August 10, 2015

The Tubes - White Punks On Dope - VHS video tape













The Tubes 
VHS videotape cassette



photo by Styrous®




Well, here I go again with a second VHS videotape cassette dinosaur (link to the first one below)! 



VHS videotape cassette
back cover photo by Exley
photo of tape cover by Styrous®



The Tubes video uses the graphics and contains tracks from the album, The Completion Backward Principle, but has songs from other albums, including my Tubes favorite, White Punks on Dope, which was SO much fun to rock out to. This video was choreographed by Kenny Ortega.     

 


VHS videotape cassette
front cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®



Mötley Crüe covered "White Punks on Dope" on their album New Tattoo, and performs it live in concert on their "Lewd, Crüed, & Tattooed" DVD. The Nina Hagen Band interpreted the song in a German-language version, translated to "TV-Glotzer" (with re-written lyrics about being an East German who lives vicariously by staring at West German television all day) on their self-titled debut album in 1978.

White Punks on Dope, from the album, The Tubes, is included after the closing credits, and contains many scenes from the Tubes early cable access TV appearances as well as footage from early shows where Waybill would play the part of Quay Lude.




VHS videotape cassette
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®



When I was working on Broadway (see link below) I met Jane Dornacker, who wrote the song, Don't Touch Me There, sung by Re Styles (who I met through Jane), for the second studio album by The Tubes, Young and Rich in 1976. Dornacker also toured with The Tubes as a backing singer and dancer. 

Dornacker was rock musician in her own right. She was lead singer (Leila), keyboardist, and songwriter of the San Francisco "tack" rock group, Leila and the Snakes. Pearl Gates and Pamela Wood provided supporting vocals for the group. Their repertoire included Rock and Roll Weirdos, Pyramid Power and a spoof version of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is? Gates later left (and took the band with her) to form Pearl Harbor and the Explosions. One of my favorite songs by The Explosions was, Drivin'.  

On October 22, 1986, while giving a traffic report for WNBC Radio in New York City, Dornacker died when the traffic helicopter she was in crashed into the Hudson River. She was 39 years old. 





VHS videotape cassette 
back cover detail
back cover photo by Exley 
detail photo by Styrous®



John Waldo "Fee" Waybill was born on September 17, 1950, in Omaha, Nebraska, is the lead singer and songwriter of the The Tubes. Waybill has also worked with Toto and Richard Marx. He has appeared in films, Xanadu (1980) and the 1982 independent Canadian film, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.   

Waybill now works as a record producer. He was the producer for a number of popularartists, including Bryan Adams, and singer/songwriter Richard Marx. One of Fee's latest efforts includes vocals and co-writing on All's Well That Ends Well, the critically acclaimed song in 2011 by Steve Lukather, of Toto.    







VHS videotape cassette
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®





Prairie Prince was born Charles Lempriere Prince on May 7, 1950, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has also worked with Chris Isaak (on his first four albums), Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, David Byrne, XTC, Tom Waits, Paul Kantner, George Harrison, Dick Dale, Glenn Frey, Richard Marx, Bill Spooner, Neil Hamburger, John Fogerty, Nicky Hopkins, Tommy Bolin, Phil Lesh, and former Tubes and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick.     

He was a founding member of Jefferson Starship – The Next Generation in 1992 and appears on both their studio albums (the 1999 release Windows of Heaven and the 2008 release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty), plus numerous live albums.   




VHS videotape spine
photo by Styrous®



William "Sputnik" Spooner was born in Arizona on August 16, 1949. His first band was the XLs, a Beatles cover band. A band he started subsequently, the Beans, moved to San Francisco in 1970. Shortly after arriving the Beans merged with another group, the Red, White and Blues Band, then became the Tubes. 




VHS videotape spine
photo by Styrous®



Vince Welnick was born in Phoenix, Arizona on February 21, 1951. He joined The Beans, which eventually morphed into The Tubes. Welnick also appeared in Xanadu, along with the rest of The Tubes. In 1994, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.   

On June 2, 2006, Welnick committed suicide by cutting his own throat, after battling depression for 10 years.    




labels for the video tape came loose years ago
The Tubes 
VHS videotape labels
photo by Styrous®



Songs: 
  1. Matter of Pride
  2. Sports Fans
  3. Amnesia
  4. Mr. Hate
  5. Mondo Bondage
  6. Don't Want to Wait Anymore
  7. Business
  8. Talk To Ya Later
  9. Sushi Girl
  10. Let's Make Some Noise
  11. White Punks on Dope

Personnel:



Viewfinder links:   

Pink Floyd: La Carrera Panamericana [VHS video tape]  

Leatherneck bar, S. F., Pt. 2     



Net links:  
      
The Tubes discography     
The Tubes website     
   

White Punks On Dope on YouTube       
White Punks On Dope - The Tubes on YouTube  
                (live San Francisco 1983)       
Don't Touch Me There on YouTube      
Mondo Bondage on YouTube      
Amnesia on YouTube     
Mr. Hate on YouTube     
Sushi Girl on YouTube     
Don't Want To Wait Anymore on YouTube     
The Tubes history on YouTube    
  


What fantastic times those were!


The Tubes - VHS video tape is for sale on eBay  




Styrous® ~ Monday, August 10, 2015

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