The Tubes
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- This article is about the band, The Tubes. For the location, see The Tubes (place).
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based theatre rock band, popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, known for their live performances that combined lewd quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism and politics.
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[edit] History of the band
The Tubes are a collection of high school friends from Phoenix, Arizona. The Beans and The Red, White and Blues Band eventually merged after relocating to San Francisco in 1969. The core band membership remained largely intact for more than a decade: Fee Waybill (real name John Waldo Waybill) (vocals), Bill "Sputnik" Spooner (guitar, vocals), Roger Steen (guitar), Prairie Prince (real name Charles L. Prince) (drums), Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (piano), and Rick Anderson (bass). Singer Re Styles (born Shirley Marie MacLeod) (vocals) and ex-Santana percussionist Mingo Lewis were also fixtures for much of the band's early history.
Showbiz excess was a common theme of the band's early work, with Waybill sometimes assuming the onstage persona of Quay Lewd, a drunk, drugged-out, barely coherent lead singer, decked out with flashing glasses and impossibly tall platform shoes. "White Punks on Dope," from their debut album, was an absurd anthem of wretched excess, and a tribute to their rich, white teenage fanbase in San Francisco. The song was covered as "TV Glotzer" by Nina Hagen as the opening track of her band's first album.
The Tubes first album was produced by Al Kooper. The second album for A&M Records, Young and Rich was produced by Ken Scott and features the hit "Don't Touch Me There" (arranged by Jack Nitzsche). The Tubes third album gave way to thematic experimentation with Now and after the classic live record What Do You Want From Live, (recorded during their record breaking run at the Hammersmith Odeon) their fourth for A&M Remote Control was a concept album produced by Todd Rundgren about a television-addicted idiot savant. The cover of Remote Control is also a classic, showing a baby watching Hollywood Squares in a specially made "Vidi-Trainer."
One critic noted that with their media savvy and theatrical skills, The Tubes were born to create rock video, but arrived several years too early. Instead, they put their creativity and art skills into their live performances, in which songs could be full-fledged production numbers, from a beach movie parody for "Sushi Girl," to leather-clad S&M hijinks in "Mondo Bondage," to the game show antics of "What Do You Want From Life?" At their peak, their act featured dozens of other performers, including tap dancers and acrobats.
These shows were expensive to produce, however, and while they earned the band a reputation for being one of the most entertaining live acts of all time, by the early 1980s they found themselves short of money. At this time the band was dropped by A&M Records and signed by Capitol Records. The live shows were scaled back and the band tried to reposition itself as a strait-laced rock band, teaming with producer David Foster. The Completion Backward Principle, another concept album, positioned itself as a motivational business document, complete with shocking pictures of the band members cleaned up and wearing suits. Outside Inside followed a few years later, and these two albums produced a few hits, including the classic rock staples, "Talk To Ya Later" and the number 10 hit "She's A Beauty." The band also had their first top 40 hit in the United States in 1981 with a serious ballad, "Don't Want To Wait Anymore" (recorded almost entirely by Spooner, without Waybill's participation).
The band teamed up with Rundgren once again for 1985's Love Bomb, which sold disappointingly and was the last new Tubes album for over a decade. Spooner once told a concert audience the record company executives couldn't promote it because they kept "dying of hemorrhoids". Waybill released an unsuccessful solo album (Read My Lips, on Capitol Records) earlier in the year, and soon left the band ("Fee broke up", one band member said). An abortive attempt with a new lead singer led to a few appearances before the band split up. During this time, Waybill also enjoyed a fruitful writing partnership with Capitol Records labelmate, Richard Marx.
Waybill eventually returned as the Tubes regrouped for 1996's Genius of America, minus Welnick (who had joined the Grateful Dead), Cotten, and Spooner, and the band continues to tour and release new music on independent labels.
Welnick, who long suffered from cancer, died on June 2, 2006. In the aftermath, local Phoenix media (The Arizona Republic) quoted Waybill as saying a newly regrouped Tubes, featuring all original members, was being planned at the time of Welnick's demise.
[edit] Albums
- The Tubes (1975) #113 U.S.
- Young and Rich (1976) #46 U.S.
- Now (1977) #122 U.S.
- What Do You Want From Live (1978) #82 U.S.
- Remote Control (1979) #46 U.S.
- The Completion Backward Principle (1981) #36 U.S.
- Outside Inside (1983) #18 U.S.
- Love Bomb (1985) #87 U.S.
- Genius of America (1996)
[edit] Singles
- "Don't Touch Me There" (1976) #61 U.S.
- "White Punks On Dope" (1977) #28 UK
- "Prime Time" (1979) #34 UK
- "Don't Want To Wait Anymore" (1981) #35 U.S. #60 UK
- "She's A Beauty" (1983) #10 U.S.
- "Tip Of My Tongue" (1983) #52 U.S.
- "The Monkey Time" (1983) #68 U.S.
- "Piece By Piece" (1985) #87 U.S.
[edit] References
- Guinness Book of British Hit Singles 7th Edition - 1988
[edit] External links
- thetubes.com, Official Web Site of The Tubes
- Bill "Sputnik" Spooner's website. Many great old Tubes photos here
- The Folk-Ups, current project of Bill "Sputnik" Spooner
- A new feature length documentary is in production, directed by Tubes synth player Michael Cotten.
- Roger Steen Interview, 1999
- Michael Cotten on My Space
- The Tubes Live on My Space
