The Tubes are a rock band whose song "She's A Beauty" appeared in the episode "Heart of Darkness" of the show Miami Vice.

CareerEdit

The Tubes were formed from two other bands, originally based in the Scottsdale/Phoenix areas but relocated to San Francisco. The original band was made up of Fee Waybill (vocals), Re Styles (vocals), Mingo Lewis (percussion, formerly of Santana), Bill "Sputnick" Spooner (guitar, vocals), Roger Steen (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums), Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (1951-2006, piano) and Rick Anderson (bass), they began opening for acts like The New York Dolls, Iggy Pop, and Led Zeppelin. The band released their first album, The Tubes, in 1975, followed by their second, Young and Rich, the following year. By 1979 they had released four albums (three studio, one live) and headlined Frank Zappa's and Peter Gabriel's Knebworth festival. In 1980 they appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Xanadu. The Tubes were ahead of their time in the production of music videos, putting together a video compilation of their early hits in the Grammy-nominated The Tubes Video in 1982, just as the MTV revolution started. In 1981 the band released their fifth album, The Completion Backward Principle and generated their first Billboard Top 40 single, "Don't Want to Wait Anymore". Their next album, Outside Inside produced the group's only Top 10 single, "She's A Beauty". In 1985, the group (with Todd Rundgren producing) releaed Love Bomb, but before the group could promote it their record label dropped them, and then the group broke up when Waybill began a solo album and writing songs with an up-and-coming Richard Marx. In 1988 the band reunited, sans Waybill and Cotten, and picked up vocalist David Killingsworth. After their tour ended in 1988, Spooner & Welnick left the group, the latter working with Rundgren before joining The Greatful Dead in 1990. Gary Cambra joined as guitarist, then three years later Waybill came back. The band continues to tour today, and were inducted into the Arizona Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2007.

DiscographyEdit

• The Tubes (1975, #113, Billboard Top 200 Albums)
• Young and Rich(1976, #46)
• Now (1977, #122)
• What Do You Want From Live (1978, #82)
• Remote Control (1979, #46)
• T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits) (1981)
• The Completion Backwards Principle (1981, #48)
• Outside Inside (1983, #18)
• Love Bomb (1985, #82)
• The Best of the Tubes (1992)
• Genius of America (1996)
• The Tubes World Tour (2001)
• Wild In London (2005)