Re: The Tubes

After somehow mostly avoiding the Tubes for nearly 50 years (aside from the handful of radio and MTV regulars), I recently picked their first record for a few bucks and I kinda love it. I feel like there's a lot of Zappa/Mothers influence in there that I haven't really seen referenced in the stuff I've now read about that album. What else of theirs is worth pursuing? Or should I just content myself with this one?

I’m guessing you’re familiar with the hits they had in the early 80s like ‘talk to ya later’ or ‘she’s a beauty’ and already know what to expect there…

I like ‘remote control’, their Rundgren-produced ‘ 79 album. I’m partial to the song ‘tv is king’… but that’s me. You should be able to find it in the cheap vinyl bins of your local record store for a couple bucks.

Im hardly an aficionado but have picked up most of their albums in used vinyl bins. They really are an anomaly. As an early teen I thought with a name like ‘the tubes’ they’d be a new wave group….really wasn’t the case!

> As an early teen I thought with a name like ‘the tubes’ they’d be a new wave group….really wasn’t the case!

Proto-new-wave? Or perhaps they were New Wave before New Wave was really a thing.

I've collected their '70s albums when I've found good copies in the used bins, too. From The Tubes through Now, they maintain that absurdist/Zappa vibe. Remote Control focuses that outlook on a single target/theme -- television -- with excellent results, partly thanks to Todd Rundgren's production. Their '80s work with David Foster is much more familiar to most people, but much less interesting. Their 1985 reunion with Rundgren, Love Bomb, shows the band trying to reconnect with the inspiration of Remote Control while hanging onto their newly acquired pop audience. Didn't work.

The Tubes were almost more of a theatrical event than a band. Sort of like The Mystic Knights Of the Oingo Boingo but with way more Rock chops. They seemed to be Mockers, rather than Rockers. But when I listen to the song "White Punks On Dope," I can't help but think there's at least a thread of compassion in all of the bad attitude on display. That said, I cannot listen to Frank Zappa. His music make me feel ill. And I don't detect anything but contempt being projected in Zappa's music.

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Agree with Monk, although not as emphatically. I wouldn't say that Zappa's music ever has made me feel ill, but I've had plenty of friends over the years try to bend my ear with his music. A few still do. But even at his best, I can't help but hear an artist who thought he was better than his audience. What Monk said about The Tubes definitely applies here: Zappa was more of a mocker than a rocker.

I've repeatedly tried to get into the Tubes' '70s music and can't quite get there. They might have been great fun to see live, judging from YouTube clips of the period, but I don't think it translated to the studio. Even "White Punks on Dope" feels bloated, more concept than earworm.

I like the first 3 Zappa/Mothers albums, but bands like Faust and Henry Cow improved upon their most innovative elements. (Unlike the Beatles, Zappa knew contemporary classical music well enough that he could produce a listenable musique concrete collage.) "Trouble Every Day" is a great protest song and WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY feels like his one moment of genuine iconoclasm, where he risked pissing off his entire audience. After that point, his talent as a composer was still present, but his music turned into wanky jazz-prog and his sense of humor made him sound like a particularly sexist and homophobic 12-year-old boy. His pal Captain Beefheart was much wittier.

I have to admit: his wanky jazz prog (instrumental stuff only) is the only part of Zappa's catalog that I've found compelling.

As for the Tubes, I dig the debut and Remote Control, and I might still have a 45 of "She's a Beauty" (the first Tubes song I ever heard) somewhere. I don't know the rest of their catalog at all.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2022 04:16PM by Michael Toland.

My first introduction to the Tubes was their appearance in Xanadu which I loved. Then I heard them play over the title credits of Modern Problems, which I also loved (not the movie). I went out to buy their latest album at the time, The Completion Backwards Principle and neither song was on the album and the band was wearing suits and ties?* No thanks.

Much later, I bought all of their stuff and I can echo the other comments. The first album (though most CDs of this album also contain Young and Rich), Remote Control and the Completion Backwards Principle are all first rate and each are a good representation of the music of the period.

I've seen them live a few times and they play songs from their entire catalog and Fee Waybill puts on all the costumes, though he should bag the bondage gear for Mondo Bondage (at his age, it's kind of frightening). It's amazing he can walk around and sing when he's Quay Luude.

*I realize now, it was an attempt to parody an industrial self-help record but at the time my young teenage mind didn't get it.

I was definitely a Tubes fan back in the early 80s. That was among the first live shows I ever saw! _The Completion Backwards Principle_ is a favorite. I also quite like _What Do you Want From Live_.

Alright - thanks, folks. I'll keep an eye out for those other 70s albums in the used bins.

As for Zappa, I'm kinda with Toland here. The instrumental stuff from the late 60s up to the mid-70s is pretty great, but the more he talks, the less interested I am. I do think Hot Rats is a goddamn masterpiece.

Debut - must have
Young and Rich - solid
Now - skip
Remote Control - a notch below must have
The Completion Backwards Principle - better than Now, but not great

Anything else, I have no comment. The singles I've heard from later albums, including "She's a Beauty" didn't excite me too much.

Deep in hock to A+M, they linked up with schlockmeister David Foster, who did deliver hits on "The Completion Backward Principle." The sales they had afterward helped to reduce their debt, but was it worth it? You'd have to ask them. I don't have any Tubes on LP or CD but I did buy their laserdisc in the 90s. Haven't watched it yet, though!


Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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Monk, is that one of those 12" diameter video discs? Do you collect those? I worked with a guy who had an enormous collection.

Yes. I've got about 300-400. With a 1/4th being sacred music titles. Most Japanese.

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The Tubes were stellar on one of my favorite SCTV episodes. The one where Lola Heatherton gets whacked on pills and muffs her big comeback special. I loved how that show incorporated the musical guests into the skits. Naturally, some were better actors than others! The Tubes were built for such hijinx.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/2022 09:28PM by Post-Punk Monk.

With Gill, the Fishin' Musician and Willie who kept getting them into the weeds.

I loved SCTV's "Fishin' Musician" skits, and fondly remember Gil's safari with the Plasmatics and his hunt for antiques with Third World.

What other comedy show would host The Plasmatics? AND Tony Bennett??!!

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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Fee Waybill solo is in "St. Elmo's Fire" soundtrack, which I happened to have been watching a few weeks ago