07-25-2016, 12:22 PM
A little funny trivia about a famous song: Cars by Gary Numan.
The song notched a very unusual achievement for Gary Numan, as the one song charted in the UK top 20 IN THREE SEPERATE DECADES:
The song hit number 1 on the UK Singles chart upon it's initial release in 1979.
Gary Numan released a remix of the song 8 years later in 1987, where managed to notch the 16th spot on the UK Singles chart.
In 1996, the song was featured heavily in an ad campaign by Carling Premier Beer, which ended up pushing the song all the way up to number 17 on the singles chart.
Also, the song's lyrics were inspired by a real incident. One day at a traffic light, people in front of Gary Numan got out of their cars started screaming at him, telling him to exit his vehicle. Numan responded by locking the doors and driving on the pavement to pass by them. Recalling the incident, he was reminded that your car can feel like your own little bubble, separate from the outside world where you can be safe. This was the inspiration for lyrics.
Even though it's an electronic song, it feels very different musically than almost any other chart topping pop song. This is due to it's unique composition. The song lacks a chorus, and it's purely instrumental from 1:30 on. The song is also based entirely around tritones, a group of chord arrangements nicknamed The Devil's Triad. They go against normal chord progressions and sound slightly off as a result, and this effect has been used in TV shows of a supernatural nature for years, including the themes to The Twilight Zone and The Munsters. However, to have a song meant for radio consumption built around is highly unusual.
The song notched a very unusual achievement for Gary Numan, as the one song charted in the UK top 20 IN THREE SEPERATE DECADES:
The song hit number 1 on the UK Singles chart upon it's initial release in 1979.
Gary Numan released a remix of the song 8 years later in 1987, where managed to notch the 16th spot on the UK Singles chart.
In 1996, the song was featured heavily in an ad campaign by Carling Premier Beer, which ended up pushing the song all the way up to number 17 on the singles chart.
Also, the song's lyrics were inspired by a real incident. One day at a traffic light, people in front of Gary Numan got out of their cars started screaming at him, telling him to exit his vehicle. Numan responded by locking the doors and driving on the pavement to pass by them. Recalling the incident, he was reminded that your car can feel like your own little bubble, separate from the outside world where you can be safe. This was the inspiration for lyrics.
Even though it's an electronic song, it feels very different musically than almost any other chart topping pop song. This is due to it's unique composition. The song lacks a chorus, and it's purely instrumental from 1:30 on. The song is also based entirely around tritones, a group of chord arrangements nicknamed The Devil's Triad. They go against normal chord progressions and sound slightly off as a result, and this effect has been used in TV shows of a supernatural nature for years, including the themes to The Twilight Zone and The Munsters. However, to have a song meant for radio consumption built around is highly unusual.