Any Numan fans in here?

 

 

Well I loved Cars and Are Friends Electric. Great tunes.

You havent lived until you have seen him live playing Cars with Nine Inch Nails

 

 

I was there. made my life.

I lost interest after Pleasure Principle, when he started having hair transplants, crashing aeroplanes and being vocal about how tremendous Margaret Thatcher was.

 

Why listen to Numan when Bowie's still making great music? It's like Kate Bush / Tori Amos, the male version....

I lost interest after Pleasure Principle, when he started having hair transplants, crashing aeroplanes and being vocal about how tremendous Margaret Thatcher was.

 

Why listen to Numan when Bowie's still making great music? It's like Kate Bush / Tori Amos, the male version....

 

A great analogy that Numan is the Tori Amos to David Bowie's Kate Bush.

 

For me he will never surpass Down In The Park.

 

As for making records with Nine Inch Nails ..... well not for the first time a certain Robert David Jones did it before Gary Numan and did it much better. :lol:

 

David Bowie ft Nine Inch Nails - I'm Afraid Of Americans (1997 USA#66)

 

A song about how the the nation America is perceived around the world ... a good four years before 9/11 took place. Yet another example of how David Bowie is was the most visionary artist of all time.

 

Sadly most Bowie fans on his Bowie.net and Bowie Wonderworld website think he has retired from recording music as his last studio album was 2003's Reality and he stopped touring after a heart attack on tour in Germany on 25 June 2004.

 

Whilst many are concerned that he is in ill health as he has not spoken in public since late 2007 amid then rumours of a stroke, which has meant whilst he has appeared in public since then, or complied with various written question and answer interviews (which could easily be the work of his long time personal asistant Coco Schwab) his voice has not been heard for over two and a half years as he has not done anymore movies, live appearances or studio backing vocals.

 

But hopefully it is just that as he has long admired what John Lennon, Kate Bush, Scott Walker and Patti Smith did with their music careers taking lengthy breaks, to look after his child with Iman, and let his oldest son triumphantly take the limelight winning a BAFTA Award for directing the 2009 film Moon.

 

As Bowie inspired wannabe's go I'd much rather listen and watch the best popstar of the millennium so far Lady GaGa.

As for making records with Nine Inch Nails ..... well not for the first time a certain Robert David Jones did it before Gary Numan and did it much better. :lol:

 

David Bowie ft Nine Inch Nails - I'm Afraid Of Americans (1997 USA#66)

 

A song about how the the nation America is perceived around the world ... a good four years before 9/11 took place. Yet another example of how David Bowie is was the most visionary artist of all time.

what i showed was Gary Numan playing live with NIN, not making a record. I'm not denying Bowie did it better, but unless I have lost my reading ability this is a thread on Gary Numan, not David Bowie or NIN, so isnt posting a Bowie+NIN track irrelevant to the topic?

I do hope Bowie isn't in as bad health as is rumoured.... but it is most unlike him to just disappear - he was a very prolific artist, so it doesn't bode well that he's been silent this long :(

 

I've recently bought some of his old albums (for the 3rd time), the Japanese mini LP CD reissues.... beautifully miniaturised... and still sounding incredible.

what i showed was Gary Numan playing live with NIN, not making a record. I'm not denying Bowie did it better, but unless I have lost my reading ability this is a thread on Gary Numan, not David Bowie or NIN, so isnt posting a Bowie+NIN track irrelevant to the topic?

 

Hardly.

 

Seeing as Gary Numan was a Berlin era Bowie ripoff tribute act. Whilst you posted the Nine Inch Nails link. And Russ brought up David Bowie it was entirely logical to bring the two together.

 

Oh and David Bowie & Nine Inch Nails went on a joint tour in support of Bowie's 1995 Outside album, he co-headlined the Outside American tour with Nine Inch Nails, and both bands would collaborate on each other's repertoire in between sets. David Bowie also appears briefly in Closure, chatting backstage as well as performing "Hurt" with Nine Inch Nails.

 

David Bowie & NiN - Scary Monsters (Hartford, USA 1995)

Hardly.

 

Seeing as Gary Numan was a Berlin era Bowie ripoff tribute act. Whilst you posted the Nine Inch Nails link. And Russ brought up David Bowie it was entirely logical to bring the two together.

 

Oh and David Bowie & Nine Inch Nails went on a joint tour in support of Bowie's 1995 Outside album, he co-headlined the Outside American tour with Nine Inch Nails, and both bands would collaborate on each other's repertoire in between sets. David Bowie also appears briefly in Closure, chatting backstage as well as performing "Hurt" with Nine Inch Nails.

 

I dont think you realise just how into NIN I am if you don't think I already knew that. in fact one step furthur, I have a recording of most the nights of that tour.

I dont think you realise just how into NIN I am if you don't think I already knew that. in fact one step furthur, I have a recording of most the nights of that tour.

 

And you probably don't realise how big a David Bowie fan I am, which is why any thread that regards Gary Numan as a credible artist I treat with a large degree of contempt. However, I admire any act who has been driven enough to maintain the durability that he has managed (he releases his 19th album Dead Son Rising later this year).

 

Sure he made some great records but there have been easily dozens of acts who have been influenced by David Bowie included Trent Reznor's excellent industrial/electronica outfit who have made much better records and pulled off the influence in a far more creative fashion.

I think you'll find Gary Numan is also a influence on NIN, aswell as NIN being an influence on some of Numan's 90's albums (which I happen to like, he has had a few albums post-Telekon that have been a bit off, but I think when he changed his sound to a more industrial one he became good again, with thanks to NIN). I'm not going to deny if Bowie came on stage and did 'Im Afraid of Americans' (which they did play that night) with NIN I would of loved it more than the Numan collaboration, but I think it proved to me that Numan can still play (he even had a moog up there :D), infact Numan played at the final NIN show, where they played "Down In The Park" which also featured Mike Garson on piano, and i'm sure bing the Bowie fan you are you realise who that is.

 

haha good little chat going up there guys, Iv never actually had a listen to bowie, im 23 and i have grown up listening to Gary Numan. My dads fault, he has followed him for over 30 years & im taking his footsteps. And i love it! iv seen ary live about 9 times since my first gig back in 2002. He did go really bad in the 90's but yes thanks to NIN and the likes of rammestein Numan is back in buisness, slowly but its still happening. He is being classed as a big influence in the last few years & has finally been getting the credit he deserves.

 

He is playing a gig at the scala in London on the 13th April. You will both be fans of his Wembley 1981 concerts. Well good news is there finally being released onto DVD for the first time ever. Here is what it says on his website,

 

'MICROMUSIC DVD

(News date: Mar 19)

 

 

We're proud to announce that Gary Numan's Micromusic is being released on DVD for the first time. This document of his 1981 Wembley Arena London concerts features 25 tracks from the albums Tubeway Army , Replicas, The Pleasure Principle, Telekon and Dance, as well as stunning visuals created by one of the biggest stage sets ever built in the UK. The Micromusic DVD will be launched at the forthcoming Scala show in London on 13 April, and then through the Official Store. For a quick look at the DVD you can view the clip below or visit the new Numan Vimeo site'

 

Gary Numan Micromusic DVD (Teletour)

Edited March 20, 201015 yr by BrooksideFans

haha good little chat going up there guys, Iv never actually had a listen to bowie, im 23 and i have grown up listening to Gary Numan. My dads fault, he has followed him for over 30 years & im taking his footsteps. And i love it! iv seen ary live about 9 times since my first gig back in 2002. He did go really bad in the 90's but yes thanks to NIN and the likes of rammestein Numan is back in buisness, slowly but its still happening. He is being classed as a big influence in the last few years & has finally been getting the credit he deserves.

 

He is playing a gig at the scala in London on the 13th April. You will both be fans of his Wembley 1981 concerts. Well good news is there finally being released onto DVD for the first time ever. Here is what it says on his website,

 

'MICROMUSIC DVD

(News date: Mar 19)

We're proud to announce that Gary Numan's Micromusic is being released on DVD for the first time. This document of his 1981 Wembley Arena London concerts features 25 tracks from the albums Tubeway Army , Replicas, The Pleasure Principle, Telekon and Dance, as well as stunning visuals created by one of the biggest stage sets ever built in the UK. The Micromusic DVD will be launched at the forthcoming Scala show in London on 13 April, and then through the Official Store. For a quick look at the DVD you can view the clip below or visit the new Numan Vimeo site'

 

Gary Numan Micromusic DVD (Teletour)

So if this encourages you to listen to some Bowie it will have been a great success. I like some Gary Numan but you really ought to check out the genius of David Bowie. Probably best to avoid his Tin Machine era though.

Indeed. Happy Birthday Richie.. Have a good un, and keep up the good work....

 

 

I have actually noticed all this talk about Numan trying to be a Bowie since i have been a numan fan, never really followed it to be honest. But after just watching some of his music on youtube i stil dont understand where all this (Numan is trying to be a Bowie thing coming from) There music is totally Different :S

 

Sorry Bowie does not do it for me lol

 

Numan all the way.......... no disrespect though thats just my opinion and flavour lol

I pefer Bowie to Numan but I dont see Numan as a second-rate Bowie at all, I think he is an artist in his own right, especially when you hear the amazingness that is 'The Pleasure Principle'.

I pefer Bowie to Numan but I dont see Numan as a second-rate Bowie at all, I think he is an artist in his own right, especially when you hear the amazingness that is 'The Pleasure Principle'.

 

i agree.

 

not a big fan of bowie...in fact, not a 'fan' at all but i have the utmost regard for his material and wont underestimate his creative influence... it just wasnt my bag.

 

numan was ok... cant help but like 'are friends electric' but most of his material didnt really grab me in the same manner. he wasnt/isnt as good as bowie.

I'm a bit amazed that someone can like Numan - but not like Bowie - after all, up to the mid-80s, the whole of Numan's act was a Bowie pastiche... not a 'kinda similar' - but a kinda rip-off :lol: The vocal affectations alone were very "Tonight Matthew I'm going to be...."..

 

Nah, Numan's a plonker - and didn't he do that massive no-no of a thing.... and marry a really young fan? Ouch. Nasty.

 

His later incarnation as some kind of goth metal techno God...well, sorry..... as laughable as his hairpiece. For a laugh, check out his single 'Change Your Mind' - Numan sucking his cheeks in wearing blue lipstick singing a song that sounds like a Shakatak b-side - bloody hilarious.

 

There was a bit of a handbags at 10 paces to-do between the two in the late 70s/80s.... here's some choice quotes :rolleyes:

 

"I've seen some of his videos. To be honest, I never meant for cloning to be a part of the eighties. He's not only copied me, he's clever and he's got all my influences too. I guess it's the best of luck to him."

Bowie on Numan,

interview by Paula Yates on Record Mirror 1979

 

I only have opinions on them because I've been asked about them; I never had any before. I've already been asked once about Numan over the last month.

 

Numan? I really don't know. I think what he did - that element of 'Saviour Machine' - type things - I think he encapsulated that whole feeling excellently. He really did a good job on that kind of stereotype, but I think therein lies his own particular confinement. I don't know where he intends going or what he intends doing, but I think he has confined himself terrifically. But that's his problem, isn't it?

David Bowie, NME, September 1980

 

"I lost my whole thing for Bowie within five second of reading what he had said. The man had been, outside of my family, the biggest thing in my life. I'd had fights over him, I'd got beaten up because of him. If there was a Bowie influence running through my songs, it wasn't intentional, although I would be stupid to deny it because he was such a big part of my life.To have some who you hold in such high reagard say something so dismissive and so petty about somebody else's life I thought was pathetic, really. I understand it much more now because I'm 40 years old and I've had my ups and downs and I can understand much more of what was going on in his mind. That would have been about seven or eight years into his fame. If I'd gone back to when I was seven or eight years into mine, I guess that I might have mad similar problems if someone had come along in the mid-1980's who had a really big electronic hit. It didn't actually happen, but if it had, I might have felt a bit bitter about it, and I might have said something a bit scathing in an interview.

Gary Numan,

interview by David Buckley in Strange Fascination

 

"When I first got into electronic music, I used to listen to Ultravox a lot. They were the only people really who were doing things where they mixed synthesizers - electronics - with conventional instruments, I was a Bowie fan for a while, but not for that long." (make up your mind, Gaz, eh? :lol: )

Gary Numan, Music Street Journal, 2000

 

"To be honest, I don't care about him. I don't particularly like his music; he hasn't done anything in the last 20 years that's been relevant to me. I understand why he did it (had Numan removed from The Kenny Everett Show in 1979). I was outselling him four to one, and he must have been surrounded by people constantly telling him his career's in decline. That must have created insecurity."

Gary Numan, Student Direct, 7 July 2004

 

The Kenny Everett incident that seems to have turned Numan against Bowie...

"I'd done my bit, then Mallet said, "Bowie's going to be here next week. Do you want to come and see him?" Can you imagine? You'd just got famous yourself and all that was brilliant in your life and the next thing you're actually going to meet David Bowie! Shortof flying to the mood and back I couldn't imagine anything else I would have rather done. So, I go along and there are a few other famour people there like bob Geldof and Paula Yates, and I am shy. There's a little side room and we are allowed to look through a doorway and bugger me if Bowie didn't see me! I am sitting in the back of this room, trying to keep out of the way, and totally in awe. So recording stops and it's all awkward for a bit and nobody's sure what is going on. Obviously, something's happened because Bowie's not happy. Mallet comes over to me and says, "Can I have a word?" So he takes me outside and says, "David Bowie spotted you. He's not very happy about it and doesn't want you in the building." And that was it! So I'm thrown out! If Bowie had said, "Look, Mallet, I want that bloke off," then you were off because Mallet had a huge financial incentive to want to stay doing Bowie's videos. the next thing I know is that about three or four days later we get a call saying unfortunately it's not possible to have your song on The Kenny Everett Show, it doesn't fit in schedule, or some other f***in' stupid excuse. So that was it! Out of the building and off the programme!

Gary Numan,

interview by David Buckley on Strange Fascination

 

“Obviously I’m not a cheap Bowie rip-off and I must be the biggest competition he has had in the last seven or eight years, and what’s more, he’s worried about it!

Gary Numan, Smash Hits, 20 October 1980

 

"[The Kenny Everett Show incident is] apocryphal. If [Numan] were asked not to come onto the set, it would have been during rehearsals. I do remember having told the studio people that he was welcome to come in for the actual shoot. He never appeared."

David Bowie, Q magazine, 2000

 

“Nearly every song I’ve ever written has been written after I’ve heard another song. When I was 16 I wrote a series of songs all based on Ziggy Stardust. I was influenced a lot by Bowie and although I can’t remember the titles, every one was a rip-off from the tracks on the Ziggy Stardust LP. All the names were changed but apart from that they were the same. I still do that now but I disguise them much more.”

 

Gary Numan, In The City, 1979

 

“If I were only a second-rate Bowie, I wouldn’t sell as many records as he does. But he has no reason to be jealous. Bowie has done so much. I’m retiring now anyway, so in six months, I won’t be a threat at all. He’s gonna be there when I’m long finished…Bowie will go on forever. No one can touch him. He’s like the Elvis Presley of my generation. If he died, he would go on. It’s like saying Beethoven and Bach were no different because they were living in the same time doing classical music. Same with me and Bowie.” :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Gary Numan, 1981

 

"Bowie also had a dig at me in the music press. He said something along the lines of, what I did, I did very well, but he’d already done it on his Man Who Sold The World album. I read also that the line ‘Same old thing in brand new drag’ on the Scary Monsters album is about me. Who knows? Who really cares? After Kenny Everett, I didn’t give a $h!t one way or another. He was as scared as I was.

 

His friend, Mick Jagger, said that he hated me, which I thought was a bit strong. Another friend of Bowie’s, Brian Eno, wasn’t too kind either. He said that, for somebody, me, who had three albums in the album chart you would expect there to be a little more going on. It seemed as though the old guard were getting a little upset with me. At first I was very disappointed, not with Jagger – whom I had considered sad for years – but with the other two.”

Gary Numan, Praying to the Aliens: An Autobiography (1997), pp.100-101

blimey russ.... you got time on your hands or summut? :lol:

I admire Bowie as an artist, but think his attitude towards Numan was somewhat petty it has to be said... Numan has certainly not shown any such pettiness towards the likes of Reznor and many others who have been influenced by him, and has collaborated with and supported many bands who've cited his influence... I guess there's a certain similarity to what Numan did in the 70s and 80s with Bowie, but why that should make Bowie so paranoid and dead set against him, I honestly dunno...

 

NIN are the most obvious collaborators, but also the likes of Fear Factory (he appeared in their reworking of "Cars") and has worked with a lot of the more underground Industrial acts such as Rico, Curve and Sulpher, as well as producers such as Alan Moulder and Flood... Oh, and Basement Jaxx (whom Russ so readily raves about) sampled the riff off of Numan's "ME" for "Where's Your Head At"..... :rolleyes:

 

His two original 00s albums, "Pure" and "Jagged" are both pretty bloody alright (considerably better than anything Bowie has contributed in the 00s IMO)... Dont make me ), a very strong NIN/Frontline Assembly influence, but then they were both influenced by him, so..... I would say Numan doing Dark Industrial Rock is just a little less embarrassing than Bowie's attempts to do "cyberpunk"... Obviously, "I'm Afraid of Americans" aside (it's a great tune), but the rest of it was pretty cack....

Why listen to Numan when Bowie's still making great music? It's like Kate Bush / Tori Amos, the male version....

 

It annoys me when people compare Tori and Kate like that. They are both artists in their own right. They are not identical. You can get urges to listen to either one! Sometimes you may want to have a listen to a Tori song, just because you like the song, and then you can get an urge for a Kate Bush song. The songs are separate pieces of music.