The Tubes, getting a jump on New Year’s Eve, with a set recorded at Winterland by KSAN-FM in San Francisco on December 31, 1975.
Described by The San Francisco Chronicle as “The Weirdest Band In Rock n’ Roll” – not sure if “weird” is an apt description but “surreal and outrageous” was probably more true-to-form in the early days. As the Brits often said, “taking the piss” out of some aspects of Popular Culture was what The Tubes were all about.
A heavy dose of Theatre, all aided and abetted by Fee Waldo Waybill and a cast of musical chaos merchants – they poked fun and drew attention to some of the acknowledged trends of the day, doing it as an expression of irony that society in the mid-70’s was bordering on anything but conventional and it was sliding off the rails.
First off we had Glam, the precursor of Punk which, in itself was a reaction to Glam. In The Tubes we had Fee assuming his Quey Lewd character, towering over the band in improbably stratospheric Platform shoes singing about White Punks On Dope – a song which became something of an anthem during the mid-70s for somewhat ironic reasons.
And we had a takeoff on the “navel gazing” craze of the early 70s – all the self-help, self-discovery, Crunchy Granola, patchouli and bliss-drenched aspects which became fodder for “What Do You Want From Life?” – laying into all the gurus and pundits so prevalent in American culture from the late 60s on.
We often forget that Music, when it wants to, is capable of stirring up all kinds of emotion, protest and introspection – either by way of parody or call to action. Protest in Music has been a staple in the world’s diet since humans grunted in unison.
The Tubes did it in a subtle way, exposing the silliness, casting light on issues in a way that brought enthusiastic agreement, whether the audience was aware it was about them or not.
But where The Tubes were bringing Theatre of the Absurd to the Youth of America, others during the same period were bringing Anger and Awareness to the Musical tent. A contemporary of The Tubes was Gil-Scott Heron, whose “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” laid down much the same irony as The Tubes, only taking the “knife’s edge” approach. In 1975 you got to hear both, and it’s a sure bet both applied. Protest in music is as natural as breathing – and the 70s were fairly running amok in it.
If you missed it the first time around – or were busy being “high on the floor” of your apartment – this was one part of what ushering in the new year was all about. And here’s a reminder we can do a lot and get to a lot of people via notes and words. The Tubes were great at it.
Holding breath for 2026 – fingers crossed it all works out – bringing the message there’s no time or place for distraction.
Write something – sing something – play something. And listen to something in the meantime.
