A few months ago, I mentioned my fondness for the droning/robotic music of the late 70s/early 80s. One of my favourite albums from that period is Gary Numan’s “Replicas.” The pre-“Cars” Numan always had a good mix of guitars to go along with the synths. “Replicas” really holds together well as a complete album, mainly due to the consistent imagery of a future filled with aliens and robots. It’s also an album with a lot of gay imagery, although I didn’t know that when I was 15. Any album which uses the word “boy” and “boys” that much in the lyrics should have tipped me off. Numan uses the alien/robot imagery as a good metaphor for difference in general, and his homosexuality in particular, feeling like an outsider, and responding by turning off emotions. It’s a powerful statement to an adolescent, who’s feeling awkward and powerless, to imagine himself as a machine. My friend Brent actually tells me he used to wonder quite seriously if he were a robot. I can’t wait to see A.I. with him.