Gary Numan--Cult Hero or Crap?

when in the right mood, I really enjoy Pure.
I have a 2cd live set from that era, Scarred.
because they released a LOT of live albums, and they were selling them off at Fopp for £3 each, and I just picked one randomly.

So many great tunes, and I ask: what was his presence -- college radio and otherwise -- in America 1979-1981?

Can only speak for commercial radio, it was just "Cars" over here, and it was inescapable in early 1980.

can I just say what a fucking phenomenal tune "Complex" is

still yet to find anything that makes me feel like that song does

"Muzig vor gameleons... muzig vor gameleons..."

Despite attempts to change his signature sound with fretless bass and terrible sax playing and whatever, his stuff is so samey - I mean I like it, but listening to a whole batch of it you very quickly notice its limitations. Of course, the music's all written around his extremely limited vocal range, which doesn't help.

limitations are good

LOL @ his US chart record, "Cars" got to #9 and "I Die: You Die" climbed all the way to #102. I didn't even know there was a #102.

haha yeah wait how low does that chart go

"debuting at #572, it's..."

I Die: You Die is better than Cars

And it goes to 200, no?

Excuse me, "I Die: Yo Die". His singles are great.

those limitations have defined his career from the start, someone (maybe on here?) mentioned that The Pleasure Principle was like 10 different takes on the same tune and that's really stuck with me, actually makes me like the album more

I was really into Pure (his 2000 album) for a while until I realized that he was doing the same trick on nearly every track, you could drop in any chorus on any tune at it would still work

his latest two do seem to mix it up a bit more for what that's worth