The Tubes is 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 pun on
Quaalude), 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. ("TV Glotzer," pronounced "Tay-Fow Glohtzah" essentially means "
couch potato" and is literally translated from German as "one who stares at television".)
The Tubes first
album was produced by
Al Kooper. The second album, for
A&M Records, was produced by
Ken Scott and called
Young and Rich. It 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. The Tubes stage productions were choreographed by
Kenny Ortega and featured castmembers;
Jane Dornacker, LeRoy Jones, Michael Holman, Michael Springer, Edwin Heaven, Cindi Osborn, Heline Gouax and Mary Niland from 1975-1977. From 1978-1979 the cast included, Sharon Collins, Caty Bevan and Loryanna Catalano. The Completion Backward Tour featured Shelly Pang, Cheryl Hangland and
Cynthia Rhodes. From 1983-85 Michelle Gray and Cheryl Hangland were principal dancers. Several crew members including Lee Collins, Steve "Chopper" Borges and Gail Lowe made frequent appearances on stage in various roles as well.
The Tubes live shows in the late 70's and early 80's were rife with allusions to mainstream film ("
Dr. Strangelove", Rollerball,
Saturday Night Fever,
Grease), then-forgotten B-movies (
Wild Women of Wongo,
Attack of the 50ft Woman), music (
Tom Jones, punk rock, a medley of
Nelson Riddle television themes), contemporary pop culture (
Patty Hearst, the Viking program), television (
Let's Make a Deal,
Fernwood 2Nite, the anime
Raideen), and literature (
Nelson Algren's A Walk on the Wild Side), presaging the subcultural reverence and over-the-top theatricality of later groups like
The World Inferno Friendship Appreciation Society.
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. Their proposed fifth album, the self-produced
Suffer for Sound, was rejected by
A&M Records, who dumped the band instead, finishing out its contract with the oddities collection
T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits).
The band then signed to
Capitol Records, scaling back the live shows and repositioning 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, a flop that led Capitol to drop the band just as it was going on tour in support of the album, a tour that would leave the band a half million dollars in debt, forcing them to play low-budget gigs for a year to pay off their debts. 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, the most popular and well known song possibly being "Edge Of A Broken Heart" by the female band Vixen.
In 1988, The Tubes continued on with long-time friend from Phoenix, AZ., David Killingsworth on lead vocals, and minus Welnick (who would later join the
Grateful Dead), Cotten, and Spooner. With the addition of Gary Cambra on keyboards and guitar, Waybill would eventually return in 1993 for a European tour and launching of the compilation CD for Capitol and 1996's
Genius of America. In 2001, the band releases a live CD, " The Tubes World Tour 2001", and continues to tour.
Welnick, who long suffered from depression, committed suicide on
June 2, 2006.
On September 23, 2007, the remaining members of the Tubes reunited in Phoenix for their induction into the
Arizona Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame.
