Gary Numan

With one hand on a Minimoog, and the other in a William S. Burroughs novel, Gary Numan became one of the most influential artists in synth pop. His signature sound is a wall of perfectly oscillating analog synthesizers running through simple melodies and generating tremendous alien drones. Accompanying these electric textures is his disaffected, plaintive voice. His lyrics create a world of technological and sexual alienation, drawing tensions between past and future, self and other. His songs are like the tears of a clown, fronting pop exuberance and melodies while cold, melancholic words and harmonies lay gloomily in the back.