Metal (song)
"Metal" is a song by Gary Numan from his 1979 album The Pleasure Principle. Lyrically the song is science fiction, inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick and William S. Burroughs, and is about an android who wishes to be human, but never can be. The song was the B-side of "Cars" in the USA. A music video was also made for the song.[1]
| "Metal" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Gary Numan | |
| from the album The Pleasure Principle | |
| Released | September 1979 |
| Recorded | Mid–1979 at Marcus Music AB, London |
| Genre | New wave |
| Length | 3:22 |
| Label | Beggars Banquet Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Gary Numan |
| Producer(s) | Gary Numan |
The song has been a regular feature at Numan's live shows since his first tour in 1979, and appears on the majority of his live albums. In 1981 Numan wrote new lyrics to the tune of "Metal" for his album Dance, and renamed the song "Moral". Numan often performs this version. The song was reworked into his aggressive new style in 1998, and this version is still being performed today. "Metal" has been covered by many artists, including Nine Inch Nails on their Things Falling Apart album (2000), Thought Industry on Recruited to Do Good Deeds for the Devil (1998), Afrika Bambaataa (with Numan himself) on Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light (2004),[2] and Poppy[3][4] as a standalone single (2018).
The song recycles lyrics from two outtakes from the Replicas album sessions, "The Crazies" ("I'm still confusing love with need") and "We Have a Technical" ("I could crawl around the floor just like I'm real").
References
- "Gary Numan - Metal Video". February 10, 2008 – via YouTube.
- Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop Sean Albiez, David Pattie - 2011 - Page 192 "... pays homage to Gary Numan with the reinterpretation of Numan's iconic track 'Metal', collaborating with Numan himself."
- Poppy (2018-07-05), Poppy - Metal (Official Audio), retrieved 2018-07-25
- "Poppy - Metal". maddecent.fm. Retrieved 2018-07-25.