Check out the Top of the Pops playlist here ➤ bit.ly/2F8np11 Top Of The Pops - 80s Performances ➤ bit.ly/2GouWZR Top Of The Pops - 90s Performances ➤ bit.ly/3lHFtPB
yep the audience at that time were still listening to funky disco around that time punk rock and new wave were slowly gaining traction along with something on Television called 'MTV' network.
Back in 79 I thought I was staring at the New David Bowie. So futuristic and visionary. The guy just held your gaze in silence. Turned out not to be the new Bowie, but has place as an innovator. Great music and love hearing it to this day
A strong contender for the most groundbreaking single of all time. I remember hearing this for the first time as a 14 year old when it was released and it just blew me away. Listening to it today as as someone who is almost 60 years old, it still sends chills down my spine. An incredible song.
Was 13 in Dublin when I saw this. I thought it was Dave Vanian and the Damned, about to belt out;” just for you . . Here’s a love song” ehh no. A neuro diverse musical genius, beautiful music, great story telling lyrics, and a sinister terrifying vision. Just brilliant. He’s still brilliant, pure, slave, my last day, all genius tracks from the contemporary phase. A national treasure.
Considering our relationship today with smartphones, Numans lyrics are strangely prophetic. "Mines broken down, now I've no one to love." Genius then, genius now.
Gary was a good 30 years ahead of his time!!!! As were Kraftwork.....lucky enough to remember hearing this back in the day when it was first released.....will always stand the test of time...2021 now, this will still sound futuristic in 2051.....😎👌...LEGEND!!!
I was a hoser from Scarborough born in 59 totally into Prog and Tangerine Dream. I heard the Tubeway Army album broadcast in its entirety on CFNY late on a Monday night smoking hash in the back of a van in the parking lot of North York Arena after a hockey practice. I remember thinking , what is this ? this is good I am liking this. Months later I walked into a house party Are Friends Electric just blaring everyone dancing. No exaggeration it changed my life.
This song has been criminally overlooked in the United States. Gary Numan had a U.S. hit that same year with Cars, but he was unfairly seen as a one-hit wonder. It's our loss, really.
To be honest, it doesn't matter if it was overlooked in the USA. In 1979 nothing like that could be successful there, and it doesn't matter! The song was number 1 for 4 weeks in the UK.
I'm so busy trying to break this wall Hear my words 'cause emotion now is leaving You see I'm really not a human at all And I don't think I want to stay
I've done this thing where I'll discover a killer song on the radio, look it up on YT and I'm reading ten year old comments saying, "When I was 8 this was my jam!"
I remember watching it live on TOTP all those years ago it was No.1 in the charts and everyone was talking about it but we barely had VCR's back then couldn't imagine that all these years later could just watch it whenever we liked, we'd have never believed it.
The black racing style suit with the belts he wore, coupled with the serious facial appearance are reminiscent of Oswald Mosley leading the British Union of Fascists in the 1930's..a very powerful look
He kept his private plane near to us at a small airfield , my mum worked there in catering, met him several times a real nice down to earth person, got his autograph and a picture with him , looked just like he had walked of the set of top of the pops
No certainly, that music was being created in THAT TIME, not in another. Gary had some very marked influences that were before him and also, if he were ahead of his time people would have ignored this song, but... it was number one for four weeks... Gary Numan was a pioneer, but not ahead, nothing So it can be advanced, that music belongs to that era, not another.
Totally agree👍 This song & the British sci-fi TV series Doctor Who theme music are so futuristic even though they were released in 60s & 70s Gary Numan & the composer of Doctor Who theme music are so talented
May 24th 1979. And everything changed. Fifteen years old, watching TOTP. I was completely mesmorised by Tubeway Armys performance of "Are Friends Electric?" I'd never seen or heard anything like it before. I bet that I didn't blink once 🖤
Yup. People who weren't there will never appreciate how utterly revolutionary this was. It changed my world, and yours, and countless other people's. It was like the future became real all in one song.
I was totally hooked from this performance and up to the present day. Just saw Gary on tour two days ago. I was 11 in 1979 and never did I imagine that I'd still be able to see him in concert all these years later. Legend.
Woaaaaaah. I'm 14 again. I bought this and then rushed out to buy Replicas and played it non-stop much to the annoyance of my parents. My mate was into them too and forged a career writing electronic music tracks for computer games everywhere while I festered in the NW of England :-( Anyway, my Journey with Gary continued with The Pleasure Principle, Telekon and it went on from there. Still love the sound today. Thanks Arkive.
Me too, it gave me goosebumps and I was entranced. Eventually... I saved up enough for 'Replicas' and 'The Pleasure Principle'... I was a poor teenager.
It blew people away. I remember it like it was yesterday. This song, and the Replicas album, turned the music world on its head overnight. 79-81 were magical times for music.
@@tombenz7533 Yes, I have both in my record collection. The original Human League were fantastic. Tubeway Army, with Replicas and Are 'Friends' Electric? Just took the look and sound to a different level, though.
I was 8 years old in this year and this track was so fresh and way ahead of anything of its time...Still a massive icon and promoting his three proud daughters careers good on him.... A true classic he probably doesnt think about nowadays...
It's cold outside And the paint's peeling off of my walls There's a man outside In a long coat, grey hat, smoking a cigarette Now the light fades out And I wonder what I'm doing in a room like this There's a knock on the door And just for a second I thought I remembered you So now I'm alone Now I can think for myself About little deals and S.U's And things that I just don't understand Like a white lie that night Or a sly touch at times I don't think it meant anything to you So I open the door It's the 'friend' that I'd left in the hallway 'Please sit down' A candlelit shadow on a wall near the bed You know I hate to ask But are 'friends' electric? Only mine's broke down And now I've no-one to love So I found out your reason for the phone calls and smiles And it hurts and I'm lonely And I should never have tried And I missed you tonight So it's time to leave You see it meant everything to me
Looks like Billy Currie on the synth - another great from this era; Gary was very complimentary about Ultravox! - he was the one that took the 70s electro influences and made it popular, opening doors for so many bands to follow. Never tire of hearing this and it still sounds like the future.
James Freud from the Australian band The Models and Gary were good friends ,still are . Anyway, James said Gary was living out back of his uncles ,or parents , house in a caravan and had a synthesizer that he was using to create unique new music with , which led to what we are listening too still today . Gary is one of the humblest people, I saw him in an interview recently and thought that very much .He's a normal ,everyday guy with a wife and family .
The only musicians on this song to appear here are Paul Gardiner and Gary Numan. Jess Lidyard played the drums on the record. The others here are, I think, Cedric Sharpley, Billy Currie, Russell Bell and Chris Payne.
Epic song, well deserving of it's four-week stint at no. 1 in the UK charts, in the summer of 1979. One of the sounds of the 70s, electronic music at it's best.
This track is still fresh and relevant today. I downloaded his album Savage about a year ago and it’s never been off my playlist. The guy is still brilliant
Love Gary numan and tubeway army he was absolutely amazing and loved his songs and music that was the beginning of synthesised music I've been to see them in Birmingham back in the day enjoyed every minute of it with friends xxxx 🎹🎤🎶🥁🎸🎵❤️❤️
Interesting watching that again in such clarity. Currently reading Gary's new autobiography and he talks about how much input the BBC allowed him to have in terms of the lighting and presentation. The shadowy uplighting is really clear here. Yet at the same time I wonder how many people noticed that on a 1979 TV set?
@@kc5402 Don't get me wrong, I do have that perspective already being in my fifties. But the TV I watched this on back in the day is just no match for what I can view this on now. That's really my point.
1981 was something special for me .. my father gave me a treat to see A famous pilot at Heathrow and remember this song I was around 14 yrs old .. this song flying up in Charts at that time which will live With me for rest my life
When I first listened to this song while playing NFS carbon on my PS2 back in 2012, I immediately fell in love with this song for its futuristic music❤
Which northern town did you live in and when? I was at school in Leeds from 1974 to 1982 and studied at Newcastle University from 1982 to 1985 - both great northern towns. This superb music takes me right back there like a time machine.
I can remember the excitement of this top of the pops - I remember reading in the tv listings in the daily paper that Tubeway Army were one of the bands on the show. I’d heard the song on Kid Jensens afternoon radio one show and was intrigued! However this just blew me away. I was 13 and everything changed after this.
Remember the first time I saw this I was mesmerised. It was different. It struck a cord with everyone, no wonder it went to number one, followed by the hit Cars. He was on his way to a never before first 3 singles at number one but the 3rd single was beyond me as a choice and totally different, it was from the pleasure principle album called Complex, a different song and sound from the first 2 singles that made number one. There had been Kratftwerk the original synth pioneers and John Foxx of Ultravox but Numan revolutionised music and TOTP with his first two hits.
Billy Currie from (Foxx's old band) Ultravox Is at the back next to Ced Sharpley the drummer in this video . Between the Foxx and Ure era he was a gun for hire and Gary snapped him up.
I can still remember watching the performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test of this track, it was one of those unforgettable moments you get listening to music. Brilliant track.
I was in high school when this song first came out. I remember thinking back then how their sound and look was something that dropped in from the future! Now watching this in 2020 and thinking maybe I was right. LOL
Yes I felt the same. I was transfixed by this! I can even remember watching this performance on tv when I was 13, it sounded and looked like nothing before. I bought the picture disc that week in my local record shop (the last one they had!) and bought the Replicas LP soon after. I remember just staring at the Replicas cover for ages. It’s amazing what effect music can have on you as a teenager. I’m 56 now and still listen to this period of his music. I still prefer it to his new stuff!
When I was five years old this song came out and I was in st Josephs hospital in Roswell I didn't know about the song then back in the seventies well done to the runway army and the singing and Gary new man Richard McGeechan 😊
Sometimes, Elements come together......like an organic feeling Bassline and an atmospheric overdrive, with a voice that cuts through--yet joins it All together. It is how Classics come about....and are truly unique to their own Time & Space..
Saw him just the other day June 2022 in concert (Razzmatazz, Barcelona,Spain). We had a great time. Gary is certainly in amazing shape seeing his wirlwindy performance!
I was only five years old when this song was out with Gary Newman in the mid seventies and my brother was only four years old really nice to hear that Richard McGeechan ❤
I remember seeing this when Tubeway Army first appeared on TOTP. It was quite unlike anything else at the time, bearing in mind that the pop charts then were more or less split between Punk and Disco acts - yeah, a highly unlikely combination of styles but so it was back in the late 70's. I was quite obsessed with Numan for a while and I remember well the follow up singles 'Cars', 'We Are Glass' and 'This Wreckage' - by that time credited to Gary Numan as a solo artist. Like most music though, eighteen months further on and I'd worn a bit thin of Numan's material but those earlier records are still just as great to hear today as they were back then.
Sometimes someone comes along who is so far ahead that people just don’t know what to make of it. Gary is such an artist. The press and “traditional” musicians just didn’t get it. He changed the musical landscape and ushered in the 80’s. Genius.
Check out the Top of the Pops playlist here ➤ bit.ly/2F8np11
Top Of The Pops - 80s Performances ➤ bit.ly/2GouWZR
Top Of The Pops - 90s Performances ➤ bit.ly/3lHFtPB
Thanks for yet another fantastic video, keep up the great work ❤❤
Following
Sounds like a Long Vosges to Andromeda
I've been a fan since 1979!!!!!
Me too.❤❤❤❤
Me too 😂 luckily I was 17 back then, absolutely perfect,the music I mean, not me!
I was 12 when I heard "Me I disconnect" on a rock radio station in 1979.
Ich auch 🤫
Those people in the audience stare at him in amazement. Really was ahead of his time.
Him and joy division
@@terracestevenkennedy9198 oh yes... My beloved Joy Division 👍
Music so good no one can move
yep the audience at that time were still listening to funky disco around that time punk rock and new wave were slowly gaining traction along with something on Television called 'MTV' network.
Back in 79 I thought I was staring at the New David Bowie. So futuristic and visionary. The guy just held your gaze in silence. Turned out not to be the new Bowie, but has place as an innovator. Great music and love hearing it to this day
One of the greatest songs ever still love it 42 years on.
Love his music ,he's brilliant
79’ I was 13, yeh I’d go back , we ran like wild Indians back then. I bet my bicycle had 25k on it lol
@@deborahchesser7375now I bet you hate those that ride bicycles on the roads 😂
Robyn Hitchcock does a very good cover of this tune on acoustic guitar
A strong contender for the most groundbreaking single of all time. I remember hearing this for the first time as a 14 year old when it was released and it just blew me away. Listening to it today as as someone who is almost 60 years old, it still sends chills down my spine. An incredible song.
Agreed, this song and perhaps "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer.
Was 13 in Dublin when I saw this. I thought it was Dave Vanian and the Damned, about to belt out;” just for you . . Here’s a love song” ehh no. A neuro diverse musical genius, beautiful music, great story telling lyrics, and a sinister terrifying vision. Just brilliant. He’s still brilliant, pure, slave, my last day, all genius tracks from the contemporary phase. A national treasure.
I was 13 ,and yes ,it certainly was very different to what else was about at the time ,I still love it
I’m definitely with you there!
i had to wait 2 years after seeing this, but I eventually got my ARP synth for my 16th birthday. Groundbreaking.
Considering our relationship today with smartphones, Numans lyrics are strangely prophetic. "Mines broken down, now I've no one to love." Genius then, genius now.
It boggles my mind that appliance manufacturers are demonstrably telling me that people want to talk to machines.
Gary was a good 30 years ahead of his time!!!! As were Kraftwork.....lucky enough to remember hearing this back in the day when it was first released.....will always stand the test of time...2021 now, this will still sound futuristic in 2051.....😎👌...LEGEND!!!
The song is about a robot prostitute the lyrics are quite literal even if they do make a good commentary on modern relationships with technology
Gary’s music is iconic
Gary Numan is living proof that time travel is definitely possible
I was a hoser from Scarborough born in 59 totally into Prog and Tangerine Dream. I heard the Tubeway Army album broadcast in its entirety on CFNY late on a Monday night smoking hash in the back of a van in the parking lot of North York Arena after a hockey practice. I remember thinking , what is this ? this is good I am liking this. Months later I walked into a house party Are Friends Electric just blaring everyone dancing. No exaggeration it changed my life.
Sup, hoser (Strange Brew)
the artistic awakening: "what is this ? this is good I am liking this."
Music needed a fresh sound badly and this was it.
I'm an Australian, but lived in Scarborough for 4 years and T.O. for 16 years.
People in 1980: This makes me want to be in the 2020’s
People in 2020: This makes me want to go back to the 80’s
Omg. So, so true!!
People in 2006: This makes me want to drive a Lancer Evo IX in Silverton
Pass the joint, folks!💨🥴
This makes me want to drift a green Mazda rx7 with Japanese shiet on it
Lol 😂 great comment. I guess we're showing how much older we all are now.
Could any of us have imagined that 42 years later we would still be watching this performance?
imagine thinking about how you’d be watching this performance
Just shows how good it was, and is !!
15 times on one channel? No.
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music well I suppose all most people in the world have left is HOPE.
He is just so bloody hrilliant 👌
1979 , a year of incredible music !!!
He went in the studio to record a punk album seen a sythn in the corner of the studio and then did this masterpiece 👏
WOW, THATS MINDBLOWING !!
Yeah I watched a documentary called Synth Britainia he says it on their it's a worth a watch as it happens
@@mcfcste99 cheers, will take a look
@@andymatthews7617 Yeah it's well worth a watch you'll find it on UA-cam it has some great bands on it too
@@mcfcste99 thanks mate, very helpful, keep on enjoying the music and stay safe 👍
This song has been criminally overlooked in the United States. Gary Numan had a U.S. hit that same year with Cars, but he was unfairly seen as a one-hit wonder. It's our loss, really.
Absolutely correct
Hope you have seen the live Nine inch nails performance of Cars.. with Gary..
As good as Cars and very different feel to it...I liked Complex too but not as strong as the other 2
i always said the cultural river only flows out of the US. you gotta paddle pretty hard to break up that river...
To be honest, it doesn't matter if it was overlooked in the USA. In 1979 nothing like that could be successful there, and it doesn't matter! The song was number 1 for 4 weeks in the UK.
I was quite obsessed with Gary Numan as a young kid. He totally fascinated me. I was convinced he was an android or from another planet, or both.
He still fascinates me and I am 55 love the mans music forever.
I'm so busy trying to break this wall
Hear my words 'cause emotion now is leaving
You see I'm really not a human at all
And I don't think I want to stay
I sometimes wonder if trek's Data was modelled after him
On the BBC programme "I Love the 70s" Numan said I wanted to come across as mysterious...but I just looked like a wanker!
I was 12 in 1981 and playing this on my guitar convinced he was the second coming,,, I wasn't far off
As a 10-year-old in 1979 watching this on Top of the Pops, I was absolutely blown away.
Yes, me too. I’m 54 now. It still sounds great.
This is still amazing 43 years later. Damn. I remember hearing this in 1979 and it still sounds futuristic.
43 year's it's mad!!!
This in no way sounds futuristic now. Very retro, very passe.
Geht mir genauso 😢
It will go down as one of musics milestone, moments. Just Classic.👌
I was 9 when this song came out. How at 50 years old am i just discovering this song. OMG I love it!! I love UA-cam
So you were born in 1970?
@@ilmamartinez522 yes 🥳
I've done this thing where I'll discover a killer song on the radio, look it up on YT and I'm reading ten year old comments saying, "When I was 8 this was my jam!"
I remember watching it live on TOTP all those years ago it was No.1 in the charts and everyone was talking about it but we barely had VCR's back then couldn't imagine that all these years later could just watch it whenever we liked, we'd have never believed it.
his clothes look like they were made yesterday for 2020 fashion ,40 years ahead of everyone else.
Most true new wave clothes from the 80s still look like they are from tomorrow
The black racing style suit with the belts he wore, coupled with the serious facial appearance are reminiscent of Oswald Mosley leading the British Union of Fascists in the 1930's..a very powerful look
@@saveriociccone23 Bob Geldof in The Wall.
I can clearly recall seeing this on TOTP when I was 10, and it changed my world forever. One of THE best tracks of the '70s and a total game-changer.
Thanks to my Mom (now 81) who told me (now 55) to, i can proudly say: this is the first music i ever bought. one of the best tracks ever
This song brings tears toy eyes its so beautiful
新宿のツバキハウスというディスコで この曲を流してくれて歓喜の悲鳴を上げた思い出がꉂ🤣𐤔
Shinjuku in the house!
How this song has only 894K views is beyond me ;(
Absolute game changer of a pop song back in the day 🤔🤔🤔🤔
He kept his private plane near to us at a small airfield , my mum worked there in catering, met him several times a real nice down to earth person, got his autograph and a picture with him , looked just like he had walked of the set of top of the pops
Blackbushe airfield? He used to roar down the London road through Camberley in his Corvette on the way through 😎
Like a vampire
North wild I met him there at a air show back In 90s he had a Japanese zero plane .
Crazy to think this qualifies as 70’s music🤯‼️ awesome track.
I bought Here today, tomorrow, next week in '89.. i was blown away.
The totally unique Gary Numan. Nobody has ever come close. I loved his music from the 80's. Totally awesome.
A million years ahead of its time. Amazing.
No certainly, that music was being created in THAT TIME, not in another. Gary had some very marked influences that were before him and also, if he were ahead of his time people would have ignored this song, but... it was number one for four weeks... Gary Numan was a pioneer, but not ahead, nothing So it can be advanced, that music belongs to that era, not another.
This song will always sound like its from the future 😮
Totally agree👍
This song & the British sci-fi TV series Doctor Who theme music are so futuristic even though they were released in 60s & 70s
Gary Numan & the composer of Doctor Who theme music are so talented
The best synth-pop song of all times!
Without a shadow of a doubt.
Blue Monday
What a beautifully haunting song!
Thats Billy Currie on the keyboards right side,of Ultravox. A fabulous musician.
May 24th 1979. And everything changed.
Fifteen years old, watching TOTP. I was completely mesmorised by Tubeway Armys performance of
"Are Friends Electric?" I'd never seen or heard anything like it before. I bet that I didn't blink once 🖤
Yup. People who weren't there will never appreciate how utterly revolutionary this was. It changed my world, and yours, and countless other people's. It was like the future became real all in one song.
Same for me
About the same age as me :)
Me too.
NOT just one of Top of the Pops' best performances but also a REVOLUTIONARY one.
I was 14 when I saw this, instantly loved it, then bought Replicas, first album i ever bought for myself
I was totally hooked from this performance and up to the present day. Just saw Gary on tour two days ago. I was 11 in 1979 and never did I imagine that I'd still be able to see him in concert all these years later. Legend.
I was 16 and went straight out and bought the single. Not long after I bought the album.
Woaaaaaah. I'm 14 again. I bought this and then rushed out to buy Replicas and played it non-stop much to the annoyance of my parents. My mate was into them too and forged a career writing electronic music tracks for computer games everywhere while I festered in the NW of England :-( Anyway, my Journey with Gary continued with The Pleasure Principle, Telekon and it went on from there. Still love the sound today. Thanks Arkive.
I'm giving you extra points for your use of the word festered.
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music You're most kind. I think it described my position exactly.
Indeed! I kept my copy of Replicas around for years. Still have Telekon and listen to it regularly.
One of the best number one singles ever . This song blew me away when I first heard it . Loved numan ever since
I agree Dave 👍
I remember watching this the first time it was broadcast in 1979.
wow!!!
Me too, it gave me goosebumps and I was entranced. Eventually... I saved up enough for 'Replicas' and 'The Pleasure Principle'... I was a poor teenager.
1979...
Seriously, Gary was so far ahead of the music revolution, an inspiration.
He still records, and some of his latest music is on top form 😊❤😊
One of the most iconic and influential songs of all times !! What an impact such a performance must have had 1979 !
It blew people away. I remember it like it was yesterday. This song, and the Replicas album, turned the music world on its head overnight. 79-81 were magical times for music.
@@davidspion9548 Just think of the first two Albums of The Human League...
@@tombenz7533
Yes, I have both in my record collection. The original Human League were fantastic. Tubeway Army, with Replicas and Are 'Friends' Electric? Just took the look and sound to a different level, though.
@@davidspion9548 I also love the early John Foxx albums, he's very underrated too, I think
@@tombenz7533
Me too. Foxx has done some brilliant stuff.
I was 8 years old in this year and this track was so fresh and way ahead of anything of its time...Still a massive icon and promoting his three proud daughters careers good on him.... A true classic he probably doesnt think about nowadays...
Still great to this day 2/21/24
It's cold outside
And the paint's peeling off of my walls
There's a man outside
In a long coat, grey hat, smoking a cigarette
Now the light fades out
And I wonder what I'm doing in a room like this
There's a knock on the door
And just for a second I thought I remembered you
So now I'm alone
Now I can think for myself
About little deals and S.U's
And things that I just don't understand
Like a white lie that night
Or a sly touch at times
I don't think it meant anything to you
So I open the door
It's the 'friend' that I'd left in the hallway
'Please sit down'
A candlelit shadow on a wall near the bed
You know I hate to ask
But are 'friends' electric?
Only mine's broke down
And now I've no-one to love
So I found out your reason for the phone calls and smiles
And it hurts and I'm lonely
And I should never have tried
And I missed you tonight
So it's time to leave
You see it meant everything to me
I remember witching this! my older sister sent me down town to the record shop to buy the single. still got it!
What is a "record shop"?
@@I_Have_The_Most_Japanese_Music :-D what we used to call them back in the olden days! :)
brilliant its the start of my music life when i was listening to this for the first time im now 60 years old wow
Gary requested not to have coloured lights on the stage. TOTP went with the idea and hence we got one of the best TOTP performances ever
Looks like Billy Currie on the synth - another great from this era; Gary was very complimentary about Ultravox! - he was the one that took the 70s electro influences and made it popular, opening doors for so many bands to follow. Never tire of hearing this and it still sounds like the future.
I can remember watching this on TV and going out on my push bike thinking music will never be the same 😱
Such vivid memories of this at 14 years old.
Those analogue synths were absolutely amazing........Sadly it all changed with the world domination of the Yamaha DX7😥
Listen to Ladytron bro.
when I was 14 and heard that song for the first time I got crazy about that sound!
Listen to that laser precise drumming. Cedric Sharpley was a monster.
Except it was actually played by Jess Lidyard, Gary's uncle. :-)
Just to clarify: it's Sharpley in the video but you're hearing Lidyard's performance. :)
James Freud from the Australian band The Models and Gary were good friends ,still are .
Anyway, James said Gary was living out back of his uncles ,or parents , house in a caravan and had a synthesizer that he was using to create unique new music with , which led to what we are listening too still today .
Gary is one of the humblest people, I saw him in an interview recently and thought that very much .He's a normal ,everyday guy with a wife and family .
The only musicians on this song to appear here are Paul Gardiner and Gary Numan. Jess Lidyard played the drums on the record. The others here are, I think, Cedric Sharpley, Billy Currie, Russell Bell and Chris Payne.
@@tyreburster Billy Currie looks / acts a wee bit OTT during the performance. I think he missed being more front-of-stage in Ultravox!
I was age 8 when this aired….it is on my playlist and when it comes on now in my car at age 54 I whack the volume up up up and go 🤪 it keeps me alive❤
I can remember this, too. What a fantastic performance, from a unique musician
A great song that influenced many a band throughout the 80s and beyond! A masterpiece!
Wow 😮. Love this tune 💓. Like the sound affects of this song ❤️ they don't make music like this anymore.
Super 👌 song and band T.Army❤❤❤😊
As a drummer, it must have been incredibly hard to not do ANY fills in a song this great.
Gary Human war schon 1979 ein toller Typ.
Bis heute ein Meister der elektronischen Popmusik ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
And along come human league..depeche mode..soft cell and loads of synth new wave...brilliant.
I was 15 when this came out and as soon as I heard it and saw Gary on TOTP, I was hooked and followed him ever since.
Such a cool guy
Still fresh, still enthralling, still relevant.
Epic song, well deserving of it's four-week stint at no. 1 in the UK charts, in the summer of 1979. One of the sounds of the 70s, electronic music at it's best.
Changed my life from the second I saw/heard it.
This track is still fresh and relevant today. I downloaded his album Savage about a year ago and it’s never been off my playlist. The guy is still brilliant
I was always fascinated by Gary’s lyrics and melodies
Love Gary numan and tubeway army he was absolutely amazing and loved his songs and music that was the beginning of synthesised music I've been to see them in Birmingham back in the day enjoyed every minute of it with friends xxxx 🎹🎤🎶🥁🎸🎵❤️❤️
Interesting watching that again in such clarity. Currently reading Gary's new autobiography and he talks about how much input the BBC allowed him to have in terms of the lighting and presentation. The shadowy uplighting is really clear here. Yet at the same time I wonder how many people noticed that on a 1979 TV set?
Actually I’m watching this on an 1978 Tv and it looks quite good. Also a nice clear sound with higher treble. i can upload a video soon☺️
@@导演文森吴 I think this performance will always look good on any TV 😁 😎
Nothing wrong with 1979 TVs. You need to get some better historical perspective. We weren't living in caves and using candles, you know! ;-)
@@kc5402 Don't get me wrong, I do have that perspective already being in my fifties. But the TV I watched this on back in the day is just no match for what I can view this on now. That's really my point.
I did Gary was Like he was from a Different Planet he really moved me
This song still sounds like it's before its time😁😎👍
I was 8 years old when i first heard this and it changed my life,still stands up but none of my friends are electric yet😂
I saw the Telekon tour 1980 at Birmingham Odeon when I was 15 and it was brilliant. Take me back 😢. Even my dad liked are friends electric ⚡💡
A strange sad song. Best synth song ever.
1981 was something special for me .. my father gave me a treat to see
A famous pilot at Heathrow and remember this song I was around
14 yrs old .. this song flying up in
Charts at that time which will live
With me for rest my life
I love pre- Nine Inch Numan
😂😂🤣👍
TMI
I like both :)
Tubeway Army is unrivalled
It's just amazing! I can't stop to listening this !!
I remember the old days, NFS CARBON PSP while the light was out and I was the only one in town playing the game with this song 😅
When I first listened to this song while playing NFS carbon on my PS2 back in 2012, I immediately fell in love with this song for its futuristic music❤
Gary , you are still the very best and i am still a huge fan !
The greatest futurist popular music has seen. He was revolutionary.
As a 14 year old seeing this on top of the pops blew my mind
Yes, I was 13, it was amazing.
Which northern town did you live in and when? I was at school in Leeds from 1974 to 1982 and studied at Newcastle University from 1982 to 1985 - both great northern towns. This superb music takes me right back there like a time machine.
I can remember the excitement of this top of the pops - I remember reading in the tv listings in the daily paper that Tubeway Army were one of the bands on the show. I’d heard the song on Kid Jensens afternoon radio one show and was intrigued! However this just blew me away. I was 13 and everything changed after this.
Remember the first time I saw this I was mesmerised. It was different. It struck a cord with everyone, no wonder it went to number one, followed by the hit Cars. He was on his way to a never before first 3 singles at number one but the 3rd single was beyond me as a choice and totally different, it was from the pleasure principle album called Complex, a different song and sound from the first 2 singles that made number one. There had been Kratftwerk the original synth pioneers and John Foxx of Ultravox but Numan revolutionised music and TOTP with his first two hits.
Billy Currie from (Foxx's old band) Ultravox Is at the back next to Ced Sharpley the drummer in this video . Between the Foxx and Ure era he was a gun for hire and Gary snapped him up.
still StIlL STILL an iconic song....Even KILLS me more now. Words cannot explain 🖤
I can still remember watching the performance on The Old Grey Whistle Test of this track, it was one of those unforgettable moments you get listening to music. Brilliant track.
Saw Gary's first TOTP performance - it hit me like a thunderbolt! Been a fan ever since....
❤️👍He's So COOL👍 LOVE this Song 🎵 "Electric" Huge Fan of Gary Newman❤ Discovered him Later ... ❤️👍❤️
I was in high school when this song first came out. I remember thinking back then how their sound and look was something that dropped in from the future! Now watching this in 2020 and thinking maybe I was right. LOL
Kraftwork
Yes I felt the same. I was transfixed by this! I can even remember watching this performance on tv when I was 13, it sounded and looked like nothing before. I bought the picture disc that week in my local record shop (the last one they had!) and bought the Replicas LP soon after. I remember just staring at the Replicas cover for ages. It’s amazing what effect music can have on you as a teenager. I’m 56 now and still listen to this period of his music. I still prefer it to his new stuff!
When I was five years old this song came out and I was in st Josephs hospital in Roswell I didn't know about the song then back in the seventies well done to the runway army and the singing and Gary new man Richard McGeechan 😊
He was either very up-to-the-minute or ahead of time as this is one of the most 1980s 1970s songs I've ever heard!
Sometimes, Elements come together......like an organic feeling Bassline and an atmospheric overdrive, with a voice that cuts through--yet joins it All together. It is how Classics come about....and are truly unique to their own Time & Space..
Saw him just the other day June 2022 in concert (Razzmatazz, Barcelona,Spain). We had a great time. Gary is certainly in amazing shape seeing his wirlwindy performance!
Probably my favorite song of all time.
I was only five years old when this song was out with Gary Newman in the mid seventies and my brother was only four years old really nice to hear that Richard McGeechan ❤
The guy and his music is so cool
Watched this on BBC4 last night. The sound of the future.
Gary was well and truly a good🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔50 years ahead of his time people.,...
Our Friends Electric will still be a banger in 2029....end of 👊😎
It was refreshing, strange, but interesting to have these kind of songs. I wore a badge back then that said "disco is dead" thumb.
I remember seeing this when Tubeway Army first appeared on TOTP. It was quite unlike anything else at the time, bearing in mind that the pop charts then were more or less split between Punk and Disco acts - yeah, a highly unlikely combination of styles but so it was back in the late 70's. I was quite obsessed with Numan for a while and I remember well the follow up singles 'Cars', 'We Are Glass' and 'This Wreckage' - by that time credited to Gary Numan as a solo artist. Like most music though, eighteen months further on and I'd worn a bit thin of Numan's material but those earlier records are still just as great to hear today as they were back then.
Sometimes someone comes along who is so far ahead that people just don’t know what to make of it.
Gary is such an artist. The press and “traditional” musicians just didn’t get it.
He changed the musical landscape and ushered in the 80’s.
Genius.