"Metal" is a song by

Gary Numan Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...

from his 1979 album '' The Pleasure Principle''. Lyrically, the song is heavily inspired by science fiction such as the works of

Philip K. Dick Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928March 2, 1982), often referred to by his initials PKD, was an American science fiction writer. He wrote 44 novels and about 121 short stories, most of which appeared in science fiction magazines during his l ...

and William S. Burroughs, and tells the story of an

android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

who wishes to be human but never can be. The song was the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of " Cars" in the U.S. The song was released with an accompanying music video. The song recycles lyrics from two outtakes of the songs "The Crazies" and "We Have a Technical" from the recording sessions for Numan's album '' Replicas'', which had been released earlier in 1979. "Metal" has been a regular feature of Numan's live shows since his first tour in 1979, and appears on the majority of his live albums. In 1981, he wrote new lyrics to the tune of "Metal" for his album ''

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

'' and renamed the song "Moral". He often performs this re-recorded version. The song was again reworked into his aggressive new style in 1998, a version which is also still performed today. The song has been covered by artists such as

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

, Thought Industry,

Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenc ...

(featuring Numan himself), Nouvelle Vague, and Poppy. Poppy's version is on the soundtrack of the 2019 video game '' WWE 2K20''.

References

External links

''Metal'' (work) on MusicBrainz.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metal Gary Numan songs 1979 songs Poppy (singer) songs Songs about robots Songs about scientists Songs written by Gary Numan