I was a Numan fan from early'79. I heard "Are 'Friends' Electric" when "Replicas" was released in America on the FM radio, believe it or not. I only ever saw Numan once on the US "Exile" tour in 1998-ish. It was a really small club where the promoter downsized the show from a large, really nice showcase club to the smaller one that they also owned on the night of the show. Numan was really angry! After that time his material has been moving in a strong NIN direction; yech. I heard samples from the next album and where "Exile" had been "Sacrifice" watered down, the one that followed "Exile" was another paler copy. Corny, dated industrial metal. Well, it got him in Kerrang! I enjoyed "Sacrifice" a lot on its release, but then he got stuck in a pattern he's only plowed deeper, not wider. When I got the "Machine Music" DVD I had to skip the last third of it. I like the classic early Beggars Banquet material ['78-'81], but also the first three Numa albums, and "Sacrifice."