Songoftheday 12/23/12 - She's right here behind the glass and you're gonna like her 'cause she's got class...

The Tubes - "She's A Beauty"
from the album Outside Inside (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (one weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's Song of the Day is by Phoenix-area rock group the Tubes. Formed by high school buddies and led by John "Fee" Waybill, they released their self-titled first album in 1975, but it wasn't until their second that they scored their first minor hit in America with "Don't Touch Me There". But what really got them noticed was the late resurgence of a track from their first record, "White Punks On Dope", which became a top-40 hit in England in 1977. And while they continued to have success in Britain, and accrued a reputation of being an amazing live act, the costly tour and lack of success led them to be booted from their label (A&M) to flee to Capitol records...

At the new label, capitalizing on the fresh new-wave movement and yacht rock thriving, the Tubes' meshed into a more cohesive unit on their first LP of the 80s, The Completion Backward Principle. Produced by a then-fresh David Foster, the set's easy-rock first single, "Don't Want To Wait Anymore", shot to the American top-40 for the first time. Its successor, "Talk To Ya Later", did even better on rock radio, going to #7 and probably being their longest-lasting hit.

For their next set, David Foster came back to helm Outside Inside, and co-wrote the first single "She's A Beauty" with Waybill and Steve Lukather of Toto. The song, a Wall of Sound of rock scrumptiousness, featured a music video choreographed by Kenny Ortega and featuring a very young Robert Arquette being driven around a female house of not-so-fun...

That lil' boy would go on to become Alexis Arquette, transsexual actor in Last Exit To Brooklyn and The Wedding Singer, reality star of the Surreal Life, and more.

As for "She's A Beauty", it became the band's biggest pop hit, making the top-10, and also went to #1 on the Rock chart as well (oddly, it was only a minor hit in England, peaking at #79). It would also be the last time the band would be in the top-40. After touring with David Bowie and a few more minor hits, Fee left the group in the mid-80s to concentrate on songwriting (he co-wrote Vixen's "Edge Of A Broken Heart"),  only to return in the early 90s, and the band's been off-and-on doing the oldies circuit since. Sadly, keyboardist Vince Welnick, who also played with the Grateful Dead, committed suicide in 2006.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


..and here's the band performing "She's A Beauty" in 2008..

Up tomorrow: A couple of bearded guys want you.