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.”

– Ned Raggett