145-573: Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan , is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army . After releasing two studio albums with the band, he released his debut solo studio album The Pleasure Principle in 1979, topping the UK Albums Chart . His commercial popularity peaked in the late 1970s and early 1980s with hits including " Are 'Friends' Electric? " and " Cars " (both of which reached number one on
290-419: A Blade Runner -influenced image for Strange Charm . A prolific songwriter, Numan has as of 2021 written about 400 songs. His starting point is usually a piano to work out melodies and chord structures. Most of the songs on his early albums were written on a piano his parents had bought him: later in his career he has used a piano preset on the computer as a starting point. However, his biggest hit " Cars "
435-501: A heavy metal and rock-dominated format. In a December 1982 Gallup poll , 14% of teenagers rated new wave as their favorite type of music, making it the third-most-popular genre. New wave had its greatest popularity on the West Coast. Unlike other genres, race was not a factor in the popularity of new wave music, according to the poll. Urban contemporary radio stations were the first to play dance-oriented new wave bands such as
580-544: A tribute album dedicated to Numan, Random . Random was released shortly before Exile and featured artists, such as Damon Albarn and Jesus Jones , who had been influenced by Numan. Numan toured the US in support of Exile , his first stateside concerts since the early 1980s. In 2002, Numan enjoyed chart success once again with the single "Rip", reaching No. 29 on the UK Singles Chart, and again in 2003 with
725-445: A wah-wah pedal . He later developed the distinctive "ladder" filter, which was the only item in the synthesizer design that Moog patented , granted on October 28, 1969. Further developments were driven by suggestions from musicians including Richard Teitelbaum , Vladimir Ussachevsky and Wendy Carlos . Carlos suggested the first touch-sensitive keyboard, portamento control and filter bank , which became standard features. There
870-552: A 17-venue UK tour between late April and late May 2022. Numan performed at the Cruel World Festival in Pasadena, California on 20 May 2023. After a nearby lightning storm led to an early evacuation, truncating Iggy Pop 's set and cancelling Siouxsie Sioux 's headlining set entirely, a second show was quickly announced for the following day, with Siouxsie, Pop and Numan returning. In October 2023, Numan performed
1015-450: A career low point, released primarily to pay off debt. After the poor reception of the album, Numan considered leaving the music industry entirely. In 1993, he released a single "Cars ('93 Sprint)", a techno remix of "Cars". That same year, he supported Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (who had opened for him in 1979) on their concert tour. By 1994, Numan decided to stop attempting to crack
1160-535: A collaboration with Bill Nelson , guitarist in Bebop Deluxe , which was another of Numan's favourite bands in the 1970s. Adopting a heavier, more aggressive sound, the production of his 1984 album Berserker took influence from Trevor Horn 's production of Frankie Goes to Hollywood . Wanting to broaden his musical output, Numan's mid- to late 1980's releases featured a jazz-funk style, blending an industrial edge with funk and synth-pop sensibilities. Following
1305-416: A commercially made Moog synthesizer. Moog constructed synthesizers to order. The first order for a complete Moog synthesizer, for which Moog had to design a keyboard and cabinet, came from the composer Eric Siday . With no books and no way to save or share settings, early users had to learn how to use the synthesizer themselves, by word of mouth, or from seminars held by Moog and Deutsch. Moog refined
1450-870: A distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. According to Simon Reynolds , new wave music had a twitchy, agitated feel. New wave musicians often played choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos; keyboards, and stop-start song structures and melodies are common. Reynolds noted new-wave vocalists sound high-pitched, geeky, and suburban. As new wave originated in Britain, many of the first new wave artists were British. These bands became popular in America, in part, because of channels like MTV, which would play British new wave music videos because most American hit records did not have music videos to play. British videos, according to head of S-Curve Records and music producer Steve Greenberg , "were easy to come by since they'd been
1595-522: A live two album box-set from the 1979 and 1980 tours, was released at this time, reaching No. 2 in the UK charts. Both albums, also individually released as Living Ornaments '79 and Living Ornaments '80 also charted. The decision to retire would be short-lived. Departing from the pure electropop that he had been associated with, Numan began experimenting with jazz , funk , and ethereal, rhythmic pop. His first studio album after his farewell concerts
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#17327662989201740-712: A live version of the song appeared in the British concert film Urgh! A Music War (1982). Following exposure in a television advertisement for Lee Cooper jeans with the jingle "Don't Be a Dummy", Tubeway Army released the single " Are 'Friends' Electric? " in May 1979. After a modest start at the lower reaches of the UK Singles Chart at No. 71, it steadily climbed to No. 1 at the end of June and remained on that position for four consecutive weeks. In July its parent studio album Replicas also reached No. 1 on
1885-474: A more introspective and partly ambient sound, David Bowie's collaborations with Brian Eno , the band Japan and Lou Reed 's Berlin album has been cited as some of the influences that informed Numan's 1981 album Dance . At this point, jazz and funk influences became prominent in Numan's music, as on the single " She's Got Claws " and his 1982 album I, Assassin . His 1983 album Warriors started as
2030-413: A new pop group. That's all." According to Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, authors of Popular Music Genres: an Introduction , the "height of popularity for new wave" coincided with the election of Margaret Thatcher in spring 1979. In the early 1980s, new wave gradually lost its associations with punk in popular perception among some Americans. Writing in 1989, music critic Bill Flanagan said; "Bit by bit
2175-524: A period, the name Moog became so associated with electronic music that it was sometimes used as a generic term for any synthesizer. Moog liked this, but disapproved of the numerous "cruddy" novelty records released with his name attached, such as Music to Moog By , Moog España and Moog Power . An early use of the Moog synthesizer in rock music came with the 1967 song by the Doors " Strange Days ". In
2320-504: A post-punk/new wave revival" while arguing it was "really more analogous to a continuum, one that could be traced back as early as the mid-'80s". Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( / ˈ m oʊ ɡ / MOHG ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music), produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It
2465-470: A project of brothers Hugh and David Nicholson (formerly of Marmalade and Blue ), which charted with varying success ("Radio Heart", No. 35 in the UK, "London Times", No. 48, "All Across the Nation", No. 81). An album was also released, credited to "Radio Heart featuring Gary Numan", with Numan only appearing on three tracks; the record failed to chart. Also in 1987, Numan's old label, Beggars Banquet, released
2610-668: A restriction negotiated by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM). Robert Moog felt that the AFM had not realized that the synthesizer was an instrument to be learnt and mastered like any other, and instead imagined that "all the sounds that musicians could make somehow existed in the Moog — all you had to do was push a button that said ' Jascha Heifetz ' and out would come the most fantastic violin player". Although customers could choose any combination of modules, Moog sold several standard systems. In 1970, Moog Music released
2755-501: A result, the tour was not only postponed but expanded, and his Pleasure Principle 30th Anniversary Tour's American and Mexican dates began on 17 October 2010, at Firestone Live in Orlando, Florida . Numan toured Australia in May 2011 performing his album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Joining him on tour was Australian electronic band Severed Heads , coming out of retirement especially for
2900-486: A series of albums and singles on his own record label, Numa. The first studio album released, 1984's Berserker , was Numan's first foray into music computers and samplers (in this case, the PPG Wave ). The album was accompanied by a new, blue-and-white colour scheme and visual (including Numan himself, with blue hair), as well as a tour, a live album, video, EP , and the title track as a single. The track charted within
3045-629: A series of eight acoustic gigs, playing songs from his repertoire in a new way in smaller, intimate settings. Locations included Wylam Brewery , Newcastle, Manchester Cathedral , and Hackney Church in London. In February 2024, Numan announced a UK tour to celebrate the 45th anniversary of his 1979 albums Replicas and The Pleasure Principle . Including shows in Norwich, Sheffield, Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, London, Bristol, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Birmingham and Nottingham between May 19 and June 1. In
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#17327662989203190-570: A six-week chart run. The heavily percussive funk style made several tracks from the album, such as the 12" version of " Music for Chameleons " and a special remix of "White Boys and Heroes", unexpected successes in the American club scene and in October 1982 he embarked on a US tour. Warriors (1983) further developed Numan's jazz-influenced style and featured contributions from avant-garde musician Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe (who fell out with Numan during recording and chose to be uncredited as
3335-468: A staple of UK pop music TV programs like Top of the Pops since the mid-70s." This rise in technology made the visual style of new wave musicians important for their success. A nervous, nerdy persona was a common characteristic of new wave fans, and acts such as Talking Heads , Devo , and Elvis Costello . This took the forms of robotic dancing, jittery high-pitched vocals, and clothing fashions that hid
3480-721: A stigma—especially in the United States—that made the music virtually unmarketable. At the same time, a number of bands, such as the Cars , the Police and Elvis Costello and the Attractions , soon emerged who combined the energy and rebellious attitude of punk with a more accessible and sophisticated radio-friendly sound. These groups were lumped together and marketed exclusively under the label of new wave. As early as 1973, critics including Nick Kent and Dave Marsh were using
3625-561: A theremin, tape recorder, and single-pitch oscillator, a time-consuming process that involved splicing tape . Recognizing the need for more practical and sophisticated equipment, Moog and Deutsch discussed the notion of a "portable electronic music studio". Moog received a grant of $ 16,000 from the New York State Small Business Association and began work in Trumansburg, New York , not far from
3770-765: A variety of ways via patch cords . The modules can also be used to control each other. They do not produce sound until a workable combination of modules are connected. The oscillators produce waveforms of different tones and overtones , such as a "bright, full, brassy" sawtooth wave , a thinner, flute-like triangle wave , a "nasal, reedy" pulse wave and a "whistle-like" sine wave . These waveforms can be modulated and filtered to produce more combinations of sounds ( subtractive synthesis ). The oscillators are difficult to keep in tune, and small temperature changes cause them to drift rapidly. As Moog's early customers were more interested in creating experimental music than playing conventional melodies, Moog did not consider keeping
3915-561: A wider range of synthesisers. The same year he embarked on his second major tour ("The Teletour") with a more elaborate stage show than The Touring Principle the previous year. In April 1981, Numan decided to retire from touring following his upcoming series of concerts at Wembley Arena , where he was supported by experimental musician Nash the Slash and Shock , a rock/mime/burlesque troupe whose members included Barbie Wilde , Tik and Tok , and Carole Caplin . Living Ornaments '79 and '80 ,
4060-416: Is often cited as the first full-length commercial music video release. The Pleasure Principle was a rock album with no guitars; instead, Numan used synthesisers connected to effects units to achieve a distorted, phased, metallic tone. A second single from the album, " Complex ", made it to No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart . In 1980, Numan topped the UK album charts for a third time with Telekon , and
4205-471: Is to assemble a whole out of parts. Moog initially avoided the word, as it was associated with the RCA synthesizer, and instead described his invention as a "system" of "electronic music modules". After many debates, Moog eventually told the composer Reynold Weidenaar : "It's a synthesizer and that's what it does and we're just going to have to go with it." Moog used the word in print for the first time in 1966. By
4350-570: The Air Training Corps as a teenager and briefly held various jobs including forklift truck driver, air conditioning ventilator fitter, and accounts clerk. When Numan was 15, his father bought him a Gibson Les Paul guitar, which became his most treasured possession. He briefly played in various bands and looked through advertisements in Melody Maker for bands to join. He claims to have unsuccessfully auditioned as guitarist for
4495-506: The Apollo 11 moonwalk , creating a link between electronic music and space in the American popular imagination. In 1968, Wendy Carlos released Switched-On Bach , an album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer. It won three Grammy Awards and was the first classical album certified platinum . The album is credited for popularising the Moog and demonstrating that synthesizers could be more than "random noise machines". For
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4640-549: The Beatles . At its height of popularity, it was a staple of 1970s progressive rock , used by acts including Yes , Tangerine Dream and Emerson, Lake & Palmer . With its ability to imitate instruments such as strings and horns, it threatened the jobs of session musicians and was banned from use in commercial work for a period of time in the United States. In 1970, Moog Music released a portable, self-contained model,
4785-790: The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors in 2017. Gary Anthony James Webb was born on 8 March 1958 in Hammersmith , London . His father was a British Airways bus driver based at Heathrow Airport . He was seven when his family adopted his cousin (father's nephew) John, who would become a musician and play in Numan's backing band. He was educated at Town Farm Junior School in Stanwell ; Ashford County Grammar School ; and Slough Grammar School , followed by Brooklands Technical College in Weybridge , Surrey . He joined
4930-500: The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors . In 2017, Numan released the single "My Name Is Ruin" and went on a European tour September. Numan's studio album Savage (Songs from a Broken World) was released on 15 September and charted at number two in the UK. He was the winner of the 2017 T3 tech legends award. On 24 September 2018, Numan's tour bus hit and killed an elderly man in Cleveland , Ohio , US. The driver
5075-471: The Minimoog , a portable, self-contained model, and the modular systems became a secondary part of Moog's business. The Minimoog has been described as the most famous and influential synthesizer in history. After the sale of Moog Music, production of Moog synthesizers stopped in the early 1980s. The patents and other rights to Moog's modular circuits expired in the 1990s. In 2002, after Robert Moog regained
5220-517: The Minimoog . In the early 1960s, electronic music technology was impractical and used mainly by experimental composers to create music with little mainstream appeal. In 1963, the American engineer Robert Moog , a doctoral student at Cornell University who designed and sold theremins , met the composer Herb Deutsch at a New York State School Music Association trade fair in Rochester, New York . Deutsch had been making electronic music using
5365-533: The New Romantic movement. In 1981, Rolling Stone contrasted the movement with the previous new wave era, writing that "the natty Anglo-dandies of Japan ", having been "reviled in the New Wave era", seemed "made to order for the age of the clothes-conscious New Romantic bands." MTV continued its heavy rotation of videos by "post-New Wave pop" acts "with a British orientation" until 1987, when it changed to
5510-475: The UK Singles Chart ). Numan maintains a cult following . He has sold over 10 million records. Numan is regarded as a pioneer of electronic music . He developed a signature sound consisting of heavy synthesiser hooks fed through guitar effects pedals , and is also known for his distinctive voice and androgynous "android" persona. He received an Ivor Novello Award , the Inspiration Award, from
5655-559: The music press as a "reaction against the opulence/corpulence of nouveau rich New Pop" and "part of the move back to guitar-driven music after the keyboard washes of the New Romantics". In the aftermath of grunge , the British music press launched a campaign to promote the new wave of new wave that involved overtly punk and new-wave-influenced acts such as Elastica , but it was eclipsed by Britpop , which took influences from both 1960s rock and 1970s punk and new wave. During
5800-483: The voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), which generated a waveform whose pitch could be adjusted by changing the voltage. Moog designed his synthesizer around a standard of one volt per octave . Similarly, he used voltage to control loudness with voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCAs). Moog developed a prototype with two VCOs and a VCA. As the VCOs themselves could output voltage, one could be used to modulate
5945-407: The "Moog sound". The synthesizer can be played using controllers including keyboards , joysticks, pedals and ribbon controllers. The ribbon controller allows users to control pitch similarly to moving a finger along a violin string. New Scientist described the Moog as the first commercial synthesizer. It was much smaller than previous synthesizers, and much cheaper, at US$ 10,000 compared to
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6090-523: The "dotcom" or "5U" format, are still available but have been superseded as the dominant synthesizer format by Eurorack . Since 2020, Behringer has manufactured clones of Moog modules in the Eurorack format, also sold in configurations based on the original Moog systems. The Moog synthesizer has been emulated in software synthesizers such as the Arturia Modular V. In 2016, Moog released
6235-545: The 1960s mod influences of the Jam . Paul Weller , who called new wave "the pop music of the Seventies", explained to Chas de Whalley in 1977: It's just pop music and that's why I like it. It's all about hooks and guitar riffs. That's what the new wave is all about. It's not heavy and negative like all that Iggy and New York stuff. The new wave is today's pop music for today's kids, it's as simple as that. And you can count
6380-466: The 1970s through the 1980s. It is considered a lighter and more melodic "broadening of punk culture ". It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock . Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many contemporary popular music styles, including synth-pop , alternative dance and post-punk . The main new wave movement coincided with late 1970s punk and continued into
6525-762: The 1970s, "synthesizer" had become the standard term for such instruments. Most of the Moog modules were finalized by the end of the 1960s, and remained mostly unchanged until Moog Music ceased trading in the 1980s. Moog had pursued the development of his synthesizer as a hobby; he stressed that he was not a businessman, and had not known what a balance sheet was. He likened the experience to riding theme park amusements: "You know you're not going to get hurt too badly because nobody would let you do that, but you're not quite in control." The Moog synthesizer consists of separate modules – such as oscillators , amplifiers , envelope generators , filters , noise generators , triggers and mixers – which can be connected in
6670-479: The 1970s, at the height of its popularity, the Moog was used by progressive rock bands such as Yes , Tangerine Dream and Emerson, Lake & Palmer . Keith Emerson was the first major rock musician to perform live with the Moog, and it became a trademark of his performances. According to Analog Days , the likes of Emerson "did for the keyboard what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar". Almost every element of Donna Summer 's 1977 influential song " I Feel Love "
6815-480: The 1980s, rejecting potentially more lucrative careers from signing to a major label. In the UK, new wave "survived through the post-punk years, but after the turn of the decade found itself overwhelmed by the more outrageous style of the New Romantics." In response, many British indie bands adopted "the kind of jangling guitar work that had typified New Wave music", with the arrival of the Smiths characterised by
6960-513: The 1980s, said in a 2011 interview that by the time of British new pop acts' popularity on MTV, "New Wave had already been over by then. New wave was not synth music; it wasn't even this sort of funny-haircut music. It was the guy in the Boomtown Rats wearing pajamas." Similarly in Britain, journalists and music critics largely abandoned the term "new wave" with the rise of synth-pop. According to authors Stuart Borthwick and Ron Moy, "After
7105-422: The 2000s, a number of acts that exploited a diversity of new wave and post-punk influences emerged. These acts were sometimes labeled "New New Wave". According to British music journalist Chris Nickson , Scottish band Franz Ferdinand revived both Britpop and the music of the late 1970s "with their New Wave influenced sound". AllMusic notes the emergence of these acts "led journalists and music fans to talk about
7250-559: The April 2007 release of the debut solo studio album by Ade Fenton, Artificial Perfect , on his new industrial/electronic label, Submission, including "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 30 July 2007, which charted. He sold out a 15-date UK and Ireland tour in spring 2008, during which he performed his 1979 number-one studio album Replicas in its entirety, and all
7395-616: The B-52's , Culture Club , Duran Duran, and ABC . New wave soundtracks were used in mainstream Brat Pack films such as Sixteen Candles , Pretty in Pink , and The Breakfast Club , as well as in the low-budget hit Valley Girl . John Hughes , the director of several of these films, was enthralled with British new wave music, and placed songs from acts such as the Psychedelic Furs , Simple Minds , Orchestral Manoeuvres in
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#17327662989207540-647: The CD of unreleased songs from his previous three studio albums (released in 2011 as Dead Son Rising ). Numan released his subsequent album, Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) , in 2013. Numan was set to perform a small number of American live dates in April 2010, including a Coachella Festival appearance in California, but had to cancel because air travel in Europe was halted by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud . As
7685-735: The Cornell campus. At the time, synthesizer-like instruments filled rooms. Moog hoped to build a more compact instrument that would appeal to musicians. Learning from his experience building a prohibitively expensive guitar amplifier , he believed that practicality and affordability were the most important parameters. Previous synthesizers, such as the RCA Mark II , had created sound from hundreds of vacuum tubes . Instead, Moog used recently available silicon transistors — specifically, transistors with an exponential relationship between input voltage and output current . With these, he created
7830-399: The Dark (OMD). With each new studio album, Numan would take on a particular persona, but none seemed to catch audiences' attention like he had been able to in 1979. Numan's fourth solo studio album I, Assassin (1982) produced the top 10 hit " We Take Mystery (To Bed) ", as well as the top 20 singles " Music for Chameleons " and "White Boys and Heroes", the album peaking at No. 8 with
7975-584: The Dark , and Echo and the Bunnymen in his films, helping to keep new wave in the mainstream. Several of these songs remain standards of the era. Critics described the MTV acts of the period as shallow or vapid. Homophobic slurs were used to describe some of the new wave musicians. Despite the criticism, the danceable quality of the music and the quirky fashion sense associated with new wave musicians appealed to audiences. Peter Ivers , who started his career in
8120-470: The Gary Numan vs Rico single "Crazier", which reached No. 13 in the UK charts. Rico also worked on the 2003 remix album Hybrid which featured reworkings of older songs in a more contemporary industrial style as well as new material. Other artists and producers who contributed on these remixes included Curve , Flood , Andy Gray , Alan Moulder , New Disease, and Sulpher. 2003 saw Numan performing
8265-448: The Jam as "British New Wave at its most quintessential and successful", remarked that the band broke up "just as British pop was being overrun by the preposterous leisurewear and over-budgeted videos of Culture Club, Duran Duran and ABC, all of which were anathema to the puritanical Weller ." Scholar Russ Bestley noted that while punk, new wave, and post-punk songs had featured on the Top of
8410-548: The Modern Lovers debuted even earlier. CBGB owner Hilly Kristal , referring to the first show by Television at his club in March 1974, said; "I think of that as the beginning of new wave". Many musicians who would have originally been classified as punk were also termed new wave. A 1977 Phonogram Records compilation album of the same name ( New Wave ) includes American bands Dead Boys , Ramones , Talking Heads , and
8555-458: The Moog synthesizer, with its dramatically new sounds, arrived at a time in American history when, in the wake of the Vietnam War , "nearly everything about the old order was up for revision". Session musicians felt synthesizers, with their ability to imitate instruments such as strings and horns, threatened their jobs. For a period, the Moog was banned from use in commercial work in the US,
8700-533: The Police, and the Cars charted during this period. " My Sharona ", a single from the Knack , was Billboard magazine's number-one single of 1979; its success, combined with new wave albums being much cheaper to produce during the music industry's worst slump in decades, prompted record companies to sign new wave groups. At the end of 1979, Dave Marsh wrote in Time that the Knack's success confirmed rather than began
8845-448: The Pops album series between mid-1977 and early 1982, by the time of the first Now That's What I Call Music! compilation in 1983 punk and new wave was "largely dead and buried as a commercial force". New wave was closely tied to punk, and came and went more quickly in the UK and Western Europe than in the US. At the time punk began, it was a major phenomenon in the UK and a minor one in the US. When new wave acts started being noticed in
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#17327662989208990-521: The Replicas-era music including B-sides . The successful tour reflected the resurging popularity of electropop in the UK and coincided with his 50th birthday and 30th anniversary of the original release of Replicas . In November 2007, Numan confirmed via his website that work on a new studio album, with the working title of Splinter , would be under way throughout 2008, after finishing an alternate version of Jagged (called Jagged Edge ) and
9135-631: The Runaways . Between 1976 and 1977, the terms "new wave" and "punk" were used somewhat interchangeably. Music historian Vernon Joynson said new wave emerged in the UK in late 1976, when many bands began disassociating themselves from punk. That year, the term gained currency when it appeared in UK punk fanzines such as Sniffin' Glue , and music weeklies such as Melody Maker and New Musical Express . In November 1976, Caroline Coon used Malcolm McLaren's term "new wave" to designate music by bands that were not exactly punk but were related to
9280-429: The UK top 40. Despite this, the album divided critics and fans, and ultimately performed poorly, stalling at No. 32 on the UK chart. Numan cites many reasons for this, including distribution issues. A collaboration with Bill Sharpe (of Shakatak ) as Sharpe & Numan , in 1985, was more successful; in March of that year, the single " Change Your Mind " reached No. 17 on the UK Singles Chart . A few months later,
9425-405: The UK. In early 1978, XTC released the single " This Is Pop " as a direct response to tags such as "new wave". Songwriter Andy Partridge later stated of bands such as themselves who were given those labels; "Let's be honest about this. This is pop, what we're playing ... don't try to give it any fancy new names, or any words that you've made up, because it's blatantly just pop music. We were
9570-528: The UK. The single found success in North American charts where "Cars" spent 2 weeks at No. 1 on the Canadian RPM charts, and reached No. 9 in the US in 1980. "Cars" and the 1979 studio album The Pleasure Principle were both released under Numan's own stage name. The album reached No. 1 in the UK, and a sell-out tour ( The Touring Principle ) followed; the concert video it spawned
9715-454: The US, the term "punk" meant little to mainstream audiences, and it was common for rock clubs and discos to play British dance mixes and videos between live sets by American guitar acts. Illustrating the varied meanings of "new wave" in the UK and the US, Collins recalled how growing up in the 1970s he considered the Photos , who released one album in 1980 before splitting up a year later, as
9860-403: The acts on which reflected a wide variety of stylistic influences. New wave's legacy remained in the large influx of acts from the UK, and acts that were popular in rock discos, as well as the chart's name, which reflects the way new wave was marketed as "modern". According to Steve Graves, new wave's indie spirit was crucial to the development of college rock and grunge / alternative rock in
10005-485: The album's co-producer), and saxophonist Dick Morrissey (who also performed on The Fury , Strange Charm and Outland ). The album peaked at No. 12, produced two hit singles including the top 20 title-track and, like I, Assassin , spent six weeks in the charts. Warriors was the last album Numan recorded for Beggars Banquet Records, and was supported by a 40-date UK tour (again with support from robotic mime and music duo Tik and Tok). Numan subsequently issued
10150-489: The albums chart, where it peaked at No. 59. In November of that year, a version of the song "I Still Remember", from the previous album, was released as a charity single, but stalled at No. 74 on the singles chart. Further collaborations with Bill Sharpe spawned two more Sharpe & Numan hits with " New Thing from London Town ", peaking at No. 52 in 1986, and "No More Lies" at No. 35 in 1988. In 1987, Numan performed vocals for three singles by Radio Heart ,
10295-512: The albums chart. At this point Numan was recording his next studio album with a new backing band, having recruited keyboardist Chris Payne and drummer Cedric Sharpley. At the peak of success, Numan opted to premiere four songs in a John Peel session in June 1979 rather than promoting the current album and the Tubeway Army group name was dropped. In September " Cars " reached No. 1 in
10440-428: The bands that do it well and are going to last on one hand. The Pistols , The Damned , The Clash , The Ramones – and The Jam. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself artistic philosophy, the musicians were more influenced by the light strains of 1960s pop while opposed to mainstream "corporate" rock , which they considered creatively stagnant, and the generally abrasive and political bents of punk rock. In
10585-483: The best-of compilation Exhibition , which reached No. 43 on the UK Albums Chart, and a remix of "Cars". The remix, titled "Cars (E Reg Model)", charted at No. 16, marking Numan's final Top 20 hit (until the same song was re-released in 1996). Numa Records, which had been launched during a flurry of idealistic excitement, folded after the release of Numan's 1986 studio album Strange Charm . Numan would reopen
10730-464: The body such as suits and big glasses. This seemed radical to audiences accustomed to post-counterculture genres such as disco dancing and macho " cock rock " that emphasized a "hang loose" philosophy, open sexuality, and sexual bravado. New wave may be seen as an attempt to reconcile "the energy and rebellious attitude of punk" with traditional forms of pop songwriting, as seen in the rockabilly riffs and classic craftsmanship of Elvis Costello and
10875-473: The contrast between "the American audience's lack of interest in New Wave music" compared to critics, with a "stunning two-thirds of the Top 30 acts" in the 1978 Pazz & Jop poll falling into the "New Wave-to-rock 'n' roll revivalist spectrum". A month later, the same columnist called Elvis Costello the "Best Shot of the New Wave" in America, speculating that "If New Wave is to take hold here, it will be through
11020-635: The early 1980s, particularly in the United States, notable new wave acts embraced a crossover of pop and rock music with African and African-American styles. Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow , both acts with ties to former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren , used Burundi -style drumming. Talking Heads' album Remain in Light was marketed and positively reviewed as a breakthrough melding of new wave and African styles, although drummer Chris Frantz said he found out about this supposed African influence after
11165-436: The early 1980s. The common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, angular guitar riffs, jerky rhythms, the use of electronics, and a distinctive visual style in fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop and rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave" in the United States. Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy,
11310-403: The efforts of those furthest from the punk center" due to "inevitable" American middle class resistance to the "jarring rawness of New Wave and its working-class angst." Starting in late 1978 and continuing into 1979, acts associated with punk and acts that mixed punk with other genres began to make chart appearances and receive airplay on rock stations and rock discos. Blondie , Talking Heads,
11455-656: The electronic music studio at the University of Toronto . After the presentation impressed the composers, Moog was invited by the Audio Engineering Society to present at their annual convention in New York City that October. Though he had not planned to sell synthesizers there, some customers placed orders at the show, and the choreographer Alwin Nikolais became the first person to purchase
11600-513: The entire New Wave." Lee Ferguson, a consultant to KWST , said in an interview Los Angeles radio stations were banning disc jockeys from using the term and noted; "Most of the people who call music new wave are the ones looking for a way not to play it". Second albums by new wave musicians who had successful debut albums, along with newly signed musicians, failed to sell and stations pulled most new wave programming, such as Devo's socially critical but widely misunderstood song " Whip It ". In 1981,
11745-469: The fact. As the decade continued, new wave elements would be adopted by African-American musicians such as Grace Jones , Janet Jackson , and Prince , who in particular used new wave influences to lay the groundwork for the Minneapolis sound . The Velvet Underground have also been heralded for their influence on new wave, post-punk and alternative rock . Roxy Music were also influential to
11890-463: The first album on the West Coast to use the Moog synthesizer, The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds (1967). Moog attended a recording session for the album, which helped convince him of the synthesizer's commercial potential. Garson also used the Moog to write jingles and soundtracks, which helped make its sounds ubiquitous. In 1969, Garson used the Moog to compose a soundtrack for the televised footage of
12035-498: The first time in his career, neither of the three singles released from the album ("Your Fascination", "Call Out the Dogs" and "Miracles") managed to reach the top 40, barely entering the top 50 on the UK charts. The following year, Numan scored two top-30 UK singles, with " This Is Love " in April 1986, and " I Can't Stop " in June that year; the subsequent album, Strange Charm , was released later that year, but only spent two weeks on
12180-513: The genre as well as the works of David Bowie , Iggy Pop and Brian Eno . The term "new wave" is regarded as so loose and wide-ranging as to be "virtually meaningless", according to the New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock . It originated as a catch-all for the music that emerged after punk rock , including punk itself, in Britain. Scholar Theo Cateforis said that the term was used to commercialize punk groups in
12325-420: The growing nostalgia for several new-wave-influenced musicians. New wave music encompassed a wide variety of styles that shared a quirky, lighthearted, and humorous tone that were popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. New wave includes several pop -oriented styles from this time period. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and
12470-527: The industrial pop group VOWWS for "Losing Myself in You" on their debut studio album The Great Sun . On 6 May 2016, Numan was one of several collaborators on Jean-Michel Jarre 's eighteenth studio album Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise , with the track "Here for You", cowritten by Jarre and Numan. On 10 May 2016, Numan was named the recipient of the 2016 Moog Innovation Award by Moog Music . On 18 May 2017, Numan received an Ivor Novello Inspiration Award from
12615-614: The influence was mutual. He cites " Closer " as his favourite Nine Inch Nails song, and has said " Head Like a Hole " has "the best chorus ever". Depeche Mode 's album Songs of Faith and Devotion that came out during the recording of Sacrifice became a massive influence on Numan that both musically and lyrically inspired his new, darker direction. Sacrifice was the final studio album that Numan made before shutting down Numa Records permanently. His next two studio albums, Exile (1997) and Pure (2000), were well received and significantly helped to restore his critical reputation, as did
12760-432: The last traces of Punk were drained from New Wave, as New Wave went from meaning Talking Heads to meaning the Cars to Squeeze to Duran Duran to, finally, Wham! ". Among many critics, however, new wave remained tied to the punk/new wave period of the late 1970s. Writing in 1990, the "Dean of American Rock Critics" Robert Christgau , who gave punk and new wave bands major coverage in his column for The Village Voice in
12905-411: The late 1960s, went on to become the host for the television program New Wave Theatre that showcased rising acts in the underground new wave scene. He has been described by NTS Radio as "a virtuosic songwriter and musician whose antics bridged not just 60s counterculture and New Wave music but also film, theater, and music television." In September 1988, Billboard launched its Modern Rock chart,
13050-409: The late 1970s, Numan began developing his style. According to Numan, this was an unintentional result of acne ; before an appearance on Top of the Pops , "I had spots everywhere, so they slapped about half an inch of white make-up on me before I'd even walked in the door. And my eyes were like pissholes in the snow, so they put black on there. My so-called image fell into place an hour before going on
13195-408: The late 1970s, defined "new wave" as "a polite term devised to reassure people who were scared by punk, it enjoyed a two- or three-year run but was falling from favor as the '80s began." Lester Bangs , another critical promoter of punk and new wave in the 1970s, when asked if new wave was "still going on" in 1982, stated that "The only trouble with New Wave is that nobody followed up on it ... But it
13340-462: The latter half of the 1980s and onward. Conversely, according to Robert Christgau , "in America, the original New Wave was a blip commercially, barely touching the nascent alt-rock counterculture of the '80s." In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic , new pop , and new music genres. Some new wave acts, particularly R.E.M. , maintained new wave's indie label orientation through most of
13485-481: The live album White Noise (recorded during the Berserker Tour ) and a live EP with tracks taken from it (titled The Live EP ) reached No. 29 and 27 on the charts, respectively. Numan's next studio album, The Fury (1985), charted slightly higher than Berserker , breaking the top 30. Again, the album heralded a change of image, this time featuring Numan in a white suit and red bow tie. However, for
13630-499: The media: Punk rock or new wave bands overwhelmingly expressed their dissatisfaction with the prevailing rock trends of the day. They viewed bombastic progressive rock groups like Emerson Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd with disdain, and instead channeled their energies into a more stripped back sound… The media, however, portrayed punk groups like the Sex Pistols and their fans as violent and unruly, and eventually punk acquired
13775-516: The minor hit " Love Needs No Disguise " from the studio album For Future Reference (1981) and lent lead vocals to the first single released by his long-term bassist Paul Gardiner , " Stormtrooper in Drag ", which also made the charts. However, Numan's success began to wane as he was outsold by the Human League , Duran Duran , Depeche Mode , and his prior support act, Orchestral Manoeuvres in
13920-401: The monochrome blacks and greys of punk/new wave, synth-pop was promoted by a youth media interested in people who wanted to be pop stars, such as Boy George and Adam Ant ". In 2005, Andrew Collins of The Guardian offered the breakup of the Jam , and the formation of Duran Duran, as two possible dates marking the "death" of new wave. British rock critic Adam Sweeting , who described
14065-500: The most "truly definitive new wave band". In the same article, reviewing the American book This Ain't No Disco: New Wave Album Covers , Collins noted that the book's inclusion of such artists as Big Country , Roxy Music, Wham!, and Bronski Beat "strikes an Englishman as patently ridiculous", but that the term means "all things to all cultural commentators." By the 2000s, critical consensus favored "new wave" to be an umbrella term that encompasses power pop , synth-pop, ska revival , and
14210-426: The music for The Unborn with Michael R. Smith (the score was later released as the 1995 album Human ). After Outland (1991), another critical and commercial disappointment and his second and last studio album with I.R.S., Numan reactivated Numa Records, under which he would release his next two studio albums. His first Numa Records release, Machine + Soul , is considered by many, including Numan himself, to be
14355-411: The musicians were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter strains of 1960s pop and were opposed to the generally abrasive, political bents of punk rock, as well as what was considered to be creatively stagnant " corporate rock ". New wave commercially peaked from the late 1970s into the early 1980s with numerous major musicians and an abundance of one-hit wonders . MTV , which
14500-608: The new wave circuit acts happening very big [in the US]. As a movement, we don't expect it to have much influence." A year earlier, Bart Mills of The Washington Post asked "Is England's New Wave All Washed Up?", writing that "The New Wave joined the Establishment, buying a few hits at the price of its anarchism. Not a single punk band broke through big in America, and in Britain John Travolta sold more albums than
14645-442: The new wave movement's commercial rise, which had been signaled in 1978 by hits for the Cars and Talking Heads. In 1980, there were brief forays into new wave-style music by non-new wave artists Billy Joel ( Glass Houses ), Donna Summer ( The Wanderer ), and Linda Ronstadt ( Mad Love ). Early in 1980, influential radio consultant Lee Abrams wrote a memo saying with a few exceptions, "we're not going to be seeing many of
14790-460: The notion of voltage control and Moog's circuit designs were not original, Moog's innovations were in drawing the elements together, realizing that the problem of exponential conversion could be solved using transistor circuitry and building such circuits and making them work in a way that was of interest to musicians." Moog features such as voltage-controlled oscillator , envelopes , noise generators , filters and sequencers became standards in
14935-428: The oscillators stable a priority. The Moog's 24db low-pass filter is particularly distinctive, with a "rich", "juicy", "fat" sound. The filter, based on pairs of transistors connected by capacitors arranged in a ladder-like layout, attenuates frequencies above a level set by the user, and boosts the frequencies around the cut-off frequency. When overdriven, the filter produces a distinctive distortion described as
15080-412: The output of another , creating effects such as vibrato and tremolo . According to Moog, when Deutsch saw this, he became excited and immediately began making music with the prototype, attracting the interest of passersby: "They would stand there, they'd listen and they'd shake their heads ... What is this weird shit coming out of the basement?" In 1964, Moog and Deutsch demonstrated the synthesizer at
15225-582: The pop market and concentrate instead on exploring more personal themes, including his vocal atheism . His future wife Gemma encouraged him to strip away the influences of the more recent years. Numan thus sought a grittier, more industrial tone for his songwriting on the album Sacrifice , on which, for the first time, he played almost all the instruments himself. Nine Inch Nails (NIN), who were influenced by Numan's music, and other bands with industrial tendencies were contemporaneously becoming famous, and Sacrifice received critical acclaim. According to Numan,
15370-451: The punk rock style was adopted with the sole intention to obtain a recording contract. Ultravox 's 1978 album Systems of Romance was the main influence behind Tubeway Army's transition into an electronic sound. Numan cited the album, and particularly the song "Slow Motion", as the blueprint for what he wanted to achieve. Moving away from the commercially successful synth-pop on the 1979 albums Replicas and The Pleasure Principle to
15515-558: The punk-music scene. The mid-1970s British pub rock scene was the source of many of the most-commercially-successful new wave acts, such as Ian Dury , Nick Lowe , Eddie and the Hot Rods , and Dr. Feelgood . In the US, Sire Records chairman Seymour Stein , believing the term "punk" would mean poor sales for Sire's acts who had frequently played the New York club CBGB , launched a "Don't Call It Punk" campaign designed to replace
15660-412: The punk/new wave movement. Acts associated with the movement received little or no radio airplay, or music industry support. Small scenes developed in major cities. Continuing into the next year, public support remained limited to select elements of the artistic, bohemian, and intellectual population as arena rock and disco dominated the charts. In early 1979, Eve Zibart of The Washington Post noted
15805-519: The record label edited the album's title to New Anger after the lead single's title, and also changed the album colour from black to blue and remixed several of its tracks, against Numan's wishes. In 1989, the Sharpe & Numan album Automatic was released through Polydor Records , though this too failed to garner much commercial success, briefly entering the charts for just one week at No. 59. In 1991, Numan ventured into film-scoring by co-composing
15950-426: The record label in 1992, yet it was again shuttered in 1996. In addition to Numa Records' commercial failure, Numan's own amassed fortune (since the late 1970s), which he estimated to be around £4.5 million, was drained. He then signed a recording contract with I.R.S. Records for the release of his final studio album of the 1980s, Metal Rhythm (1988), which also sold relatively poorly. For its American release,
16095-606: The recording of an album's worth of demo tapes in March 1978 (released in 1984 as The Plan ), and a second single, " Bombers ", which like the first single did not chart. The two singles were released again as a gatefold doublepack in 1979, and in 1983 a re-release of "That's Too Bad" reached No. 97 on the UK Singles Chart . Tubeway Army's self-titled, new wave -oriented debut studio album , released in November 1978, sold out its limited run and introduced Numan's fascination with dystopian science fiction and synthesisers. During
16240-494: The recording of the album Numan found a Moog synthesizer left behind in the studio and the transition towards an electronic sound began. Though the band's third single, the dark-themed and slow-paced " Down in the Park " (1979), did not appear on the charts, it became one of Numan's most enduring and oft-covered songs. It was featured with other contemporary hits on the soundtrack for the American drama film Times Square (1980), and
16385-493: The release of two commercially and critically unsuccessful pop and funk influenced albums in the early 1990's, Numan found new pivotal influences in Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode 's 1993 album Songs of Faith and Devotion that inspired him to move into a darker sound that became the trademark of his later career. New wave music New wave is a music genre that encompasses pop -oriented styles from
16530-697: The release. Numan also launched a Jagged website to showcase the album, and made plans to have his 1981 farewell concert (previously released as Micromusic on VHS ) issued on DVD by November 2006 as well as releasing the DVD version of the Jagged album launch gig. Numan undertook a brief Telekon 'Classic Album' tour in the UK in December 2006, performing at Rock City , the Kentish Town Forum and Club Academy . Numan contributed vocals to four tracks on
16675-738: The rights to the Moog brand and bought the company, Moog released the Minimoog Voyager , an updated version. Moog released several Minimoog reissues, with some changes, starting from 2016. In 2018, Moog released the Grandmother , followed by the Matriarch in 2019; parts of the circuitry used in these instruments were inspired by the Moog synthesizer. After production of the original Moog synthesizers stopped in 1980, some manufacturers, such as Synthesizers.com , created their own modules and clones of Moog modules. Moog modules, known as
16820-646: The same year, the Monkees used a Moog on their album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. In 1969, George Harrison released an album of Moog recordings, Electronic Sound , and the Beatles used the Moog on several tracks on their album Abbey Road . Other rock bands who adopted the Moog include the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones . It was also adopted by jazz musicians including Herbie Hancock , Jan Hammer and Sun Ra . In
16965-517: The show." His "wooden" stage presence was, in his words, a result of "incredible self-consciousness" and "incompetence – I didn't know to move on stage". He became enamoured by the idea of "being cold about everything, not letting emotions get to you, or presenting a front of not feeling". Initially, Numan used his invention of the mysterious fantasy character "Mach-man", a machine in human skin dressed all in black, which developed from short stories he wrote at school, as his stage persona . But this image
17110-643: The shows. Numan lent his vocals to the track "My Machines" on Battles 's second studio album Gloss Drop (2011). He was chosen by Battles to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curated in December 2011 in Minehead , England. Numan's studio album Dead Son Rising was released on 16 September 2011, which had a full UK tour split in two-halves, 15–21 September and 7–11 December. Both parts were supported by Welsh soloist Jayce Lewis ; in an interview during
17255-409: The singles " We Are Glass " and " I Die: You Die ", released prior to the album, reaching No. 5 and No. 6 on the UK charts. " This Wreckage ", the only single taken from the original album release, entered the UK top 20 in December that year. Telekon , the final studio album that Numan retrospectively termed the "Machine" section of his career, reintroduced guitars to Numan's music and featured
17400-553: The six-figure sums of other synthesizers. Whereas the RCA Mark II was programmed with punchcards , Moog's synthesizer could be played in real time via keyboard, making it attractive to musicians. According to the Guardian , Moog's 1964 paper Voltage-Controlled Music Modules , in which he proposed the Moog synthesizer modules, invented the modern concept of the analog synthesizer . The authors of Analog Days wrote: "Though
17545-523: The soft strains of punk rock. In the UK, some post-punk music developments became mainstream. According to music critic David Smay writing in 2001: Current critical thought discredits new wave as a genre, deriding it as a marketing ploy to soft-sell punk, a meaningless umbrella term covering bands too diverse to be considered alike. Powerpop, synth-pop, ska revival, art school novelties and rebranded pub rockers were all sold as "New Wave". In mid-1977, Time and Newsweek wrote favorable lead stories on
17690-407: The start of MTV began new wave's most successful era in the US. British musicians, unlike many of their American counterparts, had learned how to use the music video early on. Several British acts on independent labels were able to outmarket and outsell American musicians on major labels, a phenomenon journalists labeled the " Second British Invasion " of "new music" , which included many artists of
17835-455: The surname Numan from an advertisement in the yellow pages for a plumber whose surname was Neumann. Numan came to prominence in the 1970s as lead vocalist, songwriter, and record producer for Tubeway Army . After adopting a punk rock -style they signed a recording contract with Beggars Banquet Records and released their debut single " That's Too Bad " in February 1978. It was followed by
17980-449: The synthesizer in response to demand for more practical and affordable electronic music equipment, guided by suggestions and requests from composers including Herb Deutsch , Richard Teitelbaum , Vladimir Ussachevsky and Wendy Carlos . Moog's principal innovation was voltage-control, which uses voltage to control pitch . He also introduced fundamental synthesizer concepts such as modularity and envelope generators. The Moog synthesizer
18125-412: The synthesizer in response to requests from musicians and composers. For example, after Deutsch suggested Moog find a way to fade notes in and out, Moog invented an envelope module, using a doorbell button as a prototype. At the suggestion of the composer Gustav Ciamaga , Moog developed a filter module, a means of removing frequencies from waveforms. His first filter design created a sound similar to
18270-503: The synthesizer market. The ladder filter has been replicated in hardware synthesizers, digital signal processors , field-programmable gate arrays and software synthesizers. Most Moog synthesizers were owned by universities or record labels, and used to create soundtracks or jingles . By 1970, only 28 were owned by musicians. The Moog was first used by experimental composers including Richard Teitelbaum , Dick Hyman , and Perrey and Kingsley . The composer Mort Garson recorded
18415-665: The term "new wave" to classify New York–based groups such as the Velvet Underground and New York Dolls . In the US, many of the first new wave groups were the not-so-punk acts associated with CBGB (e.g. Talking Heads, Mink DeVille and Blondie ), as well as the proto-punk scene in Ohio, which included Devo , the Electric Eels , Rocket from the Tombs , and Pere Ubu . Some important bands, such as Suicide and
18560-542: The term with "new wave". Because radio consultants in the US had advised their clients punk rock was a fad, they settled on the new term. Like the filmmakers of the French New Wave movement , after whom the genre was named, new wave bands such as Ramones and Talking Heads were anti-corporate and experimental. At first, most American writers used the term "new wave" exclusively in reference to British punk acts. Starting in December 1976, The New York Rocker , which
18705-543: The then-unknown band the Jam before joining Mean Street and the Lasers, where he met Paul Gardiner . The latter band would soon become Tubeway Army , with his uncle Jess Lidyard on drums and Gardiner on bass. The band signed a recording contract with Beggars Banquet Records . His initial pseudonym was Valerian, probably in reference to the hero in French science fiction comic series Valérian and Laureline . He later picked
18850-416: The tour Numan said Lewis was "one of the most popular" support acts he had toured with. Numan later published some of his tour diary online. Numan provided narration for Aurelio Voltaire 's 5th short film in his ChimeraScope series, Odokuro in 2011, which won 12 awards and was shown as a selection at numerous film festivals between 2011 and 2013. The studio album Splinter (Songs from a Broken Mind) ,
18995-544: The vocals on "Pray for You", the single from the Plump DJs studio album Eargasm , which reached No. 89 on the UK Top 100 Chart. In 2005, Numan took control of his own business affairs again with the launch of his recording label, Mortal Records. On 13 March 2006, Numan's studio album, Jagged , was released. An album launch gig took place at The Forum , London on 18 March followed by UK, European and US tours in support of
19140-604: Was Dance (1981). The album charted at No. 3 on the UK charts , with an eight-week chart run and produced one hit single (" She's Got Claws "), which reached No. 6. The album featured several distinguished guest players; Mick Karn (bass guitar; saxophone) and Rob Dean (guitar) of Japan , Roger Mason (keyboards) of Models , and Roger Taylor (drums) of Queen . With his former backing band, Chris Payne (keyboards; viola), Russell Bell (guitar), and Ced Sharpley (drums) now reformed as Dramatis , Numan contributed lead vocals to
19285-468: Was brought to the mainstream by Switched-On Bach (1968), a bestselling album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer by Wendy Carlos. Mort Garson used the Moog to soundtrack the televised Apollo 11 moonwalk, associating synthesizers with space in the popular imagination. In the late 1960s, it was adopted by rock and pop acts including the Doors , the Grateful Dead , the Rolling Stones and
19430-434: Was coined to describe groups who were initially considered part of new wave but were more ambitious, serious, challenging, darker, and less pop-oriented. Some of these groups later adopted synthesizers. While punk rock wielded a major influence on the popular music scene in the UK, in the US it remained a fixture of the underground. By the end of 1977, "new wave" had replaced "punk" as the term for new underground music in
19575-510: Was created with a Moog synthesizer, with the producers aiming to create a futuristic mood. Robert Moog was critical, saying the sequenced bassline had a "certain sterility" and that Summer sounded like she was "fighting the sequencer". In later decades, hip hop groups such as the Beastie Boys and rock bands including They Might Be Giants and Wilco "revived an interest in the early Moog synthesizer timbres". The Guardian wrote that
19720-434: Was debate as to the role of the keyboard in synthesizers. Some, such as the composer Vladimir Ussachevsky and Moog's competitor Don Buchla , felt they were restrictive. However, Moog recognized that most customers wanted keyboards and found they made the instrument more approachable. Including keyboards in photographs helped users understand that the synthesizer was for making music. The classical meaning of "to synthesize"
19865-469: Was launched in 1981, heavily promoted new-wave acts, boosting the genre's popularity in the United States. In the UK, new wave faded at the beginning of the 1980s with the emergence of the New Romantic movement. In the US, new wave continued into the mid-1980s but declined with the popularity of the New Romantic, new pop , and new music genres. Since the 1990s, new wave resurged several times with
20010-707: Was not immediately charged. Numan was scheduled to appear at the Cleveland House of Blues that evening but cancelled the show for being "inappropriate" in light of the day's tragedy. His next studio album Intruder was released on 21 May 2021. The title track was released earlier, on 11 January 2021. Numan discussed its genesis with writer Guy Mankowski , who has a chapter on Numan's legacy in his book Albion's Secret History: Snapshots of England's Pop Rebels and Outsiders , as part of an interview series on influential English artists for Zer0 Books . Following his US Intruder tour in late 2021 and early 2022, Numan began
20155-511: Was re-released as a Special Edition under Lewis's solo name in 2018. Numan provided vocals for the song "Long Way Down", composed by Masafumi Takada with lyrics written by Rich Dickerson, for the survival horror video game The Evil Within , which was released on 14 October 2014. Numan performed a sold-out, one-off live show in London in November 2014 at the Hammersmith Apollo supported by Gang of Four . Numan collaborated with
20300-487: Was really an exciting burst there for like a year, year and a half." Starting around 1983, the US music industry preferred the more generic term " new music ", which it used to categorize new movements like new pop and New Romanticism . In 1983, music journalist Parke Puterbaugh wrote that new music "does not so much describe a single style as it draws a line in time, distinguishing what came before from what has come after." Chuck Eddy , who wrote for The Village Voice in
20445-501: Was released on 14 October 2013. It reached the UK Top 20, his first album to do so for 30 years. It was promoted by an extensive US, Canada, UK and Ireland tour which continued in 2014 to include Israel, New Zealand, Australia and Europe. A further US leg took place in late 2014. In June 2014, Numan collaborated with Jayce Lewis on the track "Redesign" which originally featured on the Welshman's Protafield album Nemesis The same album
20590-497: Was replaced in 1981 by a totally different "gangster"-look inspired by a television programme on 1930s eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes . Later in the 1980s, Numan adopted a new visual image for each new album, such as the Mad Max -influenced image for Warriors , the white-skinned, white-clad "Iceman" with blue hair and make-up for the 1984 Berserker album and tour, the white suit and red bow-tie image for The Fury , and
20735-522: Was suspicious of the term "punk", became the first American journal to enthusiastically use the term, at first for British acts and later for acts associated with the CBGB scene. The music's stripped-back style and upbeat tempos, which Stein and others viewed as a much-needed return to the energetic rush of rock and roll and 1960s rock that had dwindled in the 1970s with progressive rock and stadium spectacles, attracted them to new wave. The term "post-punk"
20880-733: Was the first commercial synthesizer and established the analog synthesizer concept. The first Moog synthesizers consisted of separate modules which create and shape sounds, which are connected via patch cords . Modules include voltage-controlled oscillators , amplifiers , filters , envelope generators , noise generators , ring modulators , triggers and mixers. The synthesizer can be played using controllers including keyboards , joysticks, pedals and ribbon controllers , or controlled with sequencers . Its oscillators produce waveforms , which can be modulated and filtered to shape their sounds ( subtractive synthesis ) or used to control other modules ( low-frequency oscillation ). Robert Moog developed
21025-422: Was unconventionally written on a bass guitar. Numan's recognisable vocals have become one of his trademarks, along with his androgynous " android " stage persona. In a 2012 interview, Numan spoke about the music that has had an influence on him over the years. As a teenager he was fan of T.Rex , David Bowie and Queen . His band Tubeway Army started in the punk rock -vein in 1977, but Numan later said that
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