{"id":15240,"date":"2018-10-01T05:30:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T09:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15240"},"modified":"2025-10-17T07:40:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:40:50","slug":"a-look-back-at-the-tubes-remote-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/01\/a-look-back-at-the-tubes-remote-control\/","title":{"rendered":"A Look Back at the Tubes’ ‘Remote Control’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Tubes were among the most outrageous of 1970s rock groups. With an impressively muscular and underrated instrumental foundation, the group \u2013 or at least lead singer Fee Waybill \u2013 acted out the band\u2019s bizarre tunes live onstage. Songs like \u201cWhite Punks on Dope,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Touch Me There\u201d and \u201cMondo Bondage\u201d were clever to begin with, but when dancers, props and play-acting was added to the equation, it all went right over the top.<\/p>\n

In 1979 the group teamed up with wunderkind producer Todd Rundgren to make its fourth studio release, Remote Control<\/i>. Working closely with the band, Rundgren did what he would do several years down the line for XTC on their Skylarking<\/i> LP: he shaped and sequenced the group\u2019s original material into something resembling a narrative, in this case one about television culture. This time around, the Tubes had come up with a bunch of excellent material; Rundgren\u2019s input only improved things.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurn Me On\u201d<\/b>
\nOpening with a bleating analog synthesizer, the tune sets the mood for the hard-charging yet new wave-leaning album. A memorable melody and an insistent performance showcase a streamlined band that still focuses on dramatic presentation. The group always excelled at sly (if not always subtle) double-entendres, and the line \u201cput your hand on the power\u201d is certainly an example of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cTV is King\u201d
\n<\/b>An even more memorable synthesizer line (courtesy of Mike Cotten, one of the band\u2019s two keyboardists) kicks off the most pop-oriented tune on Remote Control<\/i>. \u201cTV is King\u201d also sports some of the album\u2019s most incisive lyrics, skewering the vapidity of TV culture \u2013 and American\u2019s obsession with it \u2013 in a way that\u2019s more relevant than ever today. But as always, the Tubes apply humor to their social commentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime Time\u201d
\n<\/b>The third song on Remote Control<\/i> (and the third to open with synthesizers out front), \u201cPrime Time\u201d features vocalist Re Styles taking the lead (there is an alternate video version \u2013 featured on the T.R.A.S.H<\/i>. compilation \u2013 that\u2019s a duet between Styles and Waybill). The song\u2019s feel is halfway between Re\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Touch Me There\u201d duet and the kind of sleek dance-oriented new wave Blondie was making at the time. The massed backing vocals \u2013 a characteristic of the album \u2013 are superb, as is the wonderfully textured mid-song synth break.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cI Want it All Now\u201d
\n<\/b>The nuanced melody of this swinging uptempo number bears the stamp of both keyboardist Vince Welnick and \u2013 especially in the resounding, hand-clapping choruses \u2013 producer Rundgren. Auxiliary member Mingo Lewis adds subtle splashes of percussion. Some faux-reggae in the song\u2019s midsection seems slightly out of place, but ultimately the song works.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Way Out\u201d
\n<\/b>Combining a sort of showy Las Vegas sensibility with the urgency of new wave, \u201cNo Way Out\u201d alternately soars and pummels along. The stinging guitar fills from Roger Steen and Bill Spooner stand out on what so far has been a keyboard-focused set of songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetoverture\u201d
\n<\/b>Side two of the original vinyl LP is introduced with a grandiose instrumental, one that ties together most all of the album\u2019s musical themes in thrilling fashion. \u201cGetoverture\u201d showcases the band\u2019s rarely-remarked-upon progressive rock side, as well as its knowing way with vocal harmonies. Drummer Prairie Prince gets his moment to shine as well; the sound of what may well be a circle saw joins a Welnick piano break, with the guitarists joining in. It\u2019s no surprise that this tune would become a staple of Tubes live shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Mercy\u201d
\n<\/b>\u201cGetoverture\u201d segues straight into the stomping, Broadway-ish \u201cNo Mercy.\u201d Essentially a blues \u2013 a style in which the Tubes rarely trafficked \u2013 the tune doesn\u2019t fit smoothly into the album\u2019s supposed narrative, but it\u2019s effective, especially the round vocal parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly the Strong Survive\u201d
\n<\/b>A snarling rocker, \u201cOnly the Strong Survive\u201d is a cynical yet anthemic number that displays the band\u2019s swaggering side; the backing vocals evoke a kind of West Side Story<\/i> feel. And the guitar work is on fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe Mine Tonight\u201d
\n<\/b>With all the elements of a successful single, \u201cBe Mine Tonight\u201d displays the Tubes\u2019 virtues: witty lyrics, a memorable chorus, soaring harmonies and an insistent melody. The song wouldn\u2019t have been out of place on a Utopia album of the era. Rick Anderson\u2019s bass work provides a solid groove that anchors the song, and a dramatic bridge adds intrigue and texture.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cLove\u2019s a Mystery (I Don\u2019t Understand)\u201d
\n<\/b>The era of the power ballad had yet to dawn when the Tubes cut \u201cLove\u2019s a Mystery,\u201d but the romantic song ranks as one of the band\u2019s finest moments. It\u2019s very much of a piece with \u201cDon\u2019t Want to Wait Anymore\u201d from the band\u2019s 1981 Capitol album The Completion Backward Principle<\/i>. Rundgren\u2019s melodic input is at its most overt here. In a just world, this is the song that should have pushed the Tubes into major-league success. If Remote Control<\/i> had ended with this song\u2019s fadeout, that would have been enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cTelecide\u201d
\n<\/b>Instead, the album closes with this tune, a kinetic, edge-of-mayhem number that features Fee Waybill screaming and then shouting, spitting out laundry-list lyrics, presaging \u201cMr. Hate\u201d from Completion<\/i>. The band \u2013 especially Welnick \u2013 is firing on all cylinders. Re Styles deadpans, \u201cI used to know him; he seemed like a regular guy.\u201d If one can imagine punk made by a top-notch band with a flair for the dramatic and a desire to showcase its instrumental ability \u2013 think Roxy Music with Johnny Rotten on lead vocals \u2013 then \u201cTelecide\u201d would be an exemplar of that aesthetic.<\/p>\n

A brief, unlisted reprise of the theme from \u201cLove\u2019s a Mystery\u201d (done \u201cGetoverture\u201d style) closes the curtain on Remote Control<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Critics of the time were unsure what to make of Remote Control<\/i>; it received mixed reviews, though the album has gone to be recognized as a classic. For their part, A&M dropped the Tubes shortly after the album\u2019s release; once the Tubes signed with Capitol, they\u2019d achieve the commercial success that had eluded them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tubes were among the most outrageous of 1970s rock groups. With an impressively muscular and underrated instrumental foundation, the group \u2013 or at least lead singer Fee Waybill \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,56,62,65],"tags":[2188,2228],"class_list":["post-15240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-wave","category-prog","category-rawk","category-review","tag-the-tubes","tag-todd-rundgren","cat-50-id","cat-56-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15240"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30168,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15240\/revisions\/30168"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}