Song #19: Gary Numan - "Metal" (1979)
The Pleasure Principle
"Picture this, if I could make the change, I'd love to pull the wires from the wall."
Gary Numan's "Metal" is one of his many songs that concern the frightening disconnect between humans and androids/robots. The song concerns an android, who's longtime desire to become human is only disrupted by the burdening thought that his wish will never be and that his life will be confined to the cold, unfeeling sense of a robot.
Numan conducts "Metal" with the similar techniques he uses to make his other tracks work so well. He makes "Metal" so aesthetically original and different from anything else that we've heard before, utilizing innovative synthesizers and intricate sound mixing in order to make a technically sublime song. Numan also infuses the track with frighteningly potent and contemplative ideas about the capability of our technology and where it may be taking us and what it may be feeling.
The tone of the song, while more alive and optimistic, still manages to communicate darker, bleaker vibes that Numan often conveys, and works to complement Numan's Pleasure Principle album, a piece made up of some of his best work. "Metal" is one of the few songs on the album that includes lyrics by Numan, sung in a typically monotone and droning form. This is a profoundly underrated piece of 1970's/1980's new wave music.
Give "Metal" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpBUmS5em0w
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