Happy birthday to Gary Numan who is 52 today. His Tubway Army records scared the crap out of me when I got them in 6th grade. I started out with the 7" picture disc of "We Are So Fragile" b/w "Are Friends Electric". The pictures on the disc were of a very alien looking Numan on one side and a close-up of his eyeball with a horizontal line for a pupil on the other. Totally freaked me out. I miss being freaked out by music and bands. In hindsight I really understand the draw of kids to bands like Kiss and Gwar and hardcore and speed metal bands and people like GG Allen... where there is a sense of danger (even if it was just a sense)... That was a rush much like that of riding a rollercoaster... not positive you were going to make it back. But now I know too much. Luckily, artists like Gary Numan brought the goods in addition to acting and looking weird. All three Tubeway Army records (including The Plan which was made up of the guitar based demos Numan used to get signed to Beggars Banquet) remains some of my most favorite records to this day and I do not recall ever not loving them.
INTERESTING FACTS: Gary Numan had a mild form of Asperger's Syndrome that went undiagnosed until he was in his forties. His uncle played drums on the Tubeway Army recordings. Numan married a member of his own fan club.
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