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| Point A. |
I had an unbalanced loathing of most things with synthesizers growing up. But I made a quiet exception for this song - almost certainly because I liked it, but felt like I shouldn't. Related, a very young me found Gary Numan fascinating for reasons I had neither the experience nor vocabulary to express.
The Hit
I can think of no better way to start this than with this quote from a solid, very current (2021) interview in SongwriterUniverse.com:
“I did have a piano by then, but it’s difficult if you’re not a good keyboard player, to come up with good synth/bass lines on an upright piano. So I bought a Shergold Modulator bass guitar from the West End in London, and brought it home. I opened up the case, pulled out the guitar, and the first four notes that I played was, “Do-do-do-do,” (he sings the bass hook of “Cars”). And I thought…That sounds pretty good, I’ll keep that. And then I did something else—the next four notes became [the other hook]. It was really simple, like a child’s song. It took me 5 to 10 minutes to get the three parts of the song worked out, and figure out a structure. Then it took me another 20 minutes to do the lyric.”
I love that it was that simple. Moreover, it makes a lot of sense after you read just a little about Numan. That fuzzy, modulated bass/rhythm riff he stumbled on dominates the song in such a way that I can’t imagine anyone associating any other sound with it, but it's that mixed with lose long treble synthesizer bleeds (for they way they, for lack of a better word, descend) that made Numan’s signature sound. At least at his frenzied peak. And frenzied it was…
The Rest of the Story
“You know, his album Replicas never left my turntable in junior high school. There are people still trying to work out what a genius he was.”
- Prince. Wait for it…
Born Gary Anthony James Webb, somewhere in London in 1958, the man who later transformed into Gary Numan grew up (mostly) as an only child (there was the late addition of a cousin) in a stable, supportive family. His parents hardly had money to burn - his father moved luggage for British Airways - but they indulged his interests often enough that he didn’t seem to want for anything. While he gravitated to the same interests most boys do - e.g., Numan told GQ in a 2020 interview that he wanted to be a pilot until he found out that only 1 in 1,000 make the cut - he became obsessed with music at a fairly young age and set his sights on the opportunity-rich career path of paid musician. Possibly related, Webb was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age 14. Never mind. It’s related.
The Hit
I can think of no better way to start this than with this quote from a solid, very current (2021) interview in SongwriterUniverse.com:
“I did have a piano by then, but it’s difficult if you’re not a good keyboard player, to come up with good synth/bass lines on an upright piano. So I bought a Shergold Modulator bass guitar from the West End in London, and brought it home. I opened up the case, pulled out the guitar, and the first four notes that I played was, “Do-do-do-do,” (he sings the bass hook of “Cars”). And I thought…That sounds pretty good, I’ll keep that. And then I did something else—the next four notes became [the other hook]. It was really simple, like a child’s song. It took me 5 to 10 minutes to get the three parts of the song worked out, and figure out a structure. Then it took me another 20 minutes to do the lyric.”
I love that it was that simple. Moreover, it makes a lot of sense after you read just a little about Numan. That fuzzy, modulated bass/rhythm riff he stumbled on dominates the song in such a way that I can’t imagine anyone associating any other sound with it, but it's that mixed with lose long treble synthesizer bleeds (for they way they, for lack of a better word, descend) that made Numan’s signature sound. At least at his frenzied peak. And frenzied it was…
The Rest of the Story
“You know, his album Replicas never left my turntable in junior high school. There are people still trying to work out what a genius he was.”
- Prince. Wait for it…
Born Gary Anthony James Webb, somewhere in London in 1958, the man who later transformed into Gary Numan grew up (mostly) as an only child (there was the late addition of a cousin) in a stable, supportive family. His parents hardly had money to burn - his father moved luggage for British Airways - but they indulged his interests often enough that he didn’t seem to want for anything. While he gravitated to the same interests most boys do - e.g., Numan told GQ in a 2020 interview that he wanted to be a pilot until he found out that only 1 in 1,000 make the cut - he became obsessed with music at a fairly young age and set his sights on the opportunity-rich career path of paid musician. Possibly related, Webb was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age 14. Never mind. It’s related.
