This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (April 2012) Don't speak German? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the German article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|de|Staub}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

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A dust storm blankets Texas homes, in 1935.

Dust consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil dust lifted by wind (an Aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Dust in homes, offices, and other human environments contains small amounts of plant pollen, human and animal hairs, textile fibers, paper fibers, minerals from outdoor soil, human skin cells, burnt meteorite particles and many other materials which may be found in the local environment.^[1]

Domestic dust and humans[link]

Three years of use without cleaning has caused this laptop heat sink to become clogged with dust, (dirt) rendering the computer unusable due to possibility of overheating.

Dust may worsen hay fever. Circulating outdoor air through a house by keeping doors and windows open, or at least slightly ajar, may reduce the risk of hay fever-causing dust. In colder climates, occupants seal even the smallest air gaps, and eliminate outside fresh air circulating inside the house. So it is essential to manage dust and airflow.

House dust mites are ubiquitous everywhere humans live indoors. Positive tests for dust mite allergies are extremely common among people with asthma. Dust mites are microscopic arachnids whose primary food is dead human skin cells. They do not actually live on people, though. It is probably not possible to entirely eradicate them. They and their feces and other allergens they produce are major constituents of house dust, but because they are so heavy they are not long suspended in the air. They generally are on the floor and other surfaces, until disturbed (by walking, for example). Sources suggest it could take somewhere between 20 minutes and 2 hours for them to settle back down out of the air. Dust mites are a nesting species that prefer a dark, warm and humid climate, and they therefore flourish in mattresses, bedding, upholstered furniture, and carpets. Their feces include enzymes that are released upon contact with a moist surface, as happens when a person breathes it in, and these enzymes actually kill cells within the human body.^[2] Sources suggest that house dust mites did not become a problem until humans began to use textiles, such as western style blankets and clothing.^[3]

Alternatively, the hygiene hypothesis posits that the modern obsession with cleanliness is as much a problem as house dust mites. The hygiene hypothesis argues that our lack of prior pathogenic exposure may in fact encourage the development of ailments including hay fever and asthma.^[4][5]

Atmospheric dust[link]

Large dust storm over Libya.

Dust comes from arid and dry regions where high velocity winds are able to remove mostly silt-sized material, deflating susceptible surfaces. This includes areas where grazing, ploughing, vehicle use and other human activities have further destabilized the land, though not all source areas have been largely affected by anthropogenic impacts.^[6] One-third of the global land area is covered by dust-producing surfaces, made up of hyper-arid regions like the Sahara that covers 0.9 billion hectares, and drylands, which occupy 5.2 billion hectares.^[7]

Dust in the atmosphere is produced by saltation and sandblasting of sand-sized grains, and it is transported through the troposphere. This airborne dust is considered an aerosol and once in the atmosphere, it can produce strong local radiative forcing. Saharan dust in particular can be transported and deposited as far as the Caribbean and Amazonia, and may affect air temperatures, cause ocean cooling, and alter rainfall amounts.^[6]

Coal dust is responsible for the lung disease known as pneumoconiosis, including black lung disease, that occurs among coal miners. The danger of coal dust resulted in environmental legislation regulating work place air quality in some jurisdictions. In addition, if enough coal dust is dispersed within the air in a given area, it can create an explosion hazard under certain circumstances.

Road dust[link]

Dust kicked up by vehicles traveling on roads^[8] may make up 33% of air pollution^[9] Road dust consists of deposition of vehicle exhausts and industrial exhausts, tire and brake wear, dust from paved roads or potholes, and dust from construction sites.^[10] Road dust represents a significant source contributing to the generation and release of particulate matter into the atmosphere.^[11] Control of road dust is a significant challenge in urban areas, and also in other spheres with high levels of vehicular traffic upon unsealed roads such as mines and garbage dumps. Road dust may be suppressed by mechanical methods like sweeping vehicles,^[12] with vegetable oils,^[13] or with water sprayers.

Dust control[link]

Control of atmospheric dust[link]

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates facilities that generate dust minimize or mitigate the production of dust in their operation. The most frequent dust control violations occur at new residential housing developments in urban areas. United States Federal law requires that construction sites obtain permits to conduct earth moving, and include plans to control dust emissions. Control measures include such simple practices as spraying construction and demolition sites with water, and preventing the tracking of dust onto adjacent roads. US federal laws require dust control on sources such as vacant lots, unpaved parking lots, and unpaved roads. Dust in such places may be suppressed by mechanical methods,^{[citation needed]} including paving or laying down gravel, or stabilizing the surface with water, vegetable oils^[13] or other dust suppressants, or by using water misters to suppress dust that is already airborne.^{[citation needed]}

Control of domestic dust[link]

Dust control is the suppression of solid particles with diameters less than 500 micrometers. Dust in the airstream poses a serious health threat to children,^[14] older people, and those with respiratory illnesses. House dust can become airborne easily. Care should be exercised when removing dust to avoid causing the dust to become airborne. Some dust removing devices trap some dust. One way to repel dust is with an electrical charge.^{[citation needed]} Certified HEPA (tested to MIL STD 282) can effectively trap 99.97% of dust at 0.3 micrometres. Not all HEPA (type/media) filters can effectively stop dust, while vacuums with HEPA (type/media) filters, water, or cyclones may filter more effectively than without, they may still exhaust millions of particles per cubic foot of air circulated. Laser Particle Counters are an effective way to measure filter effectiveness, medical grade can test for particles as small as 0.3 micrometres. In order to test for dust in the air, there are several options available. Preweighted filter and matched weight filters made from polyvinyl chloride or mixed cellulose ester are suitable for respirable dust (less than 10 micrometres in diameter).^[15]

Control of dust resistance on surfaces[link]

A dust resistant surface is a state of prevention against dust contamination or damage, by a design or treatment of materials and items in manufacturing or through a repair process. A reduced tacticity of a synthetic layer or covering can protect surfaces and release small molecules that could have remained attached. A panel, container or enclosure with seams may feature types of strengthened rigidity or sealant to vulnerable edges and joins.

Dust in other contexts[link]

Dust in outer space[link]

Cosmic dust is widely present in space, where gas and dust clouds are primary precursors for planetary systems. The zodiacal light, as seen in a dark night sky, is produced by sunlight reflected from particles of dust in orbit around the Sun. The tails of comets are produced by emissions of dust and ionized gas from the body of the comet. Dust also covers solid planetary bodies, and vast dust storms occur on Mars that cover almost the entire planet. Interstellar dust is found between the stars, and high concentrations produce diffuse nebulae and reflection nebulae.

Dust is widely present in the galaxy. Ambient radiation heats dust and re-emits radiation into the microwave band, which may distort the cosmic microwave background power spectrum. Dust in this regime has a complicated emission spectrum, and includes both thermal dust emission and spinning dust emission.^[16]

Dust samples returned from outer space may provide information about conditions in the early solar system. Several spacecraft have sought to gather samples of dust and other materials. Among these craft was Stardust, which flew past Comet Wild 2 in 2004, and returned a capsule of the comet's remains to Earth in January 2006. In 2010 the Japanese Hayabusa spacecraft returned samples of dust from the surface of an asteroid.

Examples of atmospheric dust[link]

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Holmes, Hannah; (2001)The Secret Life of Dust. Wiley. ISBN 0-471-37743-0
• Steedman, Carolyn; (2002) Dust. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-6015-1

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dust

• The Bibliography of Aeolian Research
• The German Asthma & Allergy Federation (DAAB) (German)

DJ Fresh
Background information
Birth name	Daniel Stein
Also known as	DJ Fresh, Fresh, Mosquito, Absolute Zero
Origin	England
Genres	Drum and bass, Dubstep
Occupations	Record producer, DJ, Musician
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Breakbeat Kaos, Data Records, Ram Records, V Records, Valve Recordings
Associated acts	Bad Company UK, Pendulum, Tenor Fly, $pyda, Adam F, Andy C, Deekline & Wizard, Ivory, Soundweapon, Stamina MC, Koko, Ce'Cile, Sigma, DJ Shadow, DJ Hype, Darrison, Mary Byker, Baron, Swift, Valkyrie, Sian Evans, Rita Ora, Dizzee Rascal.
Website	http://www.thedjfresh.com/

DJ Fresh (born as Daniel Stein) is an English Drum & Bass and Dubstep producer and DJ. He was one of the principal members of drum & bass supergroup, Bad Company,^[1] alongside Darren White (dBridge), Jason Maldini, and Michael Wojcicki (Vegas). He also owns and runs the pioneering drum & bass label Breakbeat Kaos with Adam F.

Career[link]

Early success and 'Escape from Planet Monday' (1998 - 2008)[link]

The cover for Escape From Planet Monday

Along with the three other members of Bad Company, Fresh founded the record label BC Recordings, as well as the website Dogs On Acid.^[2] Bad Company are heralded as one of the finest drum & bass acts ever, having produced numerous genre-defining tracks. Undoubtedly their most renowned track is "The Nine", a track released in 1998 when Fresh was just 21 years old. "The Nine" was later voted the greatest drum & bass track of all time by readers of Knowledge Magazine^[3]

Resuming his solo career in 2002, Fresh founded Breakbeat Punk, which merged with Adam F's Kaos Recordings to become Breakbeat Kaos in 2003.^[4] In 2004 Dogs on Acid was given its own imprint.

Fresh has worked with artists ranging from Pet Shop Boys, DJ Shadow, Apollo 440 to Andy C and Grooverider, and has also held a working relationship with the drum and bass trio Pendulum, whom he signed to Breakbeat Kaos in 2005.^[5]

Fresh has had his own tracks included on a number of remix CDs, including the 2006 release Jungle Sound: The Bassline Strikes Back!, Andy C's Nightlife series, DJ Hype's Drum and Bass Warfare, and Goldie's Drum and Bass Classics.

In 2006, Fresh released his first studio album, Escape from Planet Monday, featuring "The Immortal", "X Project", "Nervous" and "All that Jazz" on Breakbeat Kaos.

A 100% Pure Mix of X Project was featured in the video games Wipeout Pulse (2007) and Wipeout HD (2008).

'Kryptonite' and commercial success (2009 - 2011)[link]

The cover for Kryptonite

In 2009 Fresh released a 12" of "Heavyweight" (with Fantasia on the B side) on the Digital Soundboy label. "Heavyweight" had a different style from Fresh's usual output, and gained positive reviews and a general positive response through the underground scene and within various radio stations.^[6] Fresh subsequently released "Hypercaine" (including a remix from Nero) in September 2009,^[7] and made BBC Radio 1's daytime playlist.

On the 1 August 2010, he re-released his song Gold Dust Featuring vocals from Ce'Cile, Where it peaked 24 in the UK and 39 in Ireland, it marked his first Top 40 hit in both countries. On 16 August, he released his second studio album, "Kryptonite" where it peaked 4 on the UK Dance Chart.

He then released his follow-up single, called "Lassitude" with Sigma and Vocals from Koko. It managed to peak 98 on the UK Singles Chart and 11 on the UK Dance Chart.

Third album, tour and continued commercial success (2011)[link]

The first single from his Third Album, "Louder" was released on July 3, 2011. The song was used as part of a Lucozade Lite advertising campaign in the UK and Ireland. The song features vocals from Welsh singer Sian Evans from the band Kosheen, it peaked number 4 on the Irish Singles Chart and was the first ever Dubstep Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart.

On February 12, 2012 the second single "Hot Right Now" featuring British/Albanian singer Rita Ora which became his second number one in the UK, and the first Drum & Bass song to chart at Number 1 in the UK. The third single from the album, "The Power",features Dizzee Rascal is due to be officially released on June 3rd 2012.

His third album is due for release in September 2012.

FRESH/LIVE[link]

The poster for the FRESH/LIVE tour.

In late 2011, DJ Fresh began a new aspect of his career by launching 'FRESH/LIVE'. This live show incorporates a drummer, guitarist, vocalist, an MC and Fresh himself on keys to perform identical renditions of his studio-produced hits in live settings.

Fresh handpicked the musicians that made up the band, calling on people he had encountered at various stages of his career. On the drums was Kodish, a man with over ten years experience as a drummer in the drum & bass scene, having performed with such eminent acts as Moving Fusion, Bad Company, and Pendulum. Guitarist Richard de Rosa founded the Ska/Swing band Scubaroots, with whom he has performed to thousands of people at countless festivals. Seemingly a master of all trades, he also produced the band's album, was nominated for producer of the year at the 2011 South West Music Awards, and had previously performed on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge with Example and Fresh. Vocalist Fleur exploded onto the scene after performing on X Factor to 9 million TV viewers in 2005 and had also previously performed with Fresh on Live Lounge, and with Ms Dynamite on 1Xtra. The MC comes in the form of Drum and Bass' rising star Messy MC, who has previously performed and toured extensively with Pendulum, The EZ Rollers, Nero, Camo and Crooked and the Hospital Records tour nights Hospitality. He also received the Award for Best Newcomer MC in 2010 at the DNBA Awards and was then subsequently nominated in 2011 for Best MC.

The UK-wide tour completely sold out, taking in seven prestigious venues: The Arches in Glasgow, Alexandra Palace in London, The Big Reunion in Skegness, Manchester Club Academy, Waterfront in Norwich, Concorde 2 in Brighton, and the Student Union in Leeds. FRESH/LIVE is set to return in Spring 2012.

Discography[link]

• Escape from Planet Monday (2006)
• Kryptonite (2010)
• Third Studio Album (2012)

See also[link]

• Breakbeat Kaos
• Drum and bass
• Dogs On Acid
• Dubstep
• Jungle
• Pendulum

References[link]

External links[link]

• DJ Fresh on Myspace
• DJ Fresh discography at Discogs
• DJ Fresh at rolldabeats

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2008)

Gary Numan
Gary Numan – Bestival – September 2008
Background information
Birth name	Gary Anthony James Webb
Born	(1958-03-08) 8 March 1958 (age 54) Hammersmith, west London, United Kingdom
Genres	1977–1994: New Wave, synthpop, electronic, experimental rock 1994–present: Industrial rock, gothic rock, Dark Wave
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician, producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, synthesiser, guitar, bass, drums
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Metropolis, Beggars Banquet, Numa, IRS, Eagle, Mortal, Atco
Associated acts	Tubeway Army, Dramatis, Nine Inch Nails, Paul Gardiner, Bill Sharpe, Fear Factory
Website	www.garynuman.co.uk
Notable instruments
Minimoog, Polymoog, ARP Odyssey

Gary Numan (born Gary Anthony James Webb on 8 March 1958) is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" (as Tubeway Army) and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesiser hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.

Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music.^[1][2] His use of themes from science fiction, and his combination of aggressive punk energy with electronics, have been widely imitated.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born in Hammersmith, Gary Anthony James Webb was the son of a British Airways bus driver based at Heathrow Airport. Webb was educated at Town Farm Junior School Stanwell, Ashford County Grammar School, Middlesex, Slough Grammar School^[3] and Brooklands Technical College. He joined the Air Training Corps as a teenager. He then briefly did various jobs including fork lift truck driver, air conditioning ventilator fitter and clerk in an accounts department. A guitar was purchased for him at an early age and he began writing songs when he was about 15 years old. He played in various bands, including Mean Street and The Lasers, before forming Tubeway Army with his uncle, Jess Lidyard, and Paul Gardiner. His initial pseudonym was "Valerian", probably in reference to the hero in French science fiction comic series Valérian and Laureline.^[4] Later he picked the name "Numan" from an advert in the "Yellow Pages" for a plumber "A. Neumann".^[5]

1970s[link]

Tubeway Army[link]

Numan rose to prominence at the end of the 1970s as front man, writer and producer for Tubeway Army. After recording an album's worth of punk-influenced demo tapes (released in 1984 as The Plan), he was signed by Beggars Banquet Records in 1978 and quickly released two singles, "That's Too Bad" and "Bombers", neither of which charted.

A self-titled, New Wave-oriented debut album later that same year sold out its limited run and introduced Numan's fascination with dystopian science fiction and, more importantly, synthesisers. Tubeway Army's third single, the dark-themed and slow-paced "Down in the Park" (1979) also failed to chart but it would prove to be one of Numan's most enduring and oft-covered songs; it was featured with other contemporary hits on the soundtrack for the movie Times Square, and a live version of the song can also be seen in the movie Urgh! A Music War. After exposure in a television advertisement for Lee Cooper jeans with the jingle "Don't be a dummy", Tubeway Army released the single "Are 'Friends' Electric?" in May 1979. The single took seven weeks before it finally reached No. 1 at the end of June; the parent album Replicas simultaneously reached #1.

As Gary Numan[link]

A few months later Numan found success in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with "Cars", which peaked at No. 1 in the UK in 1979 and No. 1 in Canada^[6] and No. 9 in US in 1980. "Cars" and the 1979 album The Pleasure Principle were both released under Numan's own (assumed) name. A sell-out tour ('The Touring Principle') followed; the concert video it spawned is often cited as the first full-length commercial music video release.^[7][8] The Pleasure Principle was a rock album with no guitars; instead, Numan used synthesisers fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve a distorted, phased, metallic tone. The Pleasure Principle remains one of Numan's most highly-regarded efforts to date. A second single from the album "Complex" made it to No. 6 in the UK charts.

Personality and style[link]

While angry like his punk contemporaries, Numan suppressed his anger and "got really hung up with this whole thing of not feeling, being cold about everything, not letting emotions get to you, or presenting a front of not feeling".^[9]

Around this time, Numan also developed his distinctive style. According to Numan, this was an unintentional result of acne; before an appearance on Top of the Pops, he had "spots everywhere, so they slapped about half an inch of white makeup on me before I'd even walked in the door. And my eyes were like pissholes in the snow, so they put black on there. My so-called image fell into place an hour before going on the show".^[9] His "wooden" stage presence was, in his words, a result of extreme self-consciousness and lack of "showmanship".^[9] He also wore costumes and openly proclaimed his influences: David Bowie, Marc Bolan, and contemporary electronic acts such as John Foxx's Ultravox. His persona was aloof, alien, and androgynous; Numan was not seen to be part of the punk or New Romantic movements. During this period, Numan generated an army of fans calling themselves "Numanoids", providing him with a fanbase which maintained their support through the latter half of the 1980s, when his fortunes began to fall precipitously.^[9]

1980s[link]

Numan performing in February 1980.

In 1980 Numan topped the album charts with Telekon, with the concurrent singles "We Are Glass", "I Die: You Die" and "This Wreckage" reaching No. 5, No. 6 and No. 20, respectively. The final studio album of what Numan retrospectively termed the "Machine" section of his career,^[10] Telekon reintroduced guitars to Numan's music and featured a wider range of synthesisers. The same year he embarked on his second major tour ("The Teletour") with an even more elaborate stage show than The Touring Principle the previous year. Although considered a success^{[by whom?]}, Numan claimed the tour actually lost him a great deal of money because of the vast expense in mounting it. He announced his retirement from touring with a series of sell-out concerts at Wembley Arena in April 1981, supported by experimental musician Nash the Slash and Shock, a rock/mime/burlesque troupe whose members included Barbie Wilde, Tik and Tok and Carole Caplin. The decision to retire would be short-lived.

Moving away from the pure electro-pop that he had made his name with, Numan then experimented with jazz, funk and ethereal, rhythmic pop. His first album after his 1981 farewell concerts was the bleak, atmospheric and experimental Dance (1981). The album charted as high as No. 3 on the UK charts, with an eight week chart run and produced one hit single ("She's Got Claws") reaching No. 6. The album featured several distinguished guest players; Mick Karn (bass, saxophone) and Rob Dean (guitar) of Japan, Roger Mason (keyboards) of Models and Roger Taylor (drums) of Queen.

With his former backing band, Chris John Payne (Keyboards, Viola) Russell Bell (Guitar) and Ced Sharpley (Drums) now reformed as Dramatis, Numan contributed vocals to the minor hit "Love Needs No Disguise" from the album For Future Reference. However, Numan's career had begun to experience a gradual decline, and he was eclipsed initially by acts such as Adam Ant, and later by The Human League, Duran Duran, and Depeche Mode. Each album also saw a new "image", none of which captured the public's imagination to nearly the same extent as the lonely android of 1979.^[9]

The more upbeat and danceable I, Assassin (1982) fared less well than Dance. Despite producing one Top 10 and two Top 20 singles, the album peaked at No. 8 with a six week chart run. Numan supported the album with a concert tour in America in late 1982 (where he was living as a tax exile), which were his first series of live shows since his farewell at Wembley.

Warriors (1983) further developed Numan's jazz-influenced style and featured contributions from avant-garde musician Bill Nelson (who fell out with Numan during recording and chose to be uncredited as the album's co-producer) and saxophonist Dick Morrissey (who would play on most of Numan's albums until 1991). The album peaked at No. 12, produced two hit singles including the Top 20 title track and, like I, Assassin, spent six weeks in the charts. Warriors was the last album Numan recorded for Beggars Banquet Records, and was supported by a 40-date UK tour (again with support from robotic mime and music duo Tik and Tok) – Numan's first live tour in the UK since his Wembley appearances in 1981. Numan's look for the album artwork and tour was a Mad Max-influenced black leather costume against a post-apocalyptic backdrop, but this latest image change was scorned by the music press.

Now battling against the increasing public perception that he was a spent force, Numan issued a series of albums and singles on his own record label, Numa. As the decade continued, he experienced a creative malaise, trying to recapture his former chart glory with less distinguished albums, some of which were stylistically derivative of artists like Robert Palmer and Prince.

The first album released on Numa, 1984’s Berserker was also notable for being Numan's first foray into music computers/samplers, in this case the PPG Wave. Berserker moved away from the fluid, fretless sound that characterised Numan's previous three albums, featuring instead harder-edged electric bass and drum sounds. The album was also accompanied by a striking blue-and-white visual image, a tour, a live album/video and produced two hit singles, but it divided critics and fans and commercially was Numan’s least successful release to that date. This year also saw the death of Paul Gardiner, who was Numan's bassist and friend since his Tubeway Army days, from a fatal heroin overdose on 4 February 1984. Numan's song 'A Child With The Ghost' is about Paul Gardiner and also featured on Tik & Tok's album 'Intolerance' (1984).

Numan's next album, The Fury (1985), charted slightly higher than Berserker, produced four hit singles and featured another new image of white suit and red bow tie. To date, The Fury is the last Numan album to crack the British Top 30.

Collaborations with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak helped little, though two singles the duo recorded, "Change Your Mind", did see chart action, reaching No.17 and "No More Lies" reaching No.35 in 1988 in Britain. Numa Records, which had been launched in a flurry of idealistic excitement, folded after the release of Numan's Strange Charm album (1986). In addition to Numa's commercial failure, a lack of radio play (his records were removed from the BBC Radio 1 playlist) and sales drained the fortune (he estimated £4.5 million) Numan had amassed in the late 1970s. Numan signed to IRS Records and his final studio album of the 1980s, the edgy, industrial-funk Metal Rhythm (1988) found favour with fans and scored some positive reviews in the UK music press, but it sold poorly despite two hit singles. Metal Rhythm's sales were arguably confounded by the lack of strong promotion and IRS's inappropriate choices of singles (the record label also changed the album's title to New Anger, changed the album colour shade from black to blue, and remixed several of its tracks for its American release against Numan's wishes). 1989 saw the release of the Sharpe + Numan album Automatic. A more lightweight-pop effort than Numan's solo albums, Automatic fared less well than Metal Rhythm, and has been out of print since its initial release, fetching high prices on auction sites.

1990s[link]

In 1991, Numan ventured into film-scoring by co-composing the music for The Unborn with Michael R. Smith (the score was later released as an instrumental album in 1995, Human). After Outland (1991), another critical and commercial disappointment and his second and last studio album with IRS, Numan reactivated Numa Records, under which he would release his next two albums. However, even Numan considers his 1992 Machine + Soul, a misguided attempt at a purely commercial release recorded solely to pay off debts, a career low point. The album sold only a few thousand copies. By 1994, Numan decided to stop attempting to crack the pop market and concentrate instead on exploring more personal themes, including his vocal atheism. His future wife Gemma encouraged him to strip away the influences of the previous years. Numan re-evaluated his career and went in a harsher, more industrial direction with his songwriting on the album Sacrifice — for the first time he played almost all the instruments himself. The move was critically well-received, as Numan's harder and darker sound emerged just as Numan-influenced bands like Nine Inch Nails were enjoying their first rush of fame. The influence was two-way; Numan claimed that Nine Inch Nails' song "Closer" is his favourite hit single of all time, and influenced his music. Sacrifice was the last album Numan made before shutting down Numa Records permanently. His next two albums, Exile (1997) and Pure (2000), restored his critical reputation. Numan toured the U.S. in support of Exile, his first stateside concerts since the early 1980s.^[9]

2000s[link]

Gary Numan performing in 2007

Numan has become acknowledged and respected by his peers, with such musicians as Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters and Nirvana), Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails), and Marilyn Manson proclaiming his work an influence and recording cover versions of old Numan hits.^[11][12] The band Basement Jaxx had a huge hit in 2002 with "Where's Your Head At?", which relied on a sample of Numan's "M.E." – from The Pleasure Principle – for its hook. Fear Factory produced a cover of "Cars" (featuring a prominent guest appearance by Numan himself) for the digipak version of their album Obsolete. Nine Inch Nails covered the song "Metal" on The Fragile remix album Things Falling Apart as did Afrika Bambaataa (with Numan himself) on the album Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light. "Cars" remains Numan's most enduring song; it was a hit again in 1987 (remixed by Zeus B. Held) and 1996, in the latter case thanks to an appearance in an advert for Carling beer. In 2000 DJ Armand Van Helden sampled the track and mixed it up in his single "Koochy" which conquered the dancefloors. In 2002, UK pop trio Sugababes scored a No. 1 with "Freak Like Me" – a mashup of Adina Howard's "Freak Like Me" and "Are Friends Electric?" by Numan's Tubeway Army.

Other musicians, and at least one comedian, who have sung Numan's praises in recent years include Beck, Grant Nicholas, Tricky, Damon Albarn & Matt Sharp, Jarvis Cocker, Queens of the Stone Age, David Bowie, Noel Fielding and Afrika Bambaataa, who spoke of the influence Numan's music had on the fledgling American DJ scene: "In the late 70s and early 80s Gary had the rhythms that DJs wanted to get hold of and people waited for his records on the dance floor." "^{[cite this quote]} Cars" was featured on the soundtrack for the blockbuster 2002 videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City as part of the New Wave radio station Wave 103, although it did not appear on the soundtrack CD release for the game. "Are Friends Electric" appeared on EA's game Need For Speed: Carbon in 2006.

In 2002, Numan enjoyed chart success once again with the single "Rip", reaching No. 29 in the UK chart and in 2003 with the Gary Numan vs Rico single "Crazier", which reached No. 13 in the UK chart. Rico also worked on the remix album Hybrid which featured reworkings of older songs in a more contemporary industrial style as well as new material. Other artists and producers who contributed on these remixes included Curve, Flood, Andy Gray, Alan Moulder, New Disease and Sulpher. 2003 also saw Numan performing the vocals on a track named "Pray For You" on the Plump DJs album Eargasm, which was well received. In 2004 Numan took control of his own business affairs again, launching the label Mortal Records and releasing a series of live DVDs. In late 2006, Numan announced on his website that recording would begin on his new album in January 2007, with Ade Fenton co-producing. Numan stated "think of Jagged and Pure, but faster, with bigger choruses, more energy, and more aggression"^{[cite this quote]} to describe the album's intended sound. The album, Jagged, was duly released on 13 March 2006. An album launch gig took place at The Forum, London on 18 March followed by UK, European and US tours in support of the release. Numan also launched a Jagged website to showcase the new album, and made plans to have his 1981 farewell concert (previously released as Micromusic on VHS) issued on DVD by November 2006 as well as releasing the DVD version of the Jagged album launch gig. Numan undertook a Telekon 'Classic Album' tour in the UK in December 2006.

On 6 November 2006, Numan took part in the Sky1 reality show The Race. It pitted ten celebrities (five male, five female) against each other in a series of Formula One-style car races. These races were held at Silverstone over the next five days, and varied in racing styles, ultimately culminating in one final Grand Prix race on Sunday, 12 November. Numan did win on the overall leaderboard, though he lost the final race to AC/DC lead singer Brian Johnson.

Numan contributed vocals to four tracks on the April 2007 release of Fenton's debut solo album Artificial Perfect on his new industrial/electronic label Submission, including songs "The Leather Sea", "Slide Away", "Recall" and the first single to be taken from the album, "Healing". The second single to be released in the UK was "The Leather Sea" on 30 July 2007.

Promoting the 2008 Replicas Tour

He sold out a fifteen-date UK tour in Spring 2008 during which he performed his 1979 number one album Replicas in full, and all the Replicas-era music including B-sides.^[13] The highly successful tour also raised Numan's profile in the media again due to the fact that it coincided with his 30th anniversary in the music business. The tour was also notable for the Manchester gig on 8 March 2008 which also happened to fall on his 50th birthday. The band, along with wife Gemma, helped Numan celebrate by bringing a large cake onstage. A recording of the concert was released on DVD under the title "Replicas Live".

In November 2007, Numan confirmed via his website that work on a new album, with the working title of Splinter, would be under way throughout 2008, after finishing an alternate version of Jagged (called Jagged Edge) and the CD of unreleased songs from his previous three albums (confirmed to be titled Dead Son Rising on 1 December 2008 via official mailing list message). He wrote that Splinter was likely to be released in early 2010. Numan has recently completed a four-date run of gigs in Australia and will be touring the UK in the coming months.^{[citation needed]}

In July 2009, Gary Numan appeared as a special guest at the "Wave Goodbye" Nine Inch Nails concert at The O2 arena (London) in London. Before coming on stage, Trent Reznor explained how Numan was "vitally important and a huge inspiration" to him during the past 20 years. Numan then went on to play two songs with Nine Inch Nails; "Cars" and "Metal". Numan appeared once again at the final run of the "Wave Goodbye" shows in Los Angeles, CA. In August 2009 he played at the Hevy Music Festival in Folkestone, UK. On 2 September 2009 at the Hollywood Palladium, Numan joined Reznor on stage to perform "Metal" and "Cars" near the end of the Nine Inch Nails set. He then joined the band onstage a third time at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, CA, this time performing "Metal" and "I Die: You Die" from the album Telekon. He then joined them a fourth time at the Henry Fonda Theater, performing "Down In The Park", "Metal" and "Cars". Mike Garson initially played "Down In The Park (Piano Version)" before they started the song. He then joined them for the final show at the Wiltern Theater.

In a September 2009 interview with The Quietus, Numan says that he and Trent Reznor plan to make music together.^[14]

2010s[link]

He was set to perform a small number of American live dates in April 2010, including a Coachella Festival appearance in California, but had to cancel because air travel in Europe was halted by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. As a result, the tour was not only postponed but expanded, and his Pleasure Principle 30th Anniversary Tour's American and Mexican dates began on 17 October 2010, at Firestone Live in Orlando, Florida.

Gary Numan toured Australia in May 2011 performing his seminal album The Pleasure Principle in its entirety to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary. Joining him on tour was renowned Australian electronic band Severed Heads, coming out of retirement especially for the shows.^[15]

Numan lent his vocals to the track "My Machines" off Battles's 2011 album "Gloss Drop". He has been chosen by Battles to perform at the ATP Nightmare Before Christmas festival that they co-curate in December 2011 in Minehead, England.^[16] Numan's new album Dead Son Rising was released on 16 September 2011 which had a full U.K tour split in two halves, 15–21 September and 7–11 December, Both parts were supported by Welsh soloist Jayce Lewis in an interview during the tour; Gary praised the Welshman to being the best supporting act ever in his 30 years of touring, later documenting the tour in a Tour diary and publicly inviting Jayce to join him for an American tour in 2012.^[17][18][19]

Numan also provided narration for Voltaire's short film Odokuro in 2011.

Personal life[link]

Numan is a positive atheist and has incorporated anti-religious motifs and images in his music.^[20] Numan was an outspoken supporter of the Conservative Party and of Margaret Thatcher after her inauguration as Prime Minister.^[21][22] He later expressed regret for giving his public support, calling it "a noose around my neck".^[22] He has recently said that he considers himself neither left-wing nor right-wing and that he does not support Tony Blair or David Cameron.^[22] He also said, "I'm not socialist, I know that. I don't believe in sharing my money."^[21]

Numan married a member of his fan club, Gemma O'Neill, a native of Sidcup.^[23][24] In 2003, after some pregnancy difficulties, the couple had their first child, Raven. In 2005 they had a second daughter, Persia. In 2007 the couple had their third child, Echo. Numan resides with his family in East Sussex.^[25] He published his autobiography, Praying to the Aliens, in 1997 (updated edition 1998), in collaboration with Steve Malins. (Malins also wrote the liner notes for most of the CD reissues of Numan's albums in the late 1990s, as well as executive producing the Hybrid album in 2003.)

Numan is known for his love of flying, a passion which has featured in some of his music videos ("Warriors", "I Can't Stop"). He has owned several small aircraft. Numan was a member of the Air Training Corps. He is one of a very small handful of flyers with the credentials and qualifications to train aerobatic instructor pilots.^{[citation needed]} He was once forced to emergency-land his light aircraft on the A3051 near Southampton. Numan is referenced several times in the BBC TV series The Mighty Boosh as Vince Noir, one of the main characters, is a huge Gary Numan fan. Examples of this are in the episode "Tundra" where Numan gives Noir a lift to the Antarctic in his personal jet (a black jet with a red trim with "NUMAN" written in white), in the episode "Electro" Numan's influence is clear to see on Noir when he joins electro band "Kraftwork Orange". Along with making several other references to Numan (notably a scene where Noir states he's made some 'tapes' for a journey saying "This is the best of the 60s (holding one tape), this is the best of the 70s (holding another tape) and THIS (picks up a horde of tapes) is Gary Numan!"), Numan guest-starred in "The Power of the Crimp", being locked in a cupboard and is used (unsuccessfully) to cheer Vince up.^{[citation needed]}

At age 15, after a series of outbursts in which Numan would "smash things up, scream and shout, get in people's faces and break stuff", he was prescribed antidepressants and anxiolytics.^[9] Numan's wife, then a nail technician, considered him to have Asperger syndrome. He has never been medically diagnosed.^[26] In a 2001 interview, he said: "Polite conversation has never been one of my strong points. Just recently I actually found out that I'd got a mild form of Asperger's syndrome which basically means I have trouble interacting with people. For years, I couldn't understand why people thought I was arrogant, but now it all makes more sense.".^[27]

Following the harassment of his wife while his family was walking on High Street and the 2011 England Riots Numan filed papers to emigrate to the United States. He plans to live in Santa Monica, California. Numan said "Every village and town in England has a bunch of thugs running around in it. The riots were the nail in the coffin".^[28]

In late August 2011, in the Q&A section of NuWorld, in answer to the question "Is it true you now hate England and want to leave?" he replied, "No, that’s utter rubbish." He explained that he'd "never been abused in my local high street," and has "made no firm decision about leaving the UK" but thugs are helping make such a decision, pointing out that the rioting "makes us look like a country of ignorant savages, beating up people already injured, pretending to help while stealing their things, hitting old men, killing them." He went on to explain that soundtracks may be a logical step, as he gets older and since "in the UK we have no meaningful film industry to speak of," a move to the U.S. might be more reasonable. He concluded by saying his family are highest priority and, "If I see somewhere that seems safer, happier and will give them a better life than the UK, I’ll take them there if I possibly can."

Discography[link]

• Tubeway Army (1978) (with Tubeway Army)
• Replicas (1979) (with Tubeway Army)
• The Pleasure Principle (1979) (Numan's first album under his own name)
• Telekon (1980)
• Dance (1981)
• I, Assassin (1982)
• Warriors (1983)
• Berserker (1984)
• The Fury (1985)
• Strange Charm (1986)
• Metal Rhythm (1988) (New Anger in the United States)
• Automatic (1989) (With Bill Sharpe)
• Outland (1991)
• Machine and Soul (1992)
• Sacrifice (1994) (Dawn in the US)
• Exile (1997)
• Pure (2000)
• Hybrid (2003)
• Jagged (2006)
• Dead Son Rising (2011)

References[link]

• Paul Goodwin (2004). Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide To Gary Numan.
• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gary Numan

• NuWORLD: Official website
• Complete discography, unofficial
• Review: Exposure – NXLive.co.uk
• North American Gary Numan Fan Club, unofficial