Today is the birthday of Tubes vocalist Fee Waybill, born John Waldo in 1950.

Formed in Phoenix, Arizona, The Tubes quickly moved in on the '70s San

Francisco music scene, and were signed to A&M Records in 1975. They gained

notoriety for their extravagant and often dangerous live stage shows, which

often involved electrical appliances, special effects, glitter storms and fog

machines. In a 1978 show in the UK Waybill broke his leg when he fell off the

stage during a stunt involving a chainsaw. While the band continued to gain

popularity for their live antics and anthemic songs like "Mondo Bondage" and

"White Punks On Dope," album sales continued to be mediocre into the '80s,

and A&M dropped the band in 1981. They then signed to Capitol, which released

Completion Backwards Principle , which became The Tubes' highest

charting album to date. In 1982 The Tubes were back in the UK and back in

trouble, this time for a publicity stunt involving young girls dancing in a

flat bed truck, and Waybill was arrested for obstruction. The band had its

first top 10 U.S. hit in 1983 with "She's A Beauty," which hit number 10. By

this time the band had toned their image down, and the "Beauty" video, with

its creepy carnival theme, was highly MTV viewer friendly. Today is also the

birthday of Hank Williams.