Love That Album podcast episode 113 - The Tubes S/T

When punk arrived in the mid 70s, its charter was to shake the establishment and give the finger to all that it stood for. Aim was also taken at bands taking months to record an album that were needlessly complex. They were seen as being part of the “machine”. In 1973, along came San Franciscan band The Tubes. They had punk attitude, but were not content to play 2 minute stripped-back punk songs. Their songs were making fun of middle America’s consumer obsessed society and its conservative values (haven’t we come a long way since then………right????) They weren’t angry, though. They were definitely laughing while pointing that finger, and doing shows that were part rock show, part theatre, all supposed to make your parents feel uncomfortable. They weren’t quite punk, they weren’t quite glam….what were they?

For Love That Album episode 113, I am joined by the marvellous writer and podcaster Heather Drain to discuss our love of The Tubes, the nature of theatrical rock (and what defines it), how the band evolved, their live shows, and their discography. In particular, we spend time talking about their debut self titled album from 1975, inclusive of its thematic elements, the music and its inspiration, an iconic song abut bored rich youth and another about their bored rich parents. In the eighties, the band found some level of commercial popularity (with great songs), but at a cost.

If you’re not a fan of The Tubes before listening to this episode, I like to think our conversation will at least make you interested to give their work a try. My gratitude goes to Heather for being giving of her time and bringing some fantastic insight. Make no mistake, folks – she’s going to be on the show a lot more going forward.

Eric’s Album I Love segment follows with another theatrical band that had things to say, The Atomic Swindlers. Tune in and hear why this was his choice for this episode.

You can download the show from iTunes (search for “Love That Album podcast”) or from the website at http://lovethatalbum.blogspot.com

I urge you to read Heather’s writings about music and film at http://mondoheather.com. You can also find her works at Diabolique Magazine on line: https://diaboliquemagazine.com/author/heatherdrain/

You should also check out every episode she’s on (well every episode period) of Mike White’s Projection Booth podcast: http://projection-booth.blogspot.com/

You can send me feedback at rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum.

If you’d consider writing an iTunes review or recommending the show to a friend, we’d be immensely grateful.

If you enjoy what you hear, please tell a friend or ten to tune in.

Right click to download episode 113 here.

Love That Album - Episode 11 - The Tubes - Remote Control

Back in the seventies, San Franciscan band The Tubes set out to shock all those who saw their live shows with their satire of our obsession with materialism, white rich kids with too much time on their hands, and what REALLY went on behind the white picket fences. They were a very theatrical band, but many of their songs stand proudly without the visuals. In 1979, they recorded their final album for A & M records called “Remote Control” recounting the story of a man’s obsession (and ultimate demise) with TV. On this episode of Love That Album, Michael Pursche of the great rock interview podcast, “Sitting In A Bar in Adelaide” goes head to head with me to discuss this overlooked (and unfortunately, more relevant than ever) album. Rolling Stone thought the album stank. Allmusic says it’s great and a career highlight. What do we think? Where does Peter Sellers come into the picture? Are there really 57 channels with nothing on? Can our anti-hero find true love with the girl in the shampoo commercial? All is revealed.

Please provide feedback, either written email or mp3 audio, to rrrkitchen@yahoo.com.au. We’d love to hear from you, be it about a show we’ve done or suggestion for a future show.  Download the show at iTunes (search for ”lovethatalbum”) or click on the links on the right of this page (stream or download).

Right click to download episode 11 here.

"The Tubes" - The Tubes

Back in the early 80s, I have recollections of coming home from school and, like many other kids I knew at the time, turning on the TV to the ABC (there was just the one ABC channel back in the day, kiddies) to watch the Kenny Everett Video Show and The Goodies (or Wayne and Schuster if one of the other shows was on hiatus). Both shows seemed so anarchic in comparison to umpteen repeats of Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on the other channels. How we looked forward to seeing Kenny do a Brother Lee Love  routine or to see The Goodies' Bill Oddie hit someone with a black pudding in the name of his martial art, Ecky Thump.

Every day, for a time, before these shows would start there would be a rock video clip to fill in time. Whoever was the pop 15-minuter of the day (Adam Ant, Racey). One particular week, the clips were all devoted to a band I'd not heard of called The Tubes.

After that week, they would never be far away from my record player.

They had just released their latest album, The Completion Backward Principle, and had recurited video director-of-the-minute Russell Mulcahy to direct a video album to accompany the record - this may well have been the first one of its kind. Not that I was to know it yet, but The Tubes had been around for a while and were very much into theatrical shock-rock, like say, Alice Cooper. Unlike the Coop, the emphasis was less on horror and more on society parody of manners. Their act got them banned in someplaces (I have a feeling that included Australia, but am not sure), so it was no wonder that the clips shown that week on the ABC were more tame than what they were usually known for. Still, "Sushi Girl" in the 6.30pm time slot was pretty incredible for the day.

In fact, The Completion Backward Principle saw the band at Capitol Records with them trying to take a more commercial bent than previous records had been. The sheen that producer David Foster gave them gave a slickness absent from their earlier more creative records. They might have wanted top 40 success, but on their terms. Still, the first single, "I Don't Want To Wait Anymore" didn't garner (in Australia anyway) huge success.  Maybe a song with a lazy lyric like "Trapped in the freezing cold / Barely alive, had to make love to survive" didn't deserve to make it. Maybe the world didn't want another Toto.

If we only go back a few years prior to 1975 however, The Tubes released their first album eponymously titled on A & M, and it was a million miles away from the -admittedly very catchy - pop of Completion Backwards Principle. "The Tubes" had songs of bondage, bored spoiled rich teenagers, sex, rampant consumerism, floating in space, and even a song about themselves. There was one love song, but of course The Tubes would not do anything conventionally. It was an old mariachi number.

The seven piece band were all incredible musicians, and were led by the charismatic and energetic Fee Waybill. He had a number of stage personas with more costume changes than Barbara Streisand. The Tubes definitely believed in putting on a show, not just a concert.

So what's happening musically on their first album? I've already mentioned mariachi, but there's all sorts of art rock touches with crazy time changes. That statement could put many off, but it's not supposed to. Whereas a lot of the art rock or prog rock was taking itself very seriously with lengthy songs and keyboard solos all out of proportion (and I say that as a Rick Wakeman fan), The Tubes used their musicianship to serve the song, not their egos. Melodies are very strong on this record. They definitely share a sense of humour with Frank Zappa, but are far more interesting musically here than anything I ever heard from the Mothers of Invention (don't shoot me down, but I can't whistle a Zappa melody).

Before I get to the two obvious highlights of the record, I'll mention a couple of other gems. The album opens with a strong statement of intent with "Up From The Deep". The band are offering their audience an introduction to themselves and want to please them  ("This is how you want it / Then that's how we'll play it"). It plays like a mini symphony and has a shitload of weird time changes, but is nothing like Yes. It's not taking itself seriously, but is still musically majestic. Their sesne of humour comes to the fore with the catchy and yet sardonic "What Do You Want From Life?" Their statement on consumerism and peoples' superficiality in general is still funny enough to not make us feel shitty about it. It's also possibly the only pop song to make mention of "a baby's arm holding an apple".

Ostensibly, The Tubes were a very visual band and it's probably in a live context that they worked best, certainly with these next two songs I wish to mention: "Mondo Bondage" and "White Punks On Dope". Yet, these songs are both so forceful, that even if you never saw them live, the theatre of your mind can present images that might have made Fee Waybill himself blush. Certainly watch them on Youtube (the band should have sued) - with no kids around, of course - but the songs without visuals still stand up. WPOD is their take on bored rich white Californian kids of the early 70s (though it's probably still applicable now, and is certainly not geographically specific). I guess Billy Joel did a similar thing at the time with "Captain Jack". The Tubes' song is more a tribute to excess (with Waybill dressed in platform shoes, wig, and early 70s Elton John glasses) as well as a mockery of those who partook, whereas the protagonist in Jack actually sounds bored and lives just to score his next hit. On stage, WPOD looked like an inspiration for Spinal Tap!!!

As for Mondo Bondage, if the song wasn't so good, you'd feel guilty listening to it or watching a clip. Surely some sleazy 1970s ...ahem...adult film has used this song as its soundtrack. On the surface this could be a song about feeling one is tied up in life and wanting to break out of a rut. On the other hand, it's probably just a song about bondage. A very intense frightening song - but I'm sure the band thinks we're supposed to find it funny.,and it is....sort of.

I'm sure that when music critics are writing about the bloated excess of 70s rock, it could be all too easy to include this album and this band in general as an argument in their favour. That, however, would be doing discredit to The Tubes who were really more about taking the piss (no jokes on any Genesis albums that I can recall) - they just happened to do it with a myriad of time signature changes. Search this album out,or view them on youtube.