Tin Machine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tin Machine were a rock band formed in 1988, famous mainly for being fronted by David Bowie. The group recorded two studio albums before dissolving in 1992, when Bowie returned to his solo career. The group generally received poor critical reviews.
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[edit] Personnel
- David Bowie – Vocals, Guitar
- Reeves Gabrels – Lead Guitar
- Tony Sales – Bass Guitar
- Hunt Sales – Drums
NB: Instruments listed as the band's primary ones. For a full list of who played what, see the individual album entries.
[edit] Biography
The excesses of David Bowie’s Never Let Me Down album and subsequent Glass Spider Tour had been savaged by critics, and the singer was aware of his low stock. Eager to return to making music for himself rather than the mainstream audience he had acquired following the Let's Dance album, Bowie began collaborating with Reeves Gabrels (who pushed the singer to rediscover his experimental side) and multi-instrumentalist Erdal Kizilcay on new material in 1988. The first fruits of this came with a new version of Bowie’s 1979 track “Look Back in Anger”, performed at the Invaders in the Palace benefit concert on 1 July 1988. They then began to plan a concept album based on the play East as a Bowie solo album, but this idea was scrapped. Bowie and Gabrels began working with producer Tim Palmer on new material. Bowie then recruited brothers Hunt and Tony Sales (the sons of comedian Soupy Sales) as a rhythm section. Bowie had worked with them on Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life album and ran into them at a party in Los Angeles around this time.
The Sales brothers moved the tone of the sessions in Nassau away from art-rock and more towards hard rock, and Bowie looked to one of his favorite bands at the time, The Pixies, for inspiration. The Sales brothers heckled Bowie into greater spontaneity, with most songs recorded in one take, and lyrics left unpolished, thus giving the band a similar sort of punk edge.
The group chose the name Tin Machine after one of the songs they had written (Gabrels would later credit the Sales brothers with this choice). The group set up allowed Bowie a certain level of anonymity, much needed after his 1980s overexposure, and he was happy to let the rest of the band (notably Hunt Sales) take the lead in interviews.
The band’s first album produced mixed but generally positive reviews on release in May 1989, picking up favourable comparisons with Bowie’s three more recent solo albums. However, many critics were scornful of Bowie’s latest attempt to reinvent himself as a bearded band-member. Commercially, the album initially sold well, reaching #3 in the UK charts, but sales quickly tailed off. The band undertook a low-key tour in small venues between June and July 1989, before further recording sessions in Sydney.
The group then went on hiatus while Bowie conducted his solo Sound + Vision tour. In December 1990, Bowie split from EMI, who had refused to release another Tin Machine album – sales of the first having tailed off badly, and been poor overseas. In March 1991, the group signed to Victory Records and recorded more new material. This was combined with tracks from the Sydney sessions to form the prosaic Tin Machine II album. This time the commercial success was even more fleeting, and Bowie was already tired of being shackled to a group set-up. From October 1991 to February 1992 the group undertook a larger tour, known as the It’s My Life Tour. The band was joined on this tour by Eric Schermerhorn on guitar (who, interestingly, would go on to play with Iggy Pop).
Tracks from this tour were released on the July 1992 album Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby. Shortly afterwards, Bowie returned to solo recording with his single “Real Cool World” and the band dissolved.
Bowie promised Tin Machine III or at the very least a boxed-set of unreleased material in the mid-1990s, but his solo career had taken precedence, making him reluctant to dedicate energy to an old project. He continued to work with Gabrels, spanning four albums after Tin Machine: Black Tie White Noise, Outside, Earthling, and 'hours...' After the last album, Gabrels felt that Bowie was moving in a softer, gentler direction that he did not want to travel in, so the two parted ways professionally.
[edit] Critical reception
Tin Machine’s first album received mixed reviews on release, with some praising the back-to-basics sound, but others deriding Bowie’s perceived manipulation of the media. By the release of the second album, many critics were of the opinion that Tin Machine had ran their course, and reviews of Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby were outright hostile.
Over recent years, Tin Machine have been used regularly by both music fans and press as a cheap shot at Bowie, or as a quick summation of his 1980s critical nadir. However, many fans also think that the band produced some great rock songs, and furthermore allowed Bowie to jettison the expectations of the mainstream audience he had attracted, moving on to his more respected albums of the 1990s.
In retrospect, some critics and fans alike give some credit to Tin Machine for being on the cutting edge of what eventually became the "grunge" scene of the early 1990's.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Tin Machine – May 23, 1989 (UK #3, US#28)
- Tin Machine II – September 2, 1991 (UK#23, US #126)
[edit] Live albums
- Tin Machine Live: Oy Vey, Baby – July 27, 1992 (Did not chart)
[edit] Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Mainstream Rock | UK | |||
| 1989 | "Under the God" | - | #4 | - | #51 | Tin Machine |
| 1989 | "Heaven's in Here" | - | #12 | - | - | Tin Machine |
| 1989 | "Tin Machine"/"Maggie's Farm (live)" | - | - | - | #48 | Tin Machine |
| 1989 | "Prisoner of Love" | - | - | - | - | Tin Machine |
| 1991 | "You Belong in Rock 'n' Roll" | - | - | - | #33 | Tin Machine II |
| 1991 | "Baby Universal" | - | - | - | #48 | Tin Machine II |
