The Pleasure Principle is the debut solo studio album by the English new wave musician Gary Numan, released on 7 September 1979 by Beggars Banquet Records.

In addition to the Minimoog synthesizer employed on his previous album, Numan made liberal use of the Polymoog keyboard, particularly its distinctive "Vox Humana" preset.

"[8] Notable tracks included "Airlane", the lead-off instrumental; "Metal", sung from the perspective of an android longing to be human;[8] "Films", later acknowledged as an important influence on the U.S. hip hop scene;[citation needed] "M.E.

1 in Canada,[9] helping make The Pleasure Principle Numan's strongest North American showing, but lack of a strong commercial follow-up resulted in him being tagged as a one-hit wonder there.

[10] "Complex", featuring an arrangement including piano, violin (played by Ultravox's Billy Currie) and viola, was chosen as the second single from the album, released in November 1979.

[13][14] Numan had been scheduled to play the 2010 Coachella Festival in Indio, California but was forced to cancel, due to the Icelandic volcano eruption that disrupted air travel.

I Disconnect From You" and "Bombers", which appeared as B-sides of "Complex", were recorded on tour and later made available in their original context on the expanded Living Ornaments '79 CD, along with "Remember I Was Vapour" and "On Broadway".

The latter two tracks were first released as a promotional single shipped with early pressings of the album Telekon in 1980; Numan's cover version of the classic "On Broadway" was dominated by a characteristic synthesizer solo by then-former (and soon-to-be-again) Ultravox band member Billy Currie.

Robert Christgau of The Village Voice described The Pleasure Principle as "Metal Machine Music goes easy-listening," continuing: "This time he's singing about robots, engineers, and isolation.

"[23] Smash Hits reviewer Red Starr found the album to be "not bad, mind you — a smoother, almost discoish version of Replicas — but much too similar to it and not as adventurous".

"[24] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Greg Prato said The Pleasure Principle was distinguished by the consistent quality of its songs and the presence of drummer Cedric Sharpley, who "adds a whole new dimension with his powerful percussion work.

"Metal" was covered by Nine Inch Nails on Things Falling Apart (2000),[42] Thought Industry on Recruited to Do Good Deeds for the Devil (1998)[43] and Afrika Bambaataa on Dark Matter Moving at the Speed of Light (2004),[44] and used as backing for Planet Funk's "Who Said".