The Tubes is the first album by the Tubes. Songs which received significant airplay from this album include "What Do You Want from Life?" and "White Punks on Dope", the latter of which peaked at number 28 on the UK singles chart. The album was dedicated to Bob McIntosh and Tom Donahue, the former of whom had originally played with the band until his death in 1973.
Re Styles, who models on the front and back covers of the record sleeve, would join the band as a vocalist for the following three studio albums.
Contents
Track listing
Song timings and credits taken from original LP.
Personnel
The Tubes
Fee Waybill – lead vocals
Bill Spooner – guitar, lead vocals
Roger Steen – guitar, vocals
Michael Cotten – synthesizer
Vince Welnick – keyboards
Rick Anderson – bass
Prairie L'Emprere Prince – drums
Additional
Dominic Frontiere – string and horn arrangements
Lee Rhett Kiefer – engineer, mixing
Al Kooper – mixing
Roland Young – art direction
Michael Cotten – design
Prairie Prince – design
Ian Patrick – photography
Harry Mittman – photography
Re Styles – modeling (hands on front cover and body on back cover)
Cover versions
Mötley Crüe covered "White Punks on Dope" on their album New Tattoo, and performed 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. In the 1993 film Fear of a Black Hat, the band N.W.H. (with Ric Ocasek of the Cars) perform a parody of "White Punks on Dope", titled "White Cops on Dope".