Talk:Gary Numan

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Contents

[edit] Lack of success in America

Why is it that he only had 2 hits in the United States but so many in the United Kingdom?

He only had the one hit, Cars. Hence his status as a "one-hit wonder". - Numanoid
He did have one US dance hit. 67.188.172.165 21:37, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Simple Question (lyrics)

My favourite song is "Are friends electric?". I have a question concerning the lyrics:
So now I'm alone
Now I can think for myself
About little deals
And S.U's
And things that I just don't understand
What sort of "SU" is meant? -- Simplicius 10:53, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Not that this is really the appropriate forum for such a discussion but if you check out the "Are 'Friends' Electric?" page, you'll find the answer to your question... Cheers, Ian Rose 11:29, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
Sorry, I did not realize that songs have their own articles.
I found the answer. Thank you very much indeed! -- Simplicius 13:52, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Update the picture?

Would it be plausible to update his picture to better reflect his image today? Numanoid 16:47, 21 October, 2006

[edit] Radio One ban?

I'm not convinced by the line "he was officially banned from the UK's BBC Radio One". I don't think any such list of officially banned artists existed. Is there a citation for this? currybet 11:52, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
You are correct. Radio 1 never actually "bans" anything. Records are just removed from its playlist. Article amended to reflect this. Jezzerk 23:18, 7 November 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Copyvio?

I can't place my finger on it, but the phrasing in the article is very similar to that of a previous biography of Numan: "the tail end of the 1970s"; "the cinematic Down in the Park"; "He wore costumes and make-up and openly proclaimed his influences" and "punky demos" (the last of which I earlier edited out) all sound like they were lifted from somewhere else, possibly a magazine article.

I haven't put a copyvio tago on the article for the reason that I can't find the source from which this seems to have originated. However, the article should probably be drastically rephrased to address this.  ProhibitOnions  (T) 11:00, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

As a long-time Numan aficionado I've read a lot of articles and those phrases (all of which, incidentally, have been in this page for as long as I've been on Wikipedia, i.e. a year) don't leap out as having been directly borrowed, or I would've changed them myself. However I may have simply missed the relevant article...! The page needs more citations anyway, which I was hoping to get round to before EOY so I might modify some of that phrasing at the same time, just in case... Cheers, Ian Rose 13:18, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Race

I updated regarding his part in the UK reality show The Race. I'm from the US, so I unfortunately never got to see the show, and therefore was only able to get little bits and pieces from what information I've conjured up. If anyone wants to clean it up with some extended information, that'd be great. -- Numanoid 05:03 EST, December 2nd, 2006

G'day, mate. While it's worth putting in a bit of info about that, I think there's more detail than fits the siginificance of the event. Also question whether it's approp. under 'Career' or might not be better under 'Personal life'. Granted he was presumably in it because he's a celeb, i.e. because of his career, but he's also a longtime car enthusiast, so it might work better under a 'Cars' subsection in 'Personal life' (there should be a 'Flying' subsection in there as well). I'll get round to this sometime in the next few weeks if no-one else does. Cheers, Ian Rose 00:40, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The plurality of miscarriages

While I haven't edited it, I only recall through interviews that Gary and Gemma only had to deal with one miscarriage, not a "series" of them, or IVF attempts. Is there any way to prove there was ever more than one miscarriage? -- Numanoid 04:23 EST, December 14th, 2006

[edit] Birth date

Hey, the page says Numan is born both 1968 and 1958. Please correct this. I could not find out how to do it myself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.236.244.216 (talk • contribs) 18:36, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah, that was fixed a few days ago... ;-) Cheers, Ian Rose 00:23, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gary's Mod?

Can someone explain why we have the disambig at the top to Garry's Mod, the name of which is nothing like Gary Numan? How would we confuse them? Thanks. 75.68.6.81 15:51, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

If you go to the Garry's Mod page, you will see that the device was designed by "Garry Newman," hence the name Garry's Mod.Nuzz604 06:15, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sampling

I believe I saw an interview in which Numan said he was vehemently opposed to music sampling. Should this be included somehow?

Unless you provide a source for that information, then no. A claim like that would be exceptionally sketchy, considering he openly approved and praised Sugababes' "Freak Like Me", which sampled Are 'Friends' Electric. -- Numanoid 09:23, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Support for Conservative Party

Gary Numan was for a long time vilified in the music press as this article points out. This was mainly because of his vocal support of free-market capitalism and his explicit support for the Conservative Party. He later came to view these opinions and the manner in which he expressed them as naive. I cannot provide citations for these statements but you will find that they are true if you wish to hunt down the documentary produced for British TV early this century. Just thought it would be helpful to pinpoint for your readers the reason for the vigorous criticism leveled at Numan despite his musical accomplishments.

The whole article needs more citations, which I will eventually get round to if no-one else does. I can vouch for your recollection of all of the above and will see if I can find something in writing. Cheers, Ian Rose 01:01, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
If I remember correctly, something along these lines is mentioned in the liner notes of Metal Rhythm (the reissue that is). There's definately some talk of Gary's support of Thatcherism on liner notes of one of his albums. I'll try to check it up when I get home. -- Kjet 10:51, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Numa Records folding & the Ghost album

Just something that occurred to me today... the article right now states that Numa Records folded after the release of of Strange Charm in 1986. If that is the case, which record company originally released the Ghost live album in 1987? If I remember correctly, Numan's deal with IRS was for only three albums (Metal Rhythm, The Skin Mechanic and Outland), so Ghost could not have been a part of that deal (plus Ghost was reissued in 2003 by Eagle Records, whereas the IRS albums have been reissued by EMI). So did Numa actually survive until 1987 (in which case the article should be amended accordingly), or did Gary have some sort of an odd one-album deal for Ghost? -- Kjet 09:02, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Not sure if this helps but Ghost was originally released only as a fan club mail order. It didn't go on general release until the CD version in 92. -- JD554 09:24, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
Got it in one, JD. Electric Pioneer confirms the original fan club release in 1988 and the first release to the public in 1992. The original catalogue number was NUMA1007. However Numa wasn't considered a going concern after Strange Charm in 1986 so I think you can leave the article as is. Reading up on it though, the curious thing is that I could swear I saw Ghost in the shops Down Under around '88, about the same time as Exhibition came out. I remember Ghost well 'cos the cover shot was so lousy I didn't even bother giving it a listen. Still, enough of my mis-spent youth haunting the record stores (if anyone can remember them)... Cheers, Ian Rose 10:07, 26 July 2007 (UTC)
Thnks for the clarifications, guys. Although Ian, you maybe should check up on Ghost being sold in record stores back in the day. Although I guess the probably explanation is that they ordered a few from the fan club and then put them up for sale normally. We've got a local shop (yeah, we've still got them!) that keeps doing the same thing. And yeah, the cover of Ghost is lousy (not quite as bad as Dream Corrosion though). No wonder Eagle decided to re-do the covers for the 2003 reissues. -- Kjet 10:45, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Combined Sections

The Resurrection of Career section was looking a little scattered, so I've combined the section regarding The Race, as well as the information regarding his new album, his side album, and Artificial Perfect in an attempt to clean it up. I feel it fits, anyways, since Jagged sounds like the end to another Numan era, especially with his partnership with Ade Fenton, and wanting to end the religious tirades in his lyrics. Numanoid 02:03, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Genres

I think there are way too many genres listed AND the page is already a few kilobytes too long. (Skinnydrifter 21:42, 12 November 2007 (UTC))

[edit] Siamese Dream connected to Numan?

Hey, I was just reading the article (which by the way is very nice) and I noticed it said that the Smashing Pumpkins' album Siamese Dream was named after some from Numan's I,Assassin album. Personally I have never heard this and figured it came from the lyrics of Geek USA (which is on Siamese Dream) in which it says "in a dream we are connected, Siamese twins..." Could someone cite where the Pumpkins were quoted saying that they named it after one of Numan's works? Thanks in advance, and keep up the good work! Canutethegreat (talk) 00:56, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Discography

Just looking at it and bloody hell! Shouldn't it be split off? It's a complete mess and it's bloody huge! 86.135.80.62 (talk) 13:17, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

On a related note, I think there should be a template for Gary Numan/Tubeway. There is so much connected to them. I have no idea how to create one, but here is a good example: Template:Nine_Inch_Nails. StevePrutz (talk) 06:09, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I have created one at Template:Gary Numan. I'm not an expert in templates, so it might not be perfect. Feel free to use and improve it. -- Kjet (talk · contribs) 08:28, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
Great job on the template! StevePrutz (talk) 00:26, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
Echo that, Kjet. I really did try to find something wrong but looks/works fine - well done! (Plus tks Steve for pointing out that it was long overdue). Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 08:52, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
Thank you, both of you. -- Kjet (talk · contribs) 09:02, 27 March 2008 (UTC)