{"id":24059,"date":"2022-11-24T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T10:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24059"},"modified":"2022-11-24T11:43:37","modified_gmt":"2022-11-24T16:43:37","slug":"take-5-the-tubes-fee-waybill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/24\/take-5-the-tubes-fee-waybill\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: The Tubes&#8217; Fee Waybill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tubes lead singer and founding member Fee Waybill celebrated his 72nd birthday on September 17. Founded in 1972 and still performing today, The Tubes were among the most outrageous bands of the 1970s; their music combined satire with art rock, and their uproarious live shows flirted with the edges of good taste. Complex and ambitious arrangements bridged the gap between punk and progressive rock, and their witty lyrics managed to amuse while commenting acerbically on popular culture. Here are five of The Tubes\u2019 most overlooked gems, all featuring the lead vocals of Fee Waybill.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cWhat Do You Want From Life?\u201d<\/strong> Co-written by guitarist Bill Spooner, this classic takes sharp aim at television game shows and the vacuity of rampant consumerism. The studio version on The Tubes\u2019 1975 debut album is great, but the live version captured at London\u2019s Hammersmith Odeon is even better, showcasing the wild and unpredictable side of the group.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A_7dyJUvXn4\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cDon\u2019t Touch Me There\u201d<\/strong> The extravagant production style of Phil Spector is ripe for pastiche and parody. But The Tubes took it several steps beyond when they crafted this tune for their second LP, <em>Young and Rich<\/em>. The group even enlisted Spector\u2019s associate Jack Nitzsche to arrange the song. But while Spector\u2019s productions adorned comparatively innocent songs, this number is a racy tale. Onstage and on the record, Waybill was joined by vocalist Re Styles, and props included a real motorcycle.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0w-HpBPJC1I\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cYou\u2019re No Fun\u201d<\/strong> The Tubes were masters of combining different styles, and this track off their third album (1977\u2019s <em>Now<\/em>) is an exemplar of that versatility. It combines Vegas-y lounge music, funky soul, sweeping progressive rock and even a bit of comedy, poking fun at The Ramones (listen for Waybill mimicking Dee Dee\u2019s trademark count-in).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QyUo7gQGgHI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cT.V. is King\u201d<\/strong> For their fourth album, the Tubes worked with producer Todd Rundgren. The result was <em>Remote Control<\/em>, a brilliant near-concept album that chose American\u2019s obsession with television as its target. A band co-write with Rundgren, this song finds Waybill in the role of a man in love\u2026 with his television set.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/up0_z448pkc\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cAttack of the 50 Foot Woman\u201d<\/strong> After being dropped by A&amp;M Records, The Tubes streamlined their live act and signed with Capitol. There they finally enjoyed commercial success commensurate with the critical plaudits they had long since earned. 1981\u2019s <em>The Completion Backward Principle<\/em> was the group\u2019s breakthrough, featuring the hit \u201cTalk to Ya Later.\u201d But this deep album cut shows the band\u2019s gift for satire, hilariously skewering 1950s sci-fi movies with a uniquely saucy Tubes twist.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZG9jJ1onjdk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tubes lead singer and founding member Fee Waybill celebrated his 72nd birthday on September 17. Founded in 1972 and still performing today, The Tubes were among the most outrageous bands [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4978,2188],"class_list":["post-24059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-fee-waybill","tag-the-tubes","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24059","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=24059"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24344,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24059\/revisions\/24344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}