"We Are Glass" is a song by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

singer Gary Numan. It was released as a single in May 1980 and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart. The song was Numan’s first release since his 1979 album, '' The Pleasure Principle'', which had been notable in part for its complete absence of guitars. Though the album was a major commercial success, Numan decided that "getting rid of guitars had been a mistake" Stephen Webbon & Gary Numan (1985). "Complete Gary Numan UK Discography". ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

(December 1985, No. 76)'': p.15 and brought them back into the studio for his next project. The recording also featured

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piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, and a newly expanded array of electronic keyboards, including

ARP Pro Soloist The ARP Pro Soloist was one of the first commercially successful preset synthesizers. Introduced by ARP Instruments, Inc. in 1972, it replaced the similar ARP Soloist (19701971) in the company's lineup of portable performance instruments. Histo ...

and

Roland Jupiter-4 The Roland Jupiter-4 (JP-4) was an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1978 and 1981. It was notable as the company's first self-contained polyphonic synthesizer, and for employing digital control of analog circ ...

, to augment the Moog synthesizers of previous releases. According to the composer, speaking on Australian

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

2SM in 1981, the song was inspired by a comment from a magazine staffer: "Somebody once told me, a man from '' Omni'', said that he thought I'd been put here by ... something ... aliens or something, to carry out a cause ... which I thought was very flattering but a little silly. ... 'We Are Glass' I wrote because of that, y'know, like all pop stars are put here for reasons." The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

featured images of clapping hands silhouetted against

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light, as well as numerous slow-motion shots of the singer smashing bodily through glass panels and destroying mirrors and TV sets with sledge hammers. The alleged strong violence of these latter images resulted in the promo being banned from

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's ''

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''. Originally released on single only, "We Are Glass" reached number 5 in the UK charts in 1980. The B-side was one of Numan's few non-original pieces, the first movement of Erik Satie's " Trois Gymnopedies," in an arrangement that added guitar, bass and synthesizer to the original's solo piano part. "We Are Glass" has appeared on numerous compilation albums, as well as CD reissues of the 1980 album ''

Telekon ''Telekon'' is the second solo studio album by English musician Gary Numan. It debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart in September 1980, making it his third consecutive (and to date, final) No. 1 album. It was also the third and final studio ...

''. The song is a regular feature of Numan's concerts and is included on many of his live albums. EMF covered the song on the ''Random'' tribute album in 1997. It was remixed twice for the 1998 collection ''The Mix''.

Track listing

# "We Are Glass" ( Gary Numan) – 4:46 # "Trois Gymnopedies (First Movement)" ( Erik Satie) – 2:45

Production credits

;Producers * Gary Numan ;Musicians * Gary Numan:

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, Minimoog,

Polymoog The Polymoog is a hybrid polyphonic analog synthesizer that was manufactured by Moog Music from 1975 to 1980. The Polymoog was based on divide-down oscillator technology similar to electronic organs and string synthesizers of the time. His ...

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

Paul Gardiner Paul Andrew Gardiner (1 May 1958 – 18 February 1984) was a British musician who played bass guitar with Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, as well as creating material under his own name. Biography Paul Gardiner was born in Hayes, Middlesex. In ...

Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

* Cedric Sharpley: Drums * Chris Payne:

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Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* Rrussell Bell: Guitar, ARP Pro Soloist * Dennis Haines: ARP Pro Soloist, Piano, Yamaha CP-30 * John Webb:

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

Notes

References

* Paul Goodwin (2004). ''Electric Pioneer: An Armchair Guide To Gary Numan'' {{Authority control Gary Numan songs 1980 singles Songs written by Gary Numan 1980 songs Beggars Banquet Records singles Media containing Gymnopedies