Tin Machine was a
hard
rock band formed in 1988, famous for
being fronted by singer
David
Bowie.
The group recorded two studio albums before dissolving in 1992,
when Bowie returned to his solo career. The group was generally
ignored, often receiving scathing critical reviews at the time.
However, their legacy improved over time, with many critics
acknowledging that they might have been more successful at some
other time.
History
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 song
Look Back in
Anger, performed at the Intruders At The Palace
benefit concert on 1 July 1988. They then
began to plan a
concept album based on
Steven Berkoff's 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 ragged, punk rock edge similar to the Pixies.
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
self-titled 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 14 June and 3
July 1989, before further recording
sessions in Sydney
, Australia. During these sessions Tin
Machine contributed to a surfing compilation album called Beyond
the Beach, with a new instrumental song titled Needles on the
Beach.
The group then went on hiatus while Bowie conducted his solo
Sound+Vision Tour. In December
1990, Bowie split from
EMI. Both parties stated
that the split was amicable, although it is believed EMI refused to
release another Tin Machine album in an exasperated attempt to
secure another album similar to
Let's Dance. In
March 1991, the group signed to
Victory Music, a
new label launched by
JVC and distributed
worldwide by
London Records and
Polygram, and recorded more new material.
This was
combined with tracks from the Sydney sessions to
form 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 5 October 1991 to 17 February 1992, the group
undertook a larger tour, known as the
It's My Life Tour. The band was joined on
this tour by guitarist
Eric
Schermerhorn, who would go on to play with Bowie's friend
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 (Gabrels
contributed to only one track),
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. In some interviews he has also indicated his
disappointment in the retrospective projects Bowie was planning at
the time (the
Toy
album as well as the Ziggy 2002 project) played a part in his
parting with Bowie.
Personnel
NB: Instruments listed are the band's primary ones. For a full list
of who played what, see the individual album entries.
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
Singles
Notes
References
- Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete
David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2004, ISBN
1-903111-73-0
External links
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