Song is about robot prostitutes and yes at 45 years old it was way ahead of it's time. 😂 Good reaction video thanks for checking out this criminally underrated artist who is still going strong 👍😁🤓
BTW... the song is about a robot prostitute and the single made it to #1 in England because the powers that be didn't know that that was what he was talking about so it didn't get banned.
Quite by accident, the man born Gary Webb discovered a Mini-Moog synthesizer in the studio where he was recording his first album. It led to a quiet revolution. This was a No.1 hit in the UK (he followed it up a few months later). Bad decisions cast him into oblivion as the decade progressed, but he's now acknowledged as a pop pioneer.
Was it “bad decisions”,or the fact the music press set out to destroy a young man (with high functioning autism), trying to come to terms with fame and all that entails?
@@thelwulfeoforlic6482 I remember it well, he was like from hero to zero about 1982. So unfair as he was so much better than most of the competition but somehow he got picked on.
The man is a legend. Saw him live a few nights ago. The tour is celebrating the 45th anniversary of the release of his first two albums and just about every song from them gets an airing. They still sound ahead of their time even 45 years on.
I was 7 when this came out. It's the first music i ever HEARD. It felt like it reached inside me and forced me to become aware. Not hyperbole, honest! Not the lyrics, but the chords, the energy and the power. Still makes my hair stand on end 45yrs later.
One of the most extraordinary and under-rated songs ever written. It sounded like nothing that preceded it, and does not get the full credit for the later electronic music it inspired. Numan was so in tune with the instrument he used (Minimoog/Polymoog) and created atmospheric alien soundscapes that were incredibly original sounding without over-using the synthesizer as many of the more enthusiastic electronic music pioneers had done ... e.g. big filter sweeps "because we can". Numan on this song uses the Moogs to fill the speakers with the warmth of mass strings, though the main preset used is the Vox Humana setting on the Polymoog, chorused and run through a guitar flanger. With this wall of sound in place, he still fielded standard pop instruments in front of it: bass, drums and guitar. And then there is the beautiful but simple lead melody behind each sung line, with that extraordinary "wrong note" in the second note of the two-note sequence at the end of each line, which Numan has cheerfully admitted was meant to be a 4th but was incorrectly input on the sequencer as a flattened 5th ... and it sounded so good he left it in after that. Sometimes genius needs a little luck too.
Yes! The flattened fifth absolutely made this. A perfect mistake. Similar to the bass drum fill on Blue Monday which was meant to be velocity programmed echoes but ended up defining the record. Numan's use of synth textures is just divine, filling in without grabbing attention, just creating loads of atmos. I also think the drummer is first rate and that makes all the difference to a band.
This is actually a song by Tubeway Army, of which Gary Numan was a member. I have a 12" inch single (Vinyl record) that has an extended version of Cars by Gary Numan and the B-side is Are Friends Electric by Tubeway Army.
This song was wrote in 1979 and classic Gary Numan it is set in the future where humans interact with Androids, in this case synthetic prostitutes. The line "mine broke down so there's no one to love " how far are we away from that now lol? Brilliant vision .
It just seems so amazing - and somehow really nice - to watch these bright young Americans "reacting to" (enjoying?) songs that defined my British childhood 400 years ago! (It feels like it's been that long some days when the old bones are creaking a little bit when it's time to get up ;)
PS: You should check out the Sugarbabes cover of this from the early 2000s. I thought it was total sacrilege when I first heard it. But then I found out that the big man (Gary Numan) loved it, so, like the dozy fan I am, I gave it the good old second chance. It's actually pretty cool. ruclips.net/video/dSAGsiVSoeE/видео.html&ab_channel=SugababesVEVO
Yes, I could not agree more. I saw a reaction video where this young man had never heard Bohemian Rhapsody. I just could not believe someone had not heard this song. His reaction was priceless and goes to show this song like so many others are timeless.
The reason "Friends" is in quote marks in the title is because "Friends" is the word Numan used for robots in a few of his songs. This will matter especially when you get around to Down in the Park.
This band was a huge influence on other bands, notably, nine inch nails as well as others. Its very "white" and synth heavy but at the time (late 70s early 80s), it was super original
This song is actually the result of Gary being unable to complete two different songs, so he "glued them together" into a single song. It also, in his words, includes a "bum note" on the keyboards somewhere :) Many are recommending the song "Cars" and you should react to it. But know this: he's STILL writing and performing, and I urge you to also react to his latest single "Saints And Liars" There's also a live version (that I posted) of this song being performed with the Skaparis Orchestra - you might enjoy that.
Don't do cars! That's all anyone ever doest of him and so I thank you for doing this track. Numan is the most underrated and influential artist of the last 50years. You need to deep dive into his work I'd say try metal and M.E. For starters! 😊
It's my understanding that this is two songs put together, the lines that are sung were one song and the spoken parts were another. A most excellent (newer) version of this song can be found here under the title 'Gary Numan 'Are Friends Electric?' AllSaints Basement Sessions'. Thanks for the video.
Yes indeed, Jarvis has a gift for interpretation. Sit tight Jarvis! There's another flaming track from this album coming to your way soon! As usual, fantastic program and a penetrating analysis!
Sorry but that's wrong. Yes Cedric Sharpely played all the live versions of A.F.E after the album was released BUT it was Gary's Uncle Jess Lidyard who played the drums on the album.
Gary Numan is a legend..Check out M.E by Gary Numan or Films..Also Music for chameleons…The man is the King of Synth mate,end of… Great reaction video and all the best from the U.K🇬🇧🇺🇸👍
This song is actually about sex robots in a futuristic world. He has an interview on YT explaining if he told top of the pops at the time he said "they would never had them on the show to perform "Are friends electric"
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
RIP bassist Chris Cross 3/25/2024. He'd also played for Ultravox and Visage.
wow. didn't know that. Solid bass man.
Bassist for Numan (1978-81) was Paul Gardiner who died 1984,.
@@cp426 Chris was also known to play for Gary but when it wasn't mentioned.
45 years ago and still giving me goosebumps.
🎹🖤🎹🖤🎹
Oh yeah! :)
I’m going to see him live in two weeks! I’m so excited!
enjoy!
Song is about robot prostitutes and yes at 45 years old it was way ahead of it's time. 😂 Good reaction video thanks for checking out this criminally underrated artist who is still going strong 👍😁🤓
His biggest hit Cars is one of the most iconic and defining songs of the 80s
Pity it was released in the 70’s
@@thelwulfeoforlic6482the 80's started in 1978...
Crazy thing is that’s it’s probably one of his least creative songs IMO. Wish the rest of his music got more recognition
He's much more than Cars
I was obsessed by Gary Numan/Tubeway Army when this came out - I was 8 !
I was a numanoid at nine & was obsessed too. Still love his music today. 🤩
7!.. same effect brother! And with this as the bar he's kept it up. Genius 🤷🏼♂️
For about four albums at that time Numan was my go to music. A true outsider. He's certainly not everybody's "cup of tea"... Thanks for the reaction.
BTW... the song is about a robot prostitute and the single made it to #1 in England because the powers that be didn't know that that was what he was talking about so it didn't get banned.
Quite by accident, the man born Gary Webb discovered a Mini-Moog synthesizer in the studio where he was recording his first album. It led to a quiet revolution. This was a No.1 hit in the UK (he followed it up a few months later). Bad decisions cast him into oblivion as the decade progressed, but he's now acknowledged as a pop pioneer.
Was it “bad decisions”,or the fact the music press set out to destroy a young man (with high functioning autism), trying to come to terms with fame and all that entails?
@@thelwulfeoforlic6482 I remember it well, he was like from hero to zero about 1982. So unfair as he was so much better than most of the competition but somehow he got picked on.
The man is a legend. Saw him live a few nights ago. The tour is celebrating the 45th anniversary of the release of his first two albums and just about every song from them gets an airing. They still sound ahead of their time even 45 years on.
I was 7 when this came out. It's the first music i ever HEARD. It felt like it reached inside me and forced me to become aware. Not hyperbole, honest! Not the lyrics, but the chords, the energy and the power. Still makes my hair stand on end 45yrs later.
I remember seeing & hearing this for the first time, it was totally different from anything I'd heard before. Superb!
One of the most extraordinary and under-rated songs ever written. It sounded like nothing that preceded it, and does not get the full credit for the later electronic music it inspired. Numan was so in tune with the instrument he used (Minimoog/Polymoog) and created atmospheric alien soundscapes that were incredibly original sounding without over-using the synthesizer as many of the more enthusiastic electronic music pioneers had done ... e.g. big filter sweeps "because we can". Numan on this song uses the Moogs to fill the speakers with the warmth of mass strings, though the main preset used is the Vox Humana setting on the Polymoog, chorused and run through a guitar flanger. With this wall of sound in place, he still fielded standard pop instruments in front of it: bass, drums and guitar. And then there is the beautiful but simple lead melody behind each sung line, with that extraordinary "wrong note" in the second note of the two-note sequence at the end of each line, which Numan has cheerfully admitted was meant to be a 4th but was incorrectly input on the sequencer as a flattened 5th ... and it sounded so good he left it in after that. Sometimes genius needs a little luck too.
Yes! The flattened fifth absolutely made this. A perfect mistake. Similar to the bass drum fill on Blue Monday which was meant to be velocity programmed echoes but ended up defining the record. Numan's use of synth textures is just divine, filling in without grabbing attention, just creating loads of atmos. I also think the drummer is first rate and that makes all the difference to a band.
Gives me chills every time I hear this song ... takes me back to my school days....absolutely love it
Love the lyrics, love the style of singing, love the bass and synth. A song choc full of drama. Amazing.
This song was way ahead of it's time. This song gets in my soul.
This one and Down in the Park, are must listens.
As a Numanoid he is one of the fathers of electronic music since the late 70s and still going strong
Thanks!
Officially this song is credited as Tubeway Army not Gary Numan, though it is obviously him
Tr UCK are tracker.Turn the regular round, go back and talk to Tati bar TAD.D.Y bears of red Sovan RAD, Sovan So V.R m a classic
This is actually a song by Tubeway Army, of which Gary Numan was a member. I have a 12" inch single (Vinyl record) that has an extended version of Cars by Gary Numan and the B-side is Are Friends Electric by Tubeway Army.
Tubeway army were his backing band numan wrote and sang everything as welyas played many of the synths etc so really tubeway army are Gary Numan 👽
The Telekon album is an absolute masterpiece.
This song was wrote in 1979 and classic Gary Numan it is set in the future where humans interact with Androids, in this case synthetic prostitutes. The line "mine broke down so there's no one to love " how far are we away from that now lol? Brilliant vision .
Great review. The live version from his recent tour is even more incredible.
It just seems so amazing - and somehow really nice - to watch these bright young Americans "reacting to" (enjoying?) songs that defined my British childhood 400 years ago! (It feels like it's been that long some days when the old bones are creaking a little bit when it's time to get up ;)
PS: You should check out the Sugarbabes cover of this from the early 2000s. I thought it was total sacrilege when I first heard it. But then I found out that the big man (Gary Numan) loved it, so, like the dozy fan I am, I gave it the good old second chance. It's actually pretty cool.
ruclips.net/video/dSAGsiVSoeE/видео.html&ab_channel=SugababesVEVO
Yes, I could not agree more. I saw a reaction video where this young man had never heard Bohemian Rhapsody. I just could not believe someone had not heard this song. His reaction was priceless and goes to show this song like so many others are timeless.
The reason "Friends" is in quote marks in the title is because "Friends" is the word Numan used for robots in a few of his songs. This will matter especially when you get around to Down in the Park.
45 years old & still ahead of its time today
Only you could break down this song so perfectly. Impressive. Gotta say, you're better than me, J! 💯
This band was a huge influence on other bands, notably, nine inch nails as well as others. Its very "white" and synth heavy but at the time (late 70s early 80s), it was super original
This song is actually the result of Gary being unable to complete two different songs, so he "glued them together" into a single song. It also, in his words, includes a "bum note" on the keyboards somewhere :)
Many are recommending the song "Cars" and you should react to it. But know this: he's STILL writing and performing, and I urge you to also react to his latest single "Saints And Liars"
There's also a live version (that I posted) of this song being performed with the Skaparis Orchestra - you might enjoy that.
Don't do cars! That's all anyone ever doest of him and so I thank you for doing this track. Numan is the most underrated and influential artist of the last 50years. You need to deep dive into his work I'd say try metal and M.E. For starters! 😊
It's my understanding that this is two songs put together, the lines that are sung were one song and the spoken parts were another. A most excellent (newer) version of this song can be found here under the title 'Gary Numan 'Are Friends Electric?' AllSaints Basement Sessions'. Thanks for the video.
Yes indeed, Jarvis has a gift for interpretation. Sit tight Jarvis! There's another flaming track from this album coming to your way soon! As usual, fantastic program and a penetrating analysis!
You must watch the live version it is amazing. Love the 80’s ❤
❤
Gotta do “Cars” by him,it’s a dance classic,or it was back then.
Cars is gay. Aircrash bureau is 10 times better
Damn you pick good ones
I remember being hooked on this song when playing NFS Carbon
Acoustic drum kit being played by Cedric Sharlpey 🤘
Jess Lidyard was the drummer on this album.
Sorry but that's wrong. Yes Cedric Sharpely played all the live versions of A.F.E after the album was released BUT it was Gary's Uncle Jess Lidyard who played the drums on the album.
@@jean-francoismercier8096 Cool, I thought he played on the recordings, interesting to know! 👍
@@j.dmetalhead7517 Cool, I thought he played on the recordings, interesting to know! 👍
check out his newer stuff.
I suggest you get a patent on that smile man.
Gary Numan is a legend..Check out M.E by Gary Numan or Films..Also Music for chameleons…The man is the King of Synth mate,end of…
Great reaction video and all the best from the U.K🇬🇧🇺🇸👍
Timeless classic.
Check out newer Gary, such as My name is ruin, his newer work is even better than his older classic works!
Do aircrash bureau
The only song I recall from him is Cars.❤
That's your loss! 😊😊😊
Oh, you have a wonderful journey of discovery ahead of you.
Originally comprised of two unfinished songs but man it is still so good .... Even after 45 years .... Brilliant.😊😊
❤❤❤❤❤❤
It's better than Cars.
Best song ever
This song is actually about sex robots in a futuristic world. He has an interview on YT explaining if he told top of the pops at the time he said "they would never had them on the show to perform "Are friends electric"
Manchester UK tickets