The Pleasure Principle cover

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

Released

1979

Riding high on his breakthrough success with Replicas, Gary Numan entered the studio for his follow-up with an expanded backing band and doubtless hopes that he could achieve even more the next time around — which turned out to be a hell of an understatement. Thanks to the international success of “Cars,” a spectacular example of electronic pop possibilities in the form of a chilly, heavy jam, The Pleasure Principle became a new wave standard, including such key Numan songs as “Metal,” the brooding punch of “Films” and the unsettled ballad “Complex.”