Gary Numan’s bitter feud with Paul Weller: “Fascist bastard”
Was Gary Numan ever truly a Tory, or was he just a deeply devout contrarian?
In the 1980s, having already endured several years of constant ridicule both from critics and plenty of his colleagues in the British pop scene, Numan decided to go full anti-woke, in the old-fashioned way, and declared himself a Thatcherite, which would sort of be like if Yungblud posted a video today declaring his support for JK Rowling.
From that point forward, with his career already on a bit of a decline in the mid-1980s, Numan was in the unfortunate position of having to spar with the united left-wing core of British indie rock: Morrissey, Billy Bragg, Paul Weller, and the lot. He was outcast from the outcasts, and as a result, Gary brought a few pints of bitterness to the table when Smash Hits invited him to their offices to review some new singles in 1987.
As evidence in support of the “contrarian” argument, Numan was quick to defend Duran Duran during this exercise, seeing the much derided band as kindred spirits.
“They became the band to slag off because they got too big but I always thought they were great,” Numan said while listening to Duran Duran’s new track, ‘Meet El Presidente’. “I can’t see why people are offended by what they look like. I don’t see why you have to be scruffy or ugly to be right. Most of these opinions are based on street cred and I’ve got no time for that.”
To tally up the score so far, Gary Numan was pro-Thatcher, pro-Duran Duran, and not interested in street cred, which is why, moments later, he gave a thumbs-down to the Beastie Boys’ soon-to-be-classic ‘No Sleep Til Brooklyn’, calling it “hip and trendy” and “a bit of a con.”
This wasn’t going well, and by the time the Smash Hits editor played Gary the latest Smiths single, ‘Sheila Take a Bow’, the wheels were starting to come off.
Morrissey had always been a vocal anti-Numanite, but as things had gotten more political and personal and less about the music, Numan found it harder to brush off.
“They’ve got no right to say this or that when they haven’t even met me,” Numan said, referring vaguely to the Smiths, but more broadly to the full cast of his detractors. “I mean, I’ve heard people say ‘Gary Numan—he’s a fascist bastard’ a few times. I mean, Paul Weller!”
Weller, who was heading up the Style Council at the time, was another Numan hater, but unlike Morrissey, he’d actually met Gary before. Back in the mid ‘70s, a teenage Numan had auditioned to join The Jam, but didn’t get the job; an event which may or may not have played into this much later beef.
It’s not clear if there was one specific public statement or interview Weller gave in 1987 or earlier that inspired this specific reaction from Numan, but Gary certainly felt like he needed to defend himself against this “fascist” labelling, and that Weller needed to be dropped down a peg or two in return.
“All that ‘in touch with the kids’ stuff,” Numan said in the Smash Hits piece, “And [Weller] goes on stage with the minimum of lights costing no money. And I look at mine and there’s £200,000 worth up there, and if I sell out my tour I’ll get back £150,000! Now I could get that back by charging the fans more, but that ain’t fair! It’s for them! Why should they pay for my big show? And yet, I’m the fascist bastard and he [Weller] is the hero! To hell with it!”
Challenging the Modfather by comparing the costs of your stage lighting made about as much sense as proclaiming yourself a Tory rockstar in the ‘80s. As far as we know, Weller never bothered to punch back on the subject.
Fortunately, Gary Numan has come a long way in the 40 years since, speaking publicly about his Asperger’s syndrome, setting aside some of the bitterness of his past, and weirdly enough, landing quite a few kilometres left of Morrissey on the political spectrum. Weller, it should be noted, is also doing just fine himself.
