It sounds like the premise of a movie, but this is the story of how Gary Numan, the iconic pioneer of electro-music and the man behind the 1979 hit Cars, found himself under house arrest in Visakhapatnam, India.
Back in October of 1981, the month’s issue of Billboard magazine reported that Gary Numan was on an ambitious journey, where he was flying a light aircraft around the world. While flying from India to Thailand, however, his single-engine Cessna aircraft hit a major snag over the Bay of Bengal. Engine trouble forced him to make an emergency landing in a militarily sensitive zone near Vizag.
The Incident
Unfamiliar with Gary Numan’s fame, Indian authorities were far more interested in the questionable circumstances of his landing his chart-topping music. Suspecting espionage and smuggling, they seized his passports, confiscated film from his on-board documentary, and placed him under house arrest. Armed guards were stationed outside his room as he and his co-pilot underwent grueling ten-hour interrogations over two days.
In a later interview with The Wild City, the singer recalled how intimidating the experience was. “I was very scared,” he admitted. “It wasn’t the welcome I had hoped for.”
It took four tense days, the intervention of the British High Commission in Delhi, and negotiations with Indian officials before Gary Numan and his co-pilot were allowed out of house arrest in Visakhapatnam—albeit not in his plane, which remained impounded.
The customs officials who questioned him for hours had no idea who he was. Gary Numan, whose signature synthesizer sound and androgynous stage presence had revolutionized the music scene, was just another outsider in their eyes.
Though the experience left him shaken, Gary Numan didn’t let it sour his view of India. On the return journey of his round-the-world trip, the musician passed through India again, and things went much better.
“That all happened about 30 years ago so the memory that has lingered is not one of difficult officials but of an amazing country and incredibly friendly people. Apart from the officials the people couldn’t have been more welcoming,” he said about the incident.
To many, Gary Numan is more than the man who was mistaken for a spy in Vizag. His groundbreaking use of synthesizers paved the way for an entire genre of electronic music. With hits like Are ‘Friends’ Electric? and Cars, this electro-music legend created a sound that was equal parts robotic and emotional. His influence can still be felt in the works of artists like Nine Inch Nails, The Weeknd, and even contemporary indie acts.
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