Wow, I would have thought it well-nigh impossible that someone else here would be familiar with The Tubes "Remote Control." This IS a marvelous thread!I can relate to all of the above.
I put it on again today while doing stuff in preparation for Chrimbo..
I find the whole thing a dichotomy.
It’s not punk or new wave or rock for that matter and yet it is or at least fits in to the time when you consider what came after into the 80’s.
I like it and then I don’t. His voice is great and then it grates and I wonder is he intentionally taking the piss and where does this music fit in?
And then when I was getting comparisons with Tony Hadleigh at one stage it suddenly struck me what this reminds me of.
I don’t know anything about this band and what they were like live and whether they are serious or not, but this strikes me as very similar to The Tubes. The Tubes were around poking fun at the music scene since around 1975 and had there own style that really didn’t fit in with overblown rock and didn’t really resonate with punk either although their shows were every bit as subversive.
Thank you @journolud for posting this.
Like I said it’s a dichotomy. It’s not really my thing as a stand alone album and yet the more I play it the more it grows on me.
Play The Tubes 1979 offering, Remote Control and although not as top heavy with guitar, tell me you don’t see similarities. Every song is a mini rock/pop/blues/punk opera with a little West Side Story thrown in for good measure.
Better still put these two albums on a playlist and put them on shuffle and see what you make of it.
This thread is marvellous.
That seems over and above for something you seem unlikely to rate highly. Maybe fourth time around you’ll begin to appreciate it…
As I’ve said before Foggy, my 70’s music collection consisted of the regular rock and prog rock stuff. When punk came along it was like you had to make a choice. Amongst my peers you were either with them or against them and that included The Clash and others that went beyond the brief punk period.Wow, I would have thought it well-nigh impossible that someone else here would be familiar with The Tubes "Remote Control." This IS a marvelous thread!
The Tubes self-titled first record is one of my all-time favo(u)rites and is THE record I turn to when homesick for San Francisco.
I never forget a name, we’ll, not when it’s as strange as Fee Waybill.As I’ve said before Foggy, my 70’s music collection consisted of the regular rock and prog rock stuff. When punk came along it was like you had to make a choice. Amongst my peers you were either with them or against them and that included The Clash and others that went beyond the brief punk period.
As I’ve also said before when it comes to musical tastes, I don’t like the idea of competition between tastes. The older I’ve got, the wider my appreciation of all genres has become and that includes looking back retrospectively.
However I remember back around 1979 when Remote Control came out, one of my peers saying listen to these. Turn Me On was getting a lot of airplay and was even getting played at a teenage rock disco that I used to go to.
I had seen White Punks on Dope played on TOGW, I think and hadn’t known what to make of them.
It was only one NewYears, I think, around 1980 or maybe 81 when I saw The Tubes in concert on tv and saw Fee Waybill swinging a buzz saw around at the end and jumping down into the front rows of the crowd. I thought, ‘Yes Please, I’ll have a slice of this lot’.
I believe he broke a bone in his foot or leg or something when jumping down too, and carried on swinging.
Remote Control is a brilliant album and I put it on again today after Gypsy Blood bringing it to my mind.
Several standout songs on it all held together as a theme in Getoverture.
Agree. marvellous thread this.
So I actually met him (casually) when he and his girlfriend were seated at the same teppanyaki table my friends and I were at the San Francisco Benihana. I remember him as a big, incredibly goofy-looking guy but very outgoing and personable, kind of like you’d expect. This would have been like early 80s I think. I wish I’d bothered him more in retrospect!I never forget a name, we’ll, not when it’s as strange as Fee Waybill.
He co-wrote a couple of songs on Richard Marx’s debut album. Totally different genre, of course, but it’s funny when names appear, disappear and re-appear in music. It’s like one giant tangled web.
If I thought his really name was funny, reading about him on Wikipedia reveals some outrageous stage names: Johnny Bugger :)
They were a novelty band, sort of. Kind of a glam concept comedy band. But the schtick covered up some really good musicianship and a lot of catchy stuff.I remember my dad, who had quite eclectic tastes was into the Tubes but I think it was a live album he had. Given the apparent similarities to Doll by Doll I’ll give Remote Control a listen. My memory of them was as a novelty band of sorts but maybe that doesn’t do them justice
I've found it on Amazon music of that's any help to anyone......was any singles released from this Album ?
also, the full album is on spotify
Was it the Tubes that had the lead singer with a sawchain on stage as a gimmick.They were a novelty band, sort of. Kind of a glam concept comedy band. But the schtick covered up some really good musicianship a
I don’t remember that but I remember Quay Lewd and like three-foot high heels! That was Fee in all his (her?) glory.Was it the Tubes that had the lead singer with a sawchain on stage as a gimmick.