If you don't appreciate The Tubes, then the fucking terrorists HAVE won.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

This band BLED for their art.

When they first started in the 70s, they became famous for AMAZING multi-media, full costume stage shows that were beyond description.

At the Paramount Theatre in Oakland CA, touring behind their second album, Boz Scaggs came out during "White Punks On Dope." Boz looked fucking SHARP, wearing a navy pinstripe suit and holding a white Strat, and he was riding his own wave with "Silk Degrees." In addition to Boz and Tubes guitarists Bill "Sputnik" Spooner and Roger Steen, there was a guy in a gorilla suit, also holding a Strat. Singer Fee Waybill introduced the four-man guitar army by screaming "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...THE LYNYRD SKYNYRD GUITAR SECTION!"

By the time of their third album, percussionist Mingo Lewis wanted to join the band. He'd been a featured player for a while. The problem was that because of the expenses behind those stage shows, the band had to file for bankruptcy. They told Mingo "if you become a full member of this band, you'll share the financial burden, and we don't want to do that to you."

They later hooked up with producer Todd Rundgren and pursued "hits" like "She's A Beauty."

A few original members left. Fee Waybill, Roger Steen, Prairie Prince and Rick Anderson remain, augmented by new members. In 2005 they released the live CD "Wild In London."



I use Tubes fans as a litmus test for people I want to know. This band is legend. When you hear the call to be an artist, you must realize that there are no promises. You have to fight for your art. The Tubes did. That resonates with people, or it doesn't. The resonators are in my POSSE, G...

:toast:

[Tikki]

1. Oh yeah, The Tubes music I like alot....

and I mean....ALOT. But, Fee Waybill was a total A**hole..... at least he was as far back as the mid-80's.





Tikki

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

2. But that adds to the charm...

...gotta tell ya, even though The Grateful Dead coined the phrase "There is nothing like a Grateful Dead show," in reality, there is NOTHING like a Tubes show. NOTHING. The band (and its many dancers / stage hands / etc) LOVED their art.

I love MY art. It may not hang in a museum one day, but I LOVE it. Art without love is "wanking."

:toast:

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. I'm there with ya, man!

I was a latecomer (bought Completion Backwards Principle when it came out and went from there), but still love them. Especially the Rundgren years.

I'm probably one of the handful of people alive who would scratch the eyes out of anyone that touches my copy of "Love Bomb."

[bbernardini]

4. I WORSHIP The Tubes. Genius. Absolute genius.

I try to collect as many live recordings of them as I can, from any era.

[SnohoDem]

5. Cool!

"What Do You Want From Live", "Completion Backwards Principle" and "Remote Control" were my favorites. Haven't heard much of the 'new' stuff. For a live rock album in the '70s, "What..." is about as tight as it got. And funnier than anything else.

I'll drink to the Tubes! :beer:

[bbernardini]

6. The new stuff has its moments.

There were some good tunes on "Genius Of America" (although I prefer the original arrangement of "Fish House"), and some of the new stuff they were playing on the "Wild West" tour is good.

There's some choice unreleased tunes in the "David Killingsworth Demos" as well.

[tonekat]

7. Ever hear Nina Hagen's version of "White Punks on Dope"?

Sung entirely in German, of course!

[SnohoDem]

9. Yes,

when it was new (godDAMN! I'm old). I think it means, "We watch TV". Any German speakers that can verify that?

[hfojvt]

15. "TV-Glotzer" would be those who stare at the TV

http://www.totalobscurity.com/nina/lyrics/lyrics.html

glotzen means to stare
wachten is to watch

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

10. Haven't heard it...

...but I do admire "unique" approaches to cover versions.

:toast:

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. I offer my big YAY! for The Tubes!

great band. I wish I could have seen them in concert. I have a tape of a concert played on MTV back in probably '84 or '85 that I watched a lot.

Brilliant band!

[asthmaticeog]

11. The Tubes were my first concert. nt

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. No argument here

From dancing cigarette packs on "Smoke (La Vie En Fumer)" to Quay's three-foot boots to Johnny Bugger and the Dirt Boxes, the Tubes were less a band than an experience.

I almost forgot Cowboy Fee asking the audience, "Whadda yew people fuck, anyway? Y'all ain't sheep fuckers, are ya?"

[begin_within]

13. I saw them at Dooley's in Tempe, Arizona in 1980. Front row! (It's a bar.)

Not long after their "Remote Control" album came out, and they did a basic show without all the theatrics. Just their music. As you entered the building you were given a ballot to vote on which songs they would do (the entire set wasn't determined this way, just about 5 of the songs). You turned in your ballot and during the show they announced when they were playing a song that received a high vote total. They were a great band! Dooley's was a large nightclub/bar which had a lot of concerts. The opening act for The Tubes that night was Randy Hansen (the Hendrix tribute guy).

[Capn Sunshine]

14. The absolute pinnacle of western civilization

"White Punks On Dope"


And "What do you Want From Life"

and a baby's arm holding an apple.

[Frank Cannon]

16. An autographed picture of Randy Mantooth!

Those were the days. The Tubes had some great songs and weren't afraid to do just about anything, including appearing as "the rock band of today" in the movie Xanadu.

[Beausoir]

17. Amen! I saw them with Todd Rundgren back in the mid 80's.

The show was incredible. Naked women dancing on stage during "Sportsfans".

They blew the walls out. Complete rock.

What a scream.


The Tubes got me through college.

[FarLeftRage]

18. I saw them in Cleveland, back in 1978...

What a show... each song they was visually performed on stage with extras they had with them.

Fee was the star and it is one that I'll never forget.