Gary Numan certainly seemed like the future of dance music in early 1980. The stunning synthsizers that totally enveloped me with lyrics that celebrated the insulation of being in your car among so many other people in their cars...everyone is alone but not alone...this song was his perfect pop/dance moment. At the time, disco was already being shunned on radio and "Cars" was ready to jump out of disco's shadow and take you somewhere you had never been before. Following the electric sounds of Kraftwerk and Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", he condensed it into this compact message for the world that trumpeted computer generated sounds a short time before the Human League came onto the scene with their chart topping synthesizer hit "Don't You Want Me". Both songs were considered to be New Wave, a type of rock utilizing the building blocks of disco, but replacing natural sounds with electronically created orchestral productions. Gary joined his first band at the age of 19, but did not stay long enough to create any buzz until he joined The Lasers. Safely ensconced, he renamed the band the Tubeway Army and dubbed himself "Valerium". While recording a few punk rock singles, he began messing around with synthesizers and found a perfect match for his lyrics of desolation, alienation and despair. Bringing this new element to the band resulted in a mass walkout of the members, except Paul Gardiner. Replacing the departed drummer with his uncle, Jess Lidyard, Numan completed the final Tubeway Army LP in 1978. Titled "Replicas", the song "Are Friends Electric" was released as a single and became a major hit in the UK. Gary junked the Tubeway Army name and went solo, putting the finishing touches on his first solo LP, "The Pleasure Principle". The first single issued was "Cars" which went to #1 in the UK and #9 in the US. Never to reach the US charts again, he consoled himself in the UK with 15 he garnered 1979-1985. Taking his retirement in 1981, he got his pilot's license and vowed to circle the world but got arrested in India as a spy. He was released without charges and he continued on. He helped Paul Gardiner to record his first single, "Venus In Furs", but Paul passed away of a drug overdose just prior to its release. He along with Dave Clark Five's Mike Smith wrote the score to the 1990 film "The Unborn". He still records and performs and graciously gives his free time to The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and The Whales Fund. In 1996, a UK company used "Cars" in their ad, and it resulted in a re-release of the seventeen year old song which went to #20 in the UK.

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