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On This Day In History
1980: Gary Numan's Telekon is released

Quote Of The Day
"Telekon is extremely dark and introspective in places, and the whole album has a very gloomy, almost oppressive, feel to it. This was my first album after the success, so rather than fantasising about life as a pop star, I now wrote from a position of real knowledge. The reality that I found myself in was a thousand times worse. I felt battered. Scarred inside and out, I was struggling to keep it all together."
(Gary Numan)

The last of the big three albums (after Replicas and The Pleasure Principle) that made up Numan's Machine Music trilogy, it marked the first slight drop in sales, though still achieving a gold disc despite selling half as many copies as the other two albums, but certainly not sliding in artistic acumen. Not that that was reflected in the reviews as the music press continued to heap scorn on the man who achieved success without their input or approval, and who embraced the virtues of showbiz glamour with spectacular lightshows, make-up, costumes and a superstar swagger, while the music press continued to flog the dead horse called punk with all its nihilism and anti-superstar grimness.They accused Numan of wallowing in misery and dystopianism, yet praised the nihilism of punk. They accused Numan of ripping off his fans with his spectacular concerts with dazzling light shows and stage sets, yet he was losing money hand over fist by charging the same entrance fee as punk bands whose gigs had a few piffling lights and lame sound systems. Clearly music journalists have no understanding of basic economics.

So, as the music press cut Numan down to size, devoted Numanoids like me looked on with incredulity at the wicked lies they told about our hero - only Smash Hits and John Peel seemed to be on his side - while Numan, fed up with it, decided to quit touring and step away from the nightmare that had overtaken him so quickly. As soon as he announced his decision, he knew it was the biggest mistake he had ever made. Thank goodness he returned.

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