Gary Numan isn’t really the nostalgic type but the British rocker is proud of his breakthrough hit “Cars,” a song that has become one of the most recognized pop hits of all time.
Numan’s fans here in the U.S. were first introduced to him when “Cars” became a hit. His previous hit “Are Friends Electric” went to #1 in the UK, so audiences there were already familiar with him.
Numan said recently, "Well, in Britain, you see, there was a song called 'Are Friends Electric' that started it for me. That was actually much bigger than 'Cars' when it first came out. That was number-one for about a month, I think. And then 'Cars' came along, and that was great. And that did well here and in other places that 'Are Friends Electric' hadn't really. And then I just sort of carried, I didn't think about it that much."
Numan went on to say his U.S. fans think more of the song “Cars” than he actually does:
"You're just trying to make sure that the stuff that you write is as good as it can be -- at any given time. Throughout, what is now a very long career, I always saw 'Cars' as a fairly sort of quick, disposable, poppy... the only sort of pop song, I think, I ever wrote and it's not even quite pop really. Everything else I've done has been heavier than that. And I'm really it's stayed around and very grateful it's become, arguably, one of the most well-known songs around, decades now."
[Courtesy of Classic Hits Today]