The Tubes formed on March 22, 1972, in
San Francisco featuring members from two
Phoenix bands who had moved to San Francisco in 1969. One, The Beans (alternately billing themselves as the Radar Men from Uranus), included
Bill Spooner, Rick Anderson,
Vince Welnick, and Bob McIntosh. The other, the Red White and Blues Band, featured
Prairie Prince, Roger Steen, and David Killingsworth. After performing at
Expo '70 in Japan, Killingsworth left the Red, White and Blues Band, leaving Steen and Prince to audition new bass players, albeit unsuccessfully. Before moving to San Francisco the Beans had been a local favorite in Phoenix, selling out shows with a tongue-in-cheek concept rock show called "The Mother of Ascension" featuring costumes and props. After moving, Bill Spooner worked at the
Fillmore West concert hall sweeping floors in between Beans shows at the Longshoremen's Hall and other minor venues. The band's loud, heavy jamming style did not attract much attention, and the band needed to go back home to Phoenix. There they would sell out shows, which provided enough money to pay their rent. The Beans' manager and former
Alice Cooper Group drummer, John Speer, suggested they add Prince and Steen along with their roadie
John Waybill to one of these shows. Waybill's nickname among the band was "Fee," short for "
Fiji," thanks to his copious head of hippie hair. "The Radar Men from Uranus" played the
Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix, as well as a show in Mexico where they were run out of town by the police (it was where Rick Anderson almost drowned after he was washed out to sea while swimming). The group would stick together and play shows at biker bars such as The Inn of The Beginning in
Cotati, California. The vocals at the time were shared by Spooner, Steen, and Waybill as different characters. Prairie Prince and Phoenix high school friend Michael Cotten were attending art school at the
San Francisco Art Institute at this time; they attracted local press attention by painting a mural of crashing waves on the side of the
Cliff House Restaurant. Cotten was asked by Spooner to buy an
ARP synthesizer instead of a film camera and began to perform with the band as well as create props and costumes. One of the first Tubes shows was at the Art Institute cafeteria as part of an art show for classmate and future Hollywood director
Kathryn Bigelow. While experimenting with their stage show and art, Prince and Cotten met model
Re Styles while painting the Cliff House mural. Styles was born Shirley Marie Macleod on March 30, 1950, in
Middelburg, Netherlands. She had appeared in both
Alejandro Jodorowsky's
The Holy Mountain and
Sun Ra's
Space Is the Place, and posed for
Playboy and
Penthouse magazines. By 1975 she was credited with clothing design and dance co-ordination for the band. Onstage she played
Patty Hearst and dressed in wild leather outfits during the "Mondo Bondage" dance with Waybill. By 1979, she and Prince were married. After several years of playing biker bars, the band needed help. They had a temporary agreement with producer
David Rubinson and played on bills with
The Pointer Sisters and
Sylvester, but were still trying to find an audience. Prince had been hired by newly formed jazz-rock band
Journey to record demos, and approached their manager
Herbie Herbert, a former
Santana roadie and
Bill Graham employee. Herbert made a deal with Graham that if the Tubes could sell out three local shows, Graham would give him an opening slot on the show of his choice. Herbert booked shows at a local club called the Village, which sold out thanks to themes inspired by the San Francisco post-hippie
underground culture such as "The Streaker's Ball" and "Mondo Bondage." Much to Graham's dismay, Herbert chose an opening slot for the upcoming
Led Zeppelin show at
Kezar Stadium. The band pulled out the stops, including Waybill dressed as an early version of "Quay Lewd" throwing "
Cocaine" (flour) and "Pills" (candy) at the crowd, who threw it back. Graham threatened Herbert saying that the band would never play in San Francisco again but calmed down and eventually fell in love with the band, booking them at
Winterland and other California venues for New Year's shows and Halloween. After the 1973 Led Zeppelin show, Herbert wanted to manage the band, but Spooner and the group went with local management team Mort Moriarty and Gary Peterson, also known as "Bag O' Bucks." Moriarty was interested in the use of video in rock music and saw the Tubes' stage show as the future of music videos. Bob McIntosh died of cancer at this time, leaving Prince as the only drummer. In 1974, Bag O' Bucks filmed a Tubes show at the
California Hall and shopped the "video demo" around
Los Angeles.
George Daly,
Columbia Records head of A&R in
San Francisco, made some Tubes demos, but CBS' corporate headquarters in New York City would not agree to signing the Tubes to Columbia due to the radical nature of their art. After 18 months, with no success at his own label, Daly, at the suggestion of
Rick Wakeman, finally pitched the group to competitor
A&M Records, where his former Columbia East Coast A&R colleague and friend,
Kip Cohen, had recently headed the A&R division. Daly personally flew managers Moriarity and Petersen to Los Angeles and Cohen signed the Tubes to A&M, a rare example of cross-company support by major label executives. Working with lawyer
Greg Fischbach, the band signed with A&M Records.
Debut album The Tubes' first album,
The Tubes (1975), was produced by
Al Kooper. The track "
White Punks on Dope" was an "absurd anthem of wretched excess" and ridiculed the Hollywood kids of the rich and famous. By late 1975, the band created a stage show unlike any other after hiring
Kenny Ortega to direct and choreograph, comedian
Jane Dornacker and her band "Leila and the Snakes," and event support/video pioneer T.J. McHose to run a live video feed with films for each song. The show was critically acclaimed and broke them into show business in Los Angeles during sold-out runs at the
Roxy Theater,
David Allen's Boarding House and
Bimbo's in San Francisco, as well as
The Bottom Line in
New York City. Compared at the time to
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the Tubes' stage show was closer to
Saturday Night Live with its mix of topical satire and subversive postmodern
Andy Kaufman-like routines such as Waybill beating up a couple in the front row (who were planted) during the "Crime Medley," then taking off his disguise as the band launched into "Mondo Bondage" and a huge stack of "Kill Amplifiers" (cardboard) falling on Quay Lewd during the finale of "White Punks on Dope." The band was part of the mid-'70s underground comedy scene which included
The Credibility Gap,
Firesign Theatre,
Ace Trucking Company,
Kentucky Fried Theater,
Groundlings,
Ken Shapiro's Channel One Video Theatre and
National Lampoon. The L.A. Connection Comedy Theatre performed during the Tubes show intermission many times. In 1975, the Tubes were offered a spot on
Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell and ''
NBC's Saturday Night'', but manager Mort Moriarty wanted the band to be able to play several songs in a row to show off how tight their transitions were; both shows declined, and without major network TV appearances, the Tubes missed out on huge TV exposure, cementing their "cult" status until the early 1980s. The band's touring crew was up to 24 people at this point, making it hard to tour for the standard weeks on end to which most bands of the era were committing to build a fan base.
Young and Rich The Tubes' second album,
Young and Rich (1976) on
A&M Records, was
produced by
Ken Scott. It featured "Don't Touch Me There," a suggestive duet between Waybill and Styles, which was
arranged in classic "
Wall of Sound" style by
Jack Nitzsche. The song was co-written by
Ron Nagle and Tubes dancer/vocalist
Jane Dornacker. The band toured America with a new stage show including new numbers "Slipped My Disco," "Madam, I'm Adam" and "Pimp." They also played several sold out nights at
The Shrine in Los Angeles and Bimbo's in San Francisco. Mingo Lewis joined the band after performing several shows with them at Bimbo's.
Now, What Do You Want From Live, Remote Control The Tubes' third album
Now (1977) was an attempt to write less satirical songs with the band sharing song writing duties with Bill Spooner. It was recorded while the band was playing a special engagement on weekends at
The Whisky in Los Angeles. They played a small American tour of the west coast and a month-long run at San Francisco's
Palace of Fine Arts featuring the band's most elaborate stage show to date. The band had met manager Rikki Farr at a show opening for Alice Cooper. Farr fell in love with the band's stage show and agreed to manage them after they sued Bag O' Bucks to get out of their contract. Farr used his fame in England to promote them as "America's Answer to
Punk." The band created a new "best of" stage show and finally played a tour of Europe. They were banned in several towns and attracted front page press attention for their dark satirical stage show that spoofed America's consumer culture with dancers, video and sketches. They appeared on
The Old Grey Whistle Test and played "God-Bird-Change" and "White Punks on Dope." After their live record
What Do You Want from Live (1978), recorded during their record-breaking run at the
Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, the band toured America and played a sold-out run at
The Pantages Theater in Hollywood, which attracted celebrities such as the cast of
Laverne and Shirley,
Cher,
Kate Jackson, and
Gene Simmons. The stage show had reached new levels of lewdness with Quay Lewd's large
dildo hanging out of his costume and a fake bomb threat number called "The Terrorists of Rock," which caused Cher to flee the theater, believing the threat was real. She later asked the band to appear in her next TV special
Cher...Special. The band went back to Europe to follow up their big splash but it was canceled after Waybill fell off stage and broke his leg at a Leicester, England show. The band returned and played the dates in the fall before headlining the
Knebworth Rock Festival with
Frank Zappa,
Peter Gabriel and
Boomtown Rats. The fourth album for A&M,
Remote Control (1979) was a
concept album produced by
Todd Rundgren, However, the band did produce at least one collection of music videos, which were issued on the 1982 RCA
Capacitance Electronic Disc and Pioneer Laserdisc
The Tubes Video, containing versions of twelve of the band's hits, including "White Punks on Dope," "Mondo Bondage," "Talk to Ya Later," and most of
The Completion Backward Principle album, in slickly produced music videos based on the group's stage shows. It was directed by
Russell Mulcahy and filmed at
Shepperton Studios in
Shepperton, England.
Stage show production pioneers The Tubes put their creativity and art skills mainly into their live performances, in which songs could be full-fledged production numbers with props and costumes built at the Tubes Warehouse by the band, crew and friends. Everything was satirized, 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 live act featured dozens of other performers, including
tap dancers and
acrobats. The Tubes' stage productions were choreographed by
Kenny Ortega and featured cast members
Jane Dornacker, LeRoy Jones,
Michael Holman, Michael Springer, Cindi Osborn, Heline Gouax, and Mary Niland from 1975 to 1977. From 1978 to 1979, the cast included Sharon Collins, Caty Bevan, and Loryanna Catalano. The
Completion Backward tour featured Shelley Pang, Cheryl Hangland, Joey Richards, and
Cynthia Rhodes. From 1983 to 1985, Michele Gray (who later married Todd Rundgren) and Cheryl Hangland were principal dancers. Several crew members—including Tour Manager Steve "Chopper" Borges, Lee Collins, and Gail Lowe — made frequent appearances on stage in various roles as well. The Tubes' live shows in the late 1970s and early 1980s were rife with allusions to mainstream film:
Dr. Strangelove (1964),
Rollerball (1975),
Saturday Night Fever (1977),
Grease (1978)] then-forgotten B-movies [
Wild Women of Wongo (1958),
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)], 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). The shows were expensive to produce, however, and although they earned the band a reputation for being one of the most entertaining live acts of the time, by the early 1980s, they'd left the band in debt to A&M Records, even after they'd sold their song rights for tour support.
Dropped by A&M Records and signing with Capitol Records The band's fifth studio album, the self-produced
Suffer for Sound, was meant to complete the group's contract with A&M. The
recession had affected the music industry, and many other bands were cut from A&M at the end of the 1970s. The band owed A&M a large amount of money and after playing the new record for
Jerry Moss, Rikki Farr insulted Moss' taste in music to ensure that the band was let go and able to sign with a new label. Tubes friend Matt Leach compiled the outtakes,
B-sides, and oddities collection
T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits) (1981). The band was signed to
Capitol Records by Bruce Garfield and
Bobby Colomby, toning down the X-rated sketches for the live shows and redesigning itself as a leaner ensemble with a view to release more accessible hits. The band worked with Bobby Colomby to find a new musical direction and then met with possible producers including
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter before deciding on
David Foster. The Tubes and David Foster recorded "Gonna Get It Next Time" for the soundtrack of Chevy Chase's "
Modern Problems" directed by
Ken Shapiro.
New label, mainstream success The Completion Backward Principle (1981) was engineered by
Humberto Gatica and produced by
David Foster (
Earth, Wind and Fire). It featured the
classic rock radio staple "Talk to Ya Later," written by Waybill, Foster and Toto guitarist
Steve Lukather. The songwriting credits were shared again but included input from all members, including "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman" by Prince, "Think About Me" by Cotten, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore" by
Vince Welnick and "Matter of Pride" by Steen. The album was a satire of Reagan's "
Morning in America" corporate movement and included pictures of the band members cleaned up and wearing suits. The band also had their first
Top 40 hit in the United States in 1981, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore," with vocals by Spooner. The band returned to the road in America and Europe with a new stage show designed by Cotten, Prince, and Ortega, featuring new dancers including
Cynthia Rhodes, who would leave soon after to star in
Flashdance and
Staying Alive. Styles was said to have left the band: Waybill said at the time that she was "going on to a Hollywood movie career or something". Styles, Cotten and Prince played as the Boring Squares in San Francisco in 1980. The trio were also said to have played a show on Bora Bora in 1984. The single "Sports Fans" was recorded live during halftime of the legendary
San Francisco 49ers "
The Catch" game; Tubes crew members can be seen on the side lines in the slow motion replay. As the band gained more mainstream popularity, Waybill auditioned for roles in
Night Shift and
Streets of Fire and appeared on
Late Night with David Letterman twice.
Outside Inside (1983) was produced by David Foster and included the number 10 US hit "
She's a Beauty." The album was recorded with several studio musicians, including members of
Chicago and
Toto. The slicker sound added to the tension between the "art" oriented members of the group (Cotten, Spooner and Prince) and the pop-music fans (Steen and Waybill). The band performed "
The Monkey Time" on
Solid Gold, and toured the United States, mostly playing theme parks like
Six Flags Magic Mountain and colleges for a new generation of fans. The band filmed an hour-long concert special at the Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco which played on MTV and was directed by Jim Yukich. "She's a Beauty" won song of the year and The Tubes performed live at the
BAM music awards.
Love Bomb and departure from Capitol Records In 1984, the band teamed up with Todd Rundgren again for their eighth album,
Love Bomb (1985). Guitarist Bill Spooner pursued solo work, releasing the album
First Chud on
The Residents' record label
Ralph Records. Spooner's next solo project was
Mall to Mars, recorded with coproducer Jim Blake and featuring fellow Tubes member Prairie Prince on drums. The album was released on Visible Records, a label owned by longtime Tubes music publishing associate/copyright administrator Richard Kaye, and included several cover versions, among them "
Theme from Star Trek" and "
Dimming of the Day".
Personnel changes Later in the year, the remaining members of the band hired David Killingsworth, a longtime friend from Phoenix, as lead vocalist. Killingsworth had been the singer in the Red and White Blues Band with Prince and Steen. The band appeared on
The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers on Fox in 1987 and played "Talk to Ya Later," a new song called "No Baby's Gonna Break My Heart," and were also interviewed. Michael Cotten moved to
New York City to pursue a career based on his artwork, stage design and production, and is considered one of the country's top production designers. In the fall of 1988, Bill Spooner traveled his final tour with the band and left in early 1989. Vince Welnick departed as well to take to the road with
Todd Rundgren in 1989 and then joined the
Grateful Dead in 1990. Gary Cambra joined on keyboards and guitar in 1989. He and Roger Steen took over most of the lead vocal duties after Killingsworth left in early 1990. In 1993, Fee Waybill rejoined the band. On April 17, 2022, Styles died at the age of 72. On December 16, 2022, Rick Anderson died at the age of 75. On January 31, 2026, it was announced that Mingo Lewis had died aged 72. == The Tubes Project and other milestones ==