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Into the Ear of Madness: Week 7 — 152 bpm, the Tubes, and Airplay

Terje Fjelde July 17, 2008 16

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Over the next year Terje Fjelde has agreed to listen to nothing but David Foster on his iPod. He’s loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by David Foster. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

One of the more practical difficulties that I’ve encountered during this project is that I’m desperately dependent on my iPod when I’m working out and running. And if you know anything about David Foster, it’s probably that he’s not famous for his killer grooves and up-tempo stuff. But I can’t very well run to the rhythm of “You’re the Inspiration” or “I Will Always Love,” now can I?

I’m a pretty casual runner, but I like to keep a steady rhythm, and I need to keep it somewhere between 150 and 152 beats per minute to be comfortable. Usually my playlist consists of fast rock, a la Arcade Fire, We Are Scientists, and the Jam.

With a total of 1,272 David Foster songs now on my iPod, I have the luxury of choosing from four — four! — songs. And after running 40 minutes three times a week in the past six weeks, I’ve been listening to the same songs for a total of 12 hours. Really, I have.

Incidentally, two of them are Tubes-related. The (in this case) aptly titled “No Not Again” is from their 1983 album Outside Inside, the second and last Tubes album to be produced by Foster.

He provided them with their biggest hit in 1983, “She’s a Beauty,” but they chose to return to Todd Rundgren when they set out to record the disastrous Love Bomb in ’85. Rundgren produced Remote Control for the band in ’79, but that was a far superior record to Love Bomb, which tanked, and the Tubes disbanded shortly after its release. Predictably, they reunited in the mid-’90s with four of the original members and a new keyboardist.

Tubes frontman Fee Waybill: “[David Foster] is the best producer I’ve ever worked with. Todd, in my opinion, didn’t hold a candle to David. David’s a genius. He completely changed the whole deal for the Tubes. He wouldn’t stand for anything but perfection. Because of that, he kind of alienated some of the band members. Pride got in the way.”

Hmm … “pride got in the way.” I wonder why that sounds familiar?

“We went back to Todd and did Love Bomb, and it was a complete, end-of-career disaster,” Waybill says. “We sold no records. The label dropped us. Our manager dropped us. Our booking agent dropped us. We lost a fortune, and that was it.”

In 1984 Waybill released a solo album produced by Foster. “You’re Still Laughing” is my second 152 bpm track and it’s very similar to “No Not Again.”

Nice. Jay Graydon, David Foster and an air plane in 1980

Nice! Jay Graydon and David Foster in 1980. My final two workout songs are 1980′s “Stranded” and “Leave Me Alone,” by Airplay, Foster’s band project with Jay Graydon and singer Tommy Funderburk, the last time I’m aware of Foster actually playing in a band. He was in a couple of bands throughout the ’70s such as Skylark, the Dark Horse Band, and Airplay, but he apparently cast aside all such aspirations when his success as a producer and songwriter grew in the early ’80s.

But he still tried to make it as a solo artist in the ’80s. Chicago’s Robert Lamm, from an interview conducted sometime in the ’90s: “David Foster badly, still to this day, badly wants to be an artist and he’ll never be an artist. So what he does is he makes records using artists so that, you know, what he does can shine through using the artists as a synthesizer if you will.” Ouch — he’s kind of mean, isn’t he? Hurt pride?

Listen to “Stranded.” I think it was Jay Graydon who once said that the Airplay album was a bit overproduced, and that listeners probably didn’t understand what hit them until track 8 on the disc. Well, he’s not exaggerating, but I love that album despite that, and the fact that it sometimes sounds like a 1980 Coca-Cola commercial. Maybe that’s part of why I love it. Old Coca-Cola commercials make me feel nostalgic.

But seriously, I can’t listen to these same four songs for a year. And I really, really need music when I’m working out, there’s no other option. I’m actually considering setting up a new playlist consisting of songs at half speed with a steady beat (75-76 bpm), running at two steps per beat. Which means I’ll be working out to Celine Dion’s “Tell Him” and Peter Cetera’s “Glory of Love”! Maybe I should put together a David Foster remix and add disco rhythms to some of his ballads? Or re-record my LPs at 45 rpm? I have to think this over.

I’ll probably let you know how it works out.

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  • Malchus

    Why is it that when I read Seal had recorded a new version of “A Change Is Gonna Come” with David Foster I immediately thought of you?

  • http://schiing.terjefjelde.com terje

    Oh yes! I read about that – I can't wait to hear it (I'm lying here. I can wait.) Didn't David Foster want it to be the theme song for Obama's campaign? If Obama loses, which almost certainly is a lot more likely with a David Foster version of “A Change Is Gonna Come” as their theme song, I will have some great material for a post in November. Still, as most Europeans, I'm rooting for Obama, so let's hope it never happens.

  • MichaelFortes

    Definitely enjoying this series. Will there be a more in-depth look at Foster's work with the Tubes later on? Also looking forward to your take on Foster's work with the Sons of Champlin and Bill Champlin's first two solo albums.

  • http://schiing.terjefjelde.com terje

    Thanks! I'm definitely returning to the Tubes later on – along with Chicago I think they are kind of quintessential to understanding Foster's reputation as a ruthless band wrecker and an opportunist with no other interest in the band than to use them as a stepping stone for his own career.

  • wombosi

    “Along Comes a Woman” was remixed into a faster tempo.

  • http://schiing.terjefjelde.com terje

    Hey, thanks — those are great lyrics to run to as well. I'll check it out. Lyrics are always a motivational factor — before I started writing this series I used to love to run to a Click Five track, “Good Day.” It's kind of ambiguous in the verses, but the chorus always kicks up my efforts a notch.

    “Prima Donna” from Chicago 17 is very close in tempo, so that might do as well.

  • http://www.popdose.com DwDunphy

    And for the Popdose addict in all of us, some post-Foster Tubes action is coming your way tonight!

  • http://schiing.terjefjelde.com terje

    You'd almost think we planned it. I'm looking forward to that.

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  • hagen

    I'm looking forward to the Foster: Destroyer of Bands chapter(s), Terje. But I'm curious… now that you're several weeks into the Fosterization program, have you noticed anything different about your life, like have your coworkers started worrying, or has your missus been playing Motörhead more often to balance out the madness in your ears? I think the real story here might be the effects of All Foster: All the Time on the human psyche.

    Signed,

    A Concerned Reader

  • http://schiing.terjefjelde.com terje

    I agree, and I hope that the real story will reveal itself eventually. You know, according to Marshall McLuhan, 'the medium is the message ,' and I think that will definitely be the case here. That's to say, my eventual mental disrepair will probably influence my posts much more than the actual content and as such, I expect the real story to unfold, but mostly between the lines.

    So far everything seems normal (which in itself is a very disturbing sign)

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  • Justin

    David Foster killed the Tubes. Their Suffer For Sound album was killer, but never released. Fee Waybill called it, “depressing.” That was probably because he sang on so few songs. The music demonstrated a group that was filled to the brim with incredible musical ideas. There were even socially conscious messages in the songs! Much closer to punk and new wave than Completion Backwards. David Foster swooped in, micro managed every single bit of the music and even had people play who WEREN'T the Tubes. Dishonest! Their individualistic sound suffered, but no one noticed as the record companies and Foster were far too focused on getting a generic “eighties” sound. Fee Waybill is as much to blame for the failure of the Tubes as Foster was. He was just a lapdog who had a grudge against the far superior producer Todd Rundgren. Plus he badmouthed the band for not being able to do the things David Foster wanted them to do. Of course they weren't able, because they were the Tubes and David Foster wasn't. David Foster should have kept his attention on his own music making. We've all been victims of this puppet producer and the effects of his dumbing down even today. The band would have done better with Spooner and Co steering the ship from the get go. Had they stayed as cutting edge as on Suffer For Sound, perhaps the original configuration would still be playing. Todd Rundgren, by the way, invented his own way of producing. David Foster's work has no differences to any other flabby eighties production that focused more on technology than it did on playing. Waybill, with all his praise of David Foster, fails to note that he did not give the Tubes a number one EVER. And if Fee Waybill was so great, you'd think his album would have been a hit. It wasn't. And where are Fee's hits since then? None. The new Tubes albums? None. Fee Waybill isn't qualified to talk about “great” producers. Thanks to Foster and Waybill the Tubes went down the tubes.

  • Justin

    David Foster killed the Tubes. Their Suffer For Sound album was killer, but never released. Fee Waybill called it, “depressing.” That was probably because he sang on so few songs. The music demonstrated a group that was filled to the brim with incredible musical ideas. There were even socially conscious messages in the songs! Much closer to punk and new wave than Completion Backwards. David Foster swooped in, micro managed every single bit of the music and even had people play who WEREN'T the Tubes. Dishonest! Their individualistic sound suffered, but no one noticed as the record companies and Foster were far too focused on getting a generic “eighties” sound. Fee Waybill is as much to blame for the failure of the Tubes as Foster was. He was just a lapdog who had a grudge against the far superior producer Todd Rundgren. Plus he badmouthed the band for not being able to do the things David Foster wanted them to do. Of course they weren't able, because they were the Tubes and David Foster wasn't. David Foster should have kept his attention on his own music making. We've all been victims of this puppet producer and the effects of his dumbing down even today. The band would have done better with Spooner and Co steering the ship from the get go. Had they stayed as cutting edge as on Suffer For Sound, perhaps the original configuration would still be playing. Todd Rundgren, by the way, invented his own way of producing. David Foster's work has no differences to any other flabby eighties production that focused more on technology than it did on playing. Waybill, with all his praise of David Foster, fails to note that he did not give the Tubes a number one EVER. And if Fee Waybill was so great, you'd think his album would have been a hit. It wasn't. And where are Fee's hits since then? None. The new Tubes albums? None. Fee Waybill isn't qualified to talk about “great” producers. Thanks to Foster and Waybill the Tubes went down the tubes.

  • Justin

    David Foster killed the Tubes. Their Suffer For Sound album was killer, but never released. Fee Waybill called it, “depressing.” That was probably because he sang on so few songs. The music demonstrated a group that was filled to the brim with incredible musical ideas. There were even socially conscious messages in the songs! Much closer to punk and new wave than Completion Backwards. David Foster swooped in, micro managed every single bit of the music and even had people play who WEREN'T the Tubes. Dishonest! Their individualistic sound suffered, but no one noticed as the record companies and Foster were far too focused on getting a generic “eighties” sound. Fee Waybill is as much to blame for the failure of the Tubes as Foster was. He was just a lapdog who had a grudge against the far superior producer Todd Rundgren. Plus he badmouthed the band for not being able to do the things David Foster wanted them to do. Of course they weren't able, because they were the Tubes and David Foster wasn't. David Foster should have kept his attention on his own music making. We've all been victims of this puppet producer and the effects of his dumbing down even today. The band would have done better with Spooner and Co steering the ship from the get go. Had they stayed as cutting edge as on Suffer For Sound, perhaps the original configuration would still be playing. Todd Rundgren, by the way, invented his own way of producing. David Foster's work has no differences to any other flabby eighties production that focused more on technology than it did on playing. Waybill, with all his praise of David Foster, fails to note that he did not give the Tubes a number one EVER. And if Fee Waybill was so great, you'd think his album would have been a hit. It wasn't. And where are Fee's hits since then? None. The new Tubes albums? None. Fee Waybill isn't qualified to talk about “great” producers. Thanks to Foster and Waybill the Tubes went down the tubes.

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