Gary Numan first talked about the project, already titled Telekon, back in autumn 1979. At the time it had an escapist science fiction theme; "It's going to be about a man who can finally harness the power of telekinesis," he said. "He can move things by thinking about it. He realises he can do it, and it just increases and snowballs; because of his power he ends up destroying everything, including himself. That's planned, but it's not definite yet."