 years later...truly stunning
Gary Numan is the Godfather of synth! Nothing more, nothing less! 'The Pleasure Principle' (which this track was taken from) is one of my all time favourite albums. There's not one duff track on that album, they're all phenomenon imo.
Have you tried Kraftwerk? They kickstarted this genre in the early 70's and inspired many bands. Try Das Model fron 1978 as a starter. But a couple of my favourites are autobahn from 1974 and Computerworld
One of the pioneers of electronic music and synth pop. This was probably the breakthrough song for the whole genre. It became a huge crossover, international hit. In 1979 this sounded revolutionary, even alien, to the ears of most people. After this, there was an explosion of synth pop in the UK, with acts like Human League, The Eurythmics, The Pet Shop Boys, Yazoo/Yaz etc etc.
What MTV did was give many of the European Artists who were not getting airtime in America, this helped bring forth the second European Wave. Thankfully with social media, we are not reliant upon radio stations or cable channels to play artists from a variety of styles or that play styles of music that may have a smaller audience. We are free to go back to the music we grew up with and to discover new artists inspired by the music we grew up with.
Thank you ! I love Gary Numan
One of the best synth songs you can listen to 👌
This song is a blessing and a curse for Numan, as he instantly was a smash when this hit the airwaves. I could not believe US radio did not play anything else but this song. I followed him for years after this came out, getting his old Tubeway Army records and all the stuff through Berserker.
He had the earth fall out from underneath him, as he drastically dropped off. Many other artists have gone through a pitfall in their career. After floundering for a bit, but, he is back with a powerful punch ~ still very, very original.
I went to go see him twice, once in 2019 and just recently, in 2022. He is absolutely incredible live - such an original talent. I am so glad he has a new audience with his new music, but, I am a serious fan of his synth and funk periods ~ just nostalgic, I guess.
1979 no less, I have nothing but good memories of this man and his breakthrough music
I love this over 40 years 😊
I'm a huge Gary Numan fan. Cars was actually out in 1979
I believe it was Billy Curry (from Ultravox) on the main synth....
One of the pioneers of electronic synths and electronic pop in general …. I remember the first time I heard this it blew me away and I went out and got the album and played it for a looong time …. Mum always asked to make sure I was wearing my headphones as she was going nuts after the 100th play of it !!! So many classic tracks and you can look up his official videos via Google and every one is a hit !!
Not only the music, the video was jaw dropping at the time and still is in a way.
Totally brilliant and he’s still doing excellent things today!
Numan wrote this on a bass guitar; I just saw him live a few days ago, and he still absolutely slays it on stage for being in his 60s. This song, though he didn't realize it at the time, was just such a groundbreaking moment in pop music.
His new stuff (oh btw he's been steadily releasing new music for the last 40 years) is excellent too, but much more darkwave/industrial sounding.
He's an absolute legend.
Nothing else sounded like this on US radio in '79. You couldn't deny how great it was though.
Gary numan is a genius and the pioneer of the New wave music
This is still on my 80's synth playlist, so good.
Being Boiled by the Human League, you will love it
Gotta check out the track called Films and Down in the Park by Gary Numan.
Gary numan is still knocking songs out and you should definitely listen to my name is ruin, it's a absolute belter and also has his 12yr old daughter singing on it
Gary's visual self-awareness here was perfect - his facial expressions morphed so smoothly and never missed a beat. I reckon you could take a freeze frame of any part of this performance and use it as a publicity shot. Incredible.
Amazing to think this was from 1979... I was barely 7 years old, and in a world where parents were still playing disco, or Abba, when this came on the radio/ record, it was otherworldly!
He has another great song called Down in the Park
Gary Numan is a genius. Exactly!!!
My teens on replay, club nights in Copenhagen and Berlin to Gary and the other giants of this awsome era. Now we old but the music lives on!
This guy was a reference for his generation and he opened a huge New wave for music !
Here you have one of the first new wave hits. He uses a bit of aesthetic of Kraftwerk (German electronic band, who influenced a lot of electronic artists).
He's seen as a pioneer of synthpop.
He recently made a track with Jean Michel Jarre (French synth pioneer).
a masterpiece
never never lost any fascination
This was my favourite song for ages! I bought the single (which came out in 1979) and was at number one in the UK charts at the end of the year and it was the official first number one of the eighties. I played this over and over and over until it was almost worn out! (I still have that 45!) Well, I was young... but I sometimes still do it. This is Numan at his finest.
What a fantastic reaction, I remember feeling the same way the first time hearing it. 👍
It was 1979 not 1980. Befiore that in 1978 he had a huge hit with"Are Friends Electric?". It was number 1 in Australa- I am still huge into Gary- check out his more recent music!
I was 12yrs old 1979 I was at the skating rink imagine hearing this at the skating rink and 1979 before the computer age breakbeats and anything else it was phenomenal I still get very emotional on the last minute and a half.
Gary Numan has many amazing songs. M.E., Down in the park, Metal, Conversation, the list goes on. Your welcome
Born in 1975 I absorbed so much of this as a kid without knowing it. I now listen to this walking around with my retro 80s clothes on still living the synth dream in my head 👌
One of the first songs in the early 80's that helped kick off the synth decade. And it is a good song.
While I agree that Gary Numan's music is amazing back then and today; I am amazed at how many remixes, mashups, and mixes/vs of a song we can find on TH-cam. Who knew how good two different songs by two different artists could sound, or how good a remixed, cover, etc, of a song could sound. I think it all shows respect and love for the original artists,and reaction videos help introduce new people to these artists from all those years ago.
It’s a timeless masterpiece. Always love to listen to it. Glad to see you enjoyed it too. ‘Down in the park’ (maybe the live version?) should be your next one to continue the G Numan discovery journey
Gary Numan's voice sounded like another of his synthesizers.
"Cars" was the biggest hit of the Summer of 1980. It blasted out of every car window, every jukebox in every bar and restaurant, and every radio station, many times per hour. It sounded completely novel and fresh.
Note that two members of Numan's band were also founding and ongoing members of Gary's favourite band, Ultravox. Although the world credits Numan with starting the New Wave electro-Punk movement, he credits Ultravox with being first and most innovative, under their initial singer-writer, John Foxx. But it was with their second singer that Ultravox became famous and rich, Midge Ure. Both leaders wrote some fantastic songs, which you ought to seek out. You have already reacted to Midge Ure's "Vienna"...
th-cam.com/video/WUWoEs8CIeo/w-d-xo.html "Young Savage" with John Foxx. Not as refined a voice as Midge Ure's but amazing charisma in concert.
Also: "Frozen Ones" th-cam.com/video/BZ4SAmCKpFE/w-d-xo.html
Two members? Billy Currie...
gorgeous song from an icon in music!
We lost count of the amount of breakthrough sounds out of the late 70s and early 80s especially
One of his polymoogs, the 280a was up for sale in abc music in Addlestone, Surrey back in 1991.
Because I had bought an expensive synthesiser the year before, I stupidly didn't buy a piece of music history.
I found a 12" picture disc of down in the park which I also should have bought.
Regrets
Yeah! Uk synth :)
You would definitely like 'Films' from The Pleasure Principle 1979.
The drums are real
Best song ever!
Super cool, creative and imaginative song. Coal Chamber has a great cover of this.
Good review! This song was so different. It was the time of robot singers.
great synth techno-pop......still strong in 2023.......
Gary is a bit of a character off stage. Very creative, he is always involved with some project. He is a prominent stunt pilot in the U.K. I think he flies a restored P-51 Mustang fighter. Very interesting guy he is.
There is also a freaking great cover by Fear Factory, ft. Gary Numan!
This song -- the sound -- penetrates deeply and the video was on heavy rotation back during the #latchkeynation days ...
Billy Currie of Ultravox was playing keyboards, synth’s etc on this; he worked with Ultravox and Visage at the same time, underrated multi instrumentalist and nice guy. x
This song was covered by Fear Factory featuring Gary and of course the epic show with NIN with him on vocals. All versions amazing.
One of the greatest synth-hits ever!
To synthbuffs out there, the synthesisers used are Moog Minimoog and Moog Polymoog. Nowadays a Pricey one and a Rare one in good condition. Polymoog is nowadays seen as a very versatile organ - type instrument due to the way it is constructed but it can play 72 notes simultaneously. However they were fairly fragile instruments.
Ty
there's also an Arp Odyssey on there too making the blippy sound
Yay! And now for Gary's other 1979 nr 1 single: Are "Friends" Electric?
This song was phenomenal back in 1979. Today it's just awesome LOL this song had no chorus and it didn't rhyme. Gary has and still is making excellent music.
First album I bought was Telekon on cassette in 1980 for my 10th birthday. Still a great album and still loving Numan's current industrial album.
Simple sounds, but genius musical construction. Very cool song. Blew the doors wide open for synth pop.
Hi this song I heard at age 9 Was about to take my bath I used to listen to my radio here in Toronto called CFTR and also Chum FM. Stepped in my Bathroom suddenly heard this weird intro stud still till the song was through. After that I search the radio to hear that song and to find the name and who sang the song. I would hit miss the song just hear the piece. Or the name cars. I'm thinking they are men dressed in tires at 9 years old the sound was out of this world to me. I knew the band called cars and though they sang it. What I did was go to now obsolete one of our Canadian record shop called Sam The Record man tried to explain the son and first record played was it. age10 was the first record and album I bought in my life. I loved the Drummer in the band. Cedric Sharpley R.I.P 2013 Cancer. I have all the best covers and Remixes from Cars. This song was written in 5 minutes. It about road rage. He was driving and accidently cut a car off. The driver chased him down He locked his doors and the driver tried doors to beat him and took off to get away where he drove on the sidewalk with people jumping out of the way until he got away. That's the meaning of the song. I got a couple picz of my car on my website www.smileyshottpicz.ca show some love to guestbook so I know you've blessed my site. Thanks Salot Smiley.
After all these decades, this is still an electronic masterpiece.
Yes...this was the 80s...the advent of electronic dance leaving disco
Agree bro Gary Numan is genious!
The electronic music representing these artists trying again has again with a more metallic music, the spatial word is also coming to mind. In France two artists came out of the lot in this kind of Synthpop electronic music, Jean Michel Jarre (example = Oxygene ,Equinoxe) and Jacno (Triangle ).
I did not know this artist Gary Numan ..Welay later this kind of music makes me think of Paul Hardcastle's title "Nineteen", although differ in his composition.
I choreographed an interesting modern dance to Oxygene!
Classic Gary Numan is great, current Gary Numan is just as great. :D
Hey Derrick, I'm confident you'll appreciate another banger from Gary called ..Just What I Needed
.. peace
It's interesting that Cars is one of the pioneering synth-driven songs ever and that Gary Numan is one of the synthesizer legends in music. His band, Tubeway Army, was a punk band, and they were signed to record a punk album by their record label. Numan did not know anything about synthesizers until he came across a Moog during his debut album's recording sessions. He states that synthesizers were basically something with dials on it to him. He was a guitarist in a punk band. Numan then states that he became obsessed with electronic music overnight once he discovered the Moog. Thus, synths were now employed into their musical sound. From punk rock, it went to synth-pop. When his record label heard the finished recordings of their album, they were angry and it is said that one member of the label was so upset about the sound, he wanted to fight Numan. Interesting how serendipity works in life. If Numan did not discover the Moog, who knows? The world may never have been introduced to Gary Numan and Tubeway Army. One thing is certain, the Cars we know of today wouldn't be the Cars that we know of today.
No one mentions the outro: it’s all about the harmonistic phaser synth that make it goosebump inducing.
You nailed it!!
Must admit, I loved watching you love this. I bought “Bombers” in 1978. “Cars” came a year later. He was so ahead of his time, and he is STILL producing amazing music to this day. Check out his latest #2 album “Intruder” ❤️❤️❤️
genius
GEN X. We have LIVED!
In the late '70s synthesizers were insainly expensive.
With the amount of synthesisers io stage, you could have almost bought a small house.
"Cars" practially jump started the New Wave movement.
The first time I played this.. really loud… my parents thought a plane was landing outside.. lol
First record I bought. Absolutely astonishing.
Who remembers when " M.T.V. " actually played music videos. Miss those days. ✌
I always wait until I have time to watch your videos. But not this video. I made time for this one. I knew you would love it. I may have remembered wrong, but I'm fairly sure that Gary was only young when he wrote and recorded this track. And boy oh boy is he CUTE!
He wrote Cars in late 78 early 79 at the age of 20. He wrote it in 10 minutes flat after being chased in London whilst driving his car
@@stephenmoncur5983 Oh well, I nearly remembered right. I knew he was young anyway.
I've always loved this song and this video, so ahead of their time. You might also like his songs "Are Friends Electric?" and "Down In The Park." And more recently he did some really great updated versions of some of his older songs.
Eargasmic! Spot on, dude.
It's not from 80s. It's from the 70s
Released 21 August 1979
Recorded 1979
Legend
I know you have a thing for this era, have you ever done a reaction to a band called Yazoo? Couple of great tracks by them are "Don't Go" and "Only You", "Only You" is imo one of the best songs of the decade.
One of the geniuses of the keyboards. Dig into more of his songs and you be surprise his influence in music. Example the song Haunted
Got to say you and that young accountancy student (who should be a music journalist) are my favourite reactors. I can tell the ones who are just going through the motions from those who are genuinely enthusiastic about art. God bless you brother.
Love!!!😍