David Bowie found that being a superstar in the 1980s was “not terribly fulfilling.” He started the decade with a massively successful album Let’s Dance and world tour. It made him very rich. It also brought commercial expectations to write another album of pop hits to make him and his record company even more money. But hard commerce and creativity rarely endure. Bowie soon discovered that he had less creative independence to make the music he wanted. After the negative reception to his follow-up albums 1984’s Tonight and Never Let Me Down in 1987, he launched his massive Glass Spider tour. It made plenty of money, too, but with a set-list of greatest hits the tour looked like the Thin White Duke was rehearsing for a residency in Las Vegas.
In 1989, Bowie formed Tin Machine with guitarist Reeves Gabrels and the Sales brothers—drummer Hunt and bassist Tony. The band had grown out of jam sessions. The Sales had played with Bowie when they had backed Iggy Pop together in the 70s. Gabrels met Bowie during his Glass Spider tour and collaborated on a reworking of the Lodger song “Look Back in Anger.” Tin Machine was structured as a “democratic unit.” Each member had an equal say. Bowie described himself as just the singer. Their intention as a band was to play “back to basics” music—hard rock, low production, no over-dubs.
They recorded over 30 songs in six weeks. Bowie enthused in interviews how liberating it was to write songs in collaboration with his bandmates. Of being able to share an idea and have it taken in an utterly different direction. Their 1989 debut album, the eponymously titled Tin Machine sold well enough but was savaged by the critics. The sales were in large part down to Bowie’s loyal fanbase and the band had a successful world tour. Then Bowie took a year off to do his solo Sound + Vision outing. In 1991, Tin Machine regrouped and released Tin Machine II—which received even worse reviews than their first record and led one music magazine (Q) to ask the question: Are Tin Machine crap?
Though both albums have noteworthy tracks, the main problem with Tin Machine is its being a “band” and not a David Bowie solo project. Having four equal partners in a group works best when there are four members of equal ability. Bowie was too talented, too clever and too damned good to share equal billing with three musicians for hire.
The critics may have been overly harsh in their judgment of the band—some even dared to suggest Bowie’s career was finished. But in truth, Bowie needed Tin Machine to purge what had been—what had gone wrong—so he could start again evolving again as an artist. This led to a return to form with his first solo album of the 1990s—Black Tie, White Noise.
With their loud, overwrought, thrashing, thumping music, Tin Machine were (perhaps) ahead of the curve. Those critics favorable to the band claim they “explored alternative and grunge before the styles were even widely known to exist” and “were merely ahead of the curve….predicting the coming of Nirvana.” There’s some truth here—maybe not much truth, but some.
When Tin Machine were promoting their second album they appeared on a TV special that packaged together select tracks with interviews. This little filler will give you an idea of what you may have missed—or what you once enjoyed.