Both Numan's music and his transgressive public image are known for his sense of alien coldness and embrace of avant-garde influences. Becoming of the founding fathers of electronic-based pop music, Numan's reach extends far beyond his lone American hit, “Cars,” which still stands as one of the defining new wave singles. That seminal track helped usher in the synthpop era on both sides of the Atlantic, especially his native England, where he was a genuine pop star and consistent hit-maker during the early 80s. Even after new wave had mostly petered out, Numan’s influence continued to make itself felt. His dark, paranoid vision, theatrically icy persona, and clinical, robotic sound were echoed strongly in the work of many goth rock and (especially) industrial artists during the past several decades. For his part, Numan just kept on recording, and, by the late 90s, he’d become a hip name to drop. Prominent alternative rock bands have covered his hits, with Numan himself playing live with Nine Inch Nails briefly to much acclaim, and a goth-flavored brand of industrial-type music christened darkwave looks to him as its mentor.
Numan was born Gary Anthony James Webb on March 8, 1958, in Hammersmith, West London, U.K. A shy child, music brought him out of his shell; he began playing guitar in his early teens and played in several short-lived bands. Inspired by the amateurism of the punk movement, he joined a punk rock group called "The Lasers" in 1976. The following year, he and bassist Paul Gardiner split off to form a new group, dubbed "Tubeway Army", with drummer Bob Simmonds. They recorded a couple of singles under futuristic pseudonyms (Valerium [or Valerian], Scarlett, and Rael, respectively) that attempted to match their new interest in synthesizers. Scrapping that idea, Webb rechristened himself Gary Numan and replaced Simmonds with his uncle Jess Lidyard. Thus constituted, "Tubeway Army" cut a set of "punk-meets-Kraftwerk" demos for Beggars Banquet in early 1978. That work ended up being released several years later as 'The Plan'.
That summer, Numan sang a TV commercial jingle for jeans, and toward the end of the year the group’s debut album, 'Tubeway Army', appeared. Chiefly influenced by Kraftwerk and David Bowie’s Berlin-era collaborations with Brian Eno, the album also displayed Numan’s fascination with the electronic, experimental side of glam rock (such as in some works by Roxy Music and Ultravox) and Krautrock (such as in some works by Can). He also drew much influence from transgressive science fiction writers such as Philip K. Dick, people who challenged conventional thinking through exploring the affects of new technology.
The group’s second album, 'Replicas', was released in early 1979. Its accompanying single, “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?", was a left-field smash, topping the UK charts and sending 'Replicas' to number one on the album listings as well. The record also included “Down in the Park", an oft-covered song that stands as one of Numan’s most 'gothic' outings.
Numan had become a star overnight, despite critical distaste for any music so heavily reliant on synthesizers, and he formed a larger backing band that replaced "Tubeway Army", keeping Gardiner on bass. "The Pleasure Principle" was released in the fall of 1979 and spawned Numan’s international hit “Cars”, which reached the American Top Ten and hit number one in the UK; the album also became Numan’s second straight British number one. He put together a hugely elaborate, futuristic stage show and went on a money-losing tour, and also began to indulge his hobby as an amateur pilot with his newfound wealth.
Numan returned in the fall of 1980 with "Telekon", his third straight chart-topping album in Britain, and scored two Top Ten hits with “We Are Glass” and “I Die: You Die”; “This Wreckage” later reached the Top 20.
In 1981, Numan announced his retirement from live performance, playing several farewell concerts just prior to the release of "Dance". While "Dance" and its lead single, “She’s Got Claws”, were both climbing into the British Top Ten, Numan attempted to fly around the world, but in a bizarre twist was arrested in India on suspicion of spying and smuggling. The charges were dropped, although authorities confiscated his plane. His retirement proved short-lived, but when he returned in 1982 with "I, Assassin", some of his popularity had dissipated - perhaps because of the retirement announcement, perhaps because the charts were overflowing with synthpop, much of which was already expanding on Numan’s early innovations (which were starting to sound repetitive). "I, Assassin" was another Top Ten album, and “We Take Mystery (To Bed)” another major hit, but in general Numan’s singles were starting to slip on the charts; the title track of 1983’s "Warriors" became his last British Top Twenty hit (excluding reissues and collaborations).
Numan and Beggars Banquet subsequently parted ways, and Numan formed his own Numa label, kicking things off with "Berserker" in late 1984. Sadly, longtime collaborator "Paul Gardiner" died earlier that year from a drug overdose. 1985’s "The Fury" became the final Numan album to reach the British Top 30. Over the next few years, Numan collaborated occasionally with "Shakatak’s" Bill Sharpe, releasing four singles and one album from 1985-1989.
Following 1986’s "Strange Charm", Numan signed with IRS, but the relationship was fraught with discord from the start. IRS forced Numan to change the title of 1988’s "Metal Rhythm" to "New Anger" for his first North American release since 1981 (and also remixed several tracks), refused to release his soundtrack for the film "The Unborn", and would not fund any supporting tours for "New Anger" or 1991’s "Outland". When his contract expired, Numan returned to Numa for 1992’s "Machine + Soul".
1994 brought the release of the industrial-tinged "Sacrifice", the first glimmering of Numan’s return to critical favor and underground hipness. Over the next few years, bands like "Hole", "The Foo Fighters", and "Smashing Pumpkins" covered Numan songs in concert, and Marilyn Manson recorded “Down in the Park” for the B-side of the “Lunchbox” single; moreover, "Nine Inch Nails" cited Numan as an important influence. With his fan base refreshed and expectations raised, Numan delved deeper into gothic, metal-tinged industrial dance on 1997’s "Exile". However, he didn’t truly hit his stride in this newly adopted style until 2000’s "Pure", which was acclaimed as his best work in years and expanded his cult following into new territory.
In 2003, Numan enjoyed fleeting chart success once again with the "Gary Numan vs Rico" single “Crazier”, reaching No.13 in the U.K. chart. Rico, who is an up and coming artist from Glasgow, also worked on the remix album "Hybrid" which featured reworkings of older songs in a more contemporary industrial style. In 2004 Numan took control of his own business affairs again, launching the label Mortal Records and releasing a series of live DVDs as a precursor to his highly anticipated new studio album, "Jagged" which was released on 13 March 2006. An album launch gig took place at "The Forum, London" on 18 March 2006. Numan announced a UK tour commencing in April 2006 and plans to tour other countries, including the USA, during the year in support of the release. Numan also to launched a "Jagged" website to showcase the new album.
Numan contributed vocals to four tracks on the April 2007 release of Ade Fenton’s debut solo album "Artificial Perfect" on his new industrial/electronic label Submission, including songs “The Leather Sea”, “Slide Away”, “Recall” and the first single to be taken from the album, “Healing”. The second single to be released in the UK was “The Leather Sea” on July 30, 2007.
In 2008, he released a double CD remix album "Jagged Edge", based around 2006’s critically acclaimed "Jagged", co-produced with Ade Fenton. The pair are currently in the studio working on Numan’s 18th studio album "Splinter", due for release in 2009.
While Numan is known for his electronic music innovations, he prefers real instruments. He explained in an interview with Songfacts: "I didn't go the technology route wholeheartedly, the way Kraftwerk had done. I considered it to be a layer. I added to what we already had, and I wanted to merge that. There's plenty of things about guitar players, and bass players, and songs I really love that I didn't particularly want to get rid of. The only time I did get rid of guitars was on Pleasure Principle, and that was in fact a reaction to the press. I got a huge amount of hostility from the British press, particularly, when I first became successful. And Pleasure Principle was the first album I made after that success happened. I became successful in the early part of '79 and Pleasure Principle came out in the end of '79, in the UK, anyway. And there was a lot of talk about electronic music being cold and weak and all that sort of stuff. So I made Pleasure Principle to try to prove a point, that you could make a contemporary album that didn't have guitar in it, but still had enough power and would stand up well. That's the only reason that album didn't have guitar in it. But apart from that one album they've all had guitars - that was the blueprint."
The official website can be found here: www.garynuman.co.uk
Little Invitro
Gary Numan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That you're gone and we're alone
I can't believe
That we'll never see your face
I can't believe
That you're at the gates of Heaven
I can't believe
If only, if only
Miracles happened every day
If only, if only
I could believe in something
Helpless we cried over you
Empty and lost over you
How in the world
Can they say that you're at peace?
How in the world
Can they say that time will heal us?
How in the world
Can we hope to be forgiven?
How in the world
Can we know how we feel?
If only, if only
We could all live forever
If only, if only
No memories to remember
Words were not spoken for you
No grave marks our love for you
Broken our hearts call for you
No-one can blame us but you
How in the world can we ever smile again
How in the world can we live without you
The lyrics of Gary Numan's song "Little Invitro" mourn the loss of someone dear who has passed away. The singer expresses disbelief and confusion at the sudden absence of this person, whose departure has left them feeling helpless, empty, lost and broken-hearted. The chorus reflects the wishful thinking of a grieving soul longing for a miracle and searching for a way to believe in something that could offer comfort and solace.
The song taps into a universal experience of bereavement and the feelings of guilt, regret, and overwhelming sadness that often accompany it. The lyrics convey the angst of those who are struggling to come to terms with the harsh reality of death, asking questions that have no easy answers and expressing emotions that have no easy outlet. The final lines of the song testify to the profound impact of the loss on the survivors: the absence of words, a grave or a way to express their love and the desperate need to find a way to cope with the pain and carry on living.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't believe
That you're gone and we're alone
It's hard to come to terms with the fact that you're not here and we're left alone
I can't believe
That we'll never see your face
It's hard to accept that we'll never see you again
I can't believe
That you're at the gates of Heaven
It's difficult to comprehend that you're at the gateway to heaven
I can't believe
That we'll never know you
It's sad that we'll never get to know you and learn more about you
If only, if only
Miracles happened every day
We wish every day had a miracle that could bring you back
If only, if only
I could believe in something
I wish I could have faith in something that could help me make sense of your loss
Helpless we cried over you
We were filled with a sense of helplessness as we cried over your loss
Empty and lost over you
We felt empty and lost without you
How in the world
Can they say that you're at peace?
It's hard to believe that you've found peace when we're still grieving
How in the world
Can they say that time will heal us?
It's difficult to imagine time healing our wounds when it feels so fresh
How in the world
Can we hope to be forgiven?
It's hard to have hope for forgiveness when we're struggling to cope with your loss
How in the world
Can we know how we feel?
It's hard to understand and express how we're feeling right now
If only, if only
We could all live forever
We wish we could all live forever so we wouldn't have to experience the pain of loss
If only, if only
No memories to remember
We wish we didn't have any memories of you, so the pain of losing you wouldn't be so strong
Words were not spoken for you
We didn't get to say the things we wanted to before you were gone
No grave marks our love for you
There's no grave or marker that can fully express the depth of our love for you
Broken our hearts call for you
Our hearts are broken and we're calling out for you
No-one can blame us but you
There's no one to blame for our pain and grief except for the circumstances that took you away from us
How in the world can we ever smile again
It's hard to imagine ever feeling happy again without you
How in the world can we live without you
It's hard to imagine how we'll go on living without you in our lives
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Gary Anthony Webb, Gary Anthony James Webb
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@_MrPink_
This track encompasses emotion beyond that which most of us experience. I can only imagine the pain Gary and his wife were experiencing when this occurred. There simply are not words. I play this, and I come completely apart. How can we ever smile again?
@jamesshepherd4666
This track and pray for the unborn get me every time. Try then live in concert!!!!!
@GaLGaming
An AMAZING Song. My Dad was the BIGGEST Gary Numan fan EVER! He actually looked a lot like him, and was mistaken for him on many occasions and used to play along with it for fun. think he accidentally looked like him then loved him that much he started to dress like him lol. This was played at my dads funeral. I thought men didn't cry, but this song set me off super bad. The lyrics are unbelievably relevant, at the time and still now, especially due to how much he loved Numan.
@wynternight777
I'm sorry for your loss. I hope time has helped you heal some. *hugs*
@Greyslayer76
I was eating in a pizza place while in St. Louis and some waitress came up to me and asked for my autograph once. I said what? Why? She said, "You're Skeet Ulrich aren't you?!" I laughed and said sorry. Nothing to do with any of this, but your story reminded me of that.
@jamesshepherd4666
Sorry to read this. I used to get mistaken for Morton Harket from A-ha. Strangely enough I think I look a lot better than him now!!!!!
@momcat2223
Oh. My. Heart. This is an absolutely soul-wrenching song. I'm childless by choice and cannot imagine the pain of trying so hard to conceive and losing that much-wanted child. No wonder he fought such a battle w depression...
@rubblestork8547
Yes anyone who has seen a failed test tube baby will feel this first hand. Didn't know how seeing just the first few cells of life doomed could affect parents until it happened
@SirKauze
Straight from the heart and first hand experience. Numan and his emotional best, in my opinion.
@monotion83
Wow, another great song by Mr. Numan. I didn't hear it before. Thx ❤