• Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
• The Tubes have a tongue-in-cheek sensibility in many if not most of their songs and are basically a theatrical shock-rock band like Alice Cooper.

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The Tubes – T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits) (1981):  The Tubes have a tongue-in-cheek sensibility in many if not most of their songs and are basically a theatrical shock-rock band in the tradition of Alice Cooper, which was alternately satirical and outrageous in public, leading to a series of banned performances in Great Britain in 1977.  The group originated in Phoenix, Arizona in the late 1960’s as the Beans (also called the Radar Men from Uranus), with Bill Spooner (guitar), Vince Welnick (keyboards), and Rick Anderson (bass guitar).  The band moved to San Francisco in 1972, adding Roger Steen (guitar) and Prairie Prince (drums).  The band took the name the Tubes as a septet when two other bandmembers joined up, Michael Cotten (keyboards) and Fee Waybill (lead vocals). 

The Tubes were signed by A&M Records and released their debut album The Tubes (1975) that was produced by Al Kooper, who also co-wrote one song, “Haloes”.  The album features their single “White Punks on Dope” (sometimes abbreviated to “WPOD”) that reached #28 on the U.K. record charts, but not until two years after its release.  From Wikipedia:  “[‘White Punks on Dope’] has been called an ‘absurd anthem of wretched excess’, ridiculing the rich and famous offspring of Hollywood elite.”  The Tubes’ first retrospective album, T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits) includes “White Punks on Dope” and two other songs from The Tubes, “What Do You Want from Life?” and a live performance of “Mondo Bondage”.  The Tubes’ second album for A&M Records, Young and Rich (1976) features their other well-known early song “Don’t Touch Me There”, a send-up of 1960’s-style girl-group songs, with additional vocals by Re Styles, a Dutch model and performer.  “Slipped My Disco” is a humorous take on the disco scene that also comes from this album.  Other tracks on the album include “Drivin’ All Night”, “Only the Strong Survive” (not the Jerry Butler classic “Only the Strong Survive”), and a cover of the hit song by the Captain and Tennille, “Love Will Keep Us Together”.  T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits) does not include their biggest hit song “She’s a Beauty”, a Top Ten single that came out two years later, in 1983.