Why was/is Tin Machine so hated?

I not to long ago tracked down Tin Machine II on vinyl. Nice to have.

 

It is a shame that no Tim Machine tracks made it to Bowie's most recent best of. He seems to have totally written this period off in his history.

 

LOL!!

For me it's a pretentious piece of crapola...and the Indonesian version...shesh!

PS - the version of Amazing on Oy Vey, Baby is a thing of beauty.

 

Whose history? Dave or Tim's?

 

I'd love for there to be a Tin Machine box, I don't own any of the albums although I quite like "You Belong in Rock and Roll" off the second album. He re-did a much better solo version of "I Can't Read" for the soundtrack to Ang Lee's film The Ice Storm. They perform that arrangement on the VH1 Storytellers live album and it rules.

 

I like "Baby Universal."

I really like "Sacrifice Yourself," but really dislike "Run." Agree The Next Day could be shorter, too. -E

 

I remember seeing them on Saturday Night Live and I thought they were terrible. Just a bunch of noise. Bad heavy metal. Thus I had no interest in checking out any albums. Perhaps others had a similar experience and that's what got them a bad rap?

 

Hard alternative...maybe...but metal? No...

PS - Back then I occasionally worked with Don Pardo, and my work buddy and I were so desperate to get into SNL for Tin Machine we called him to see what he could do and he said there was no way with such short notice...!!

 

That would probably make my top 10 best Bowie tracks...

 

I remember when I first saw the long promo video on MTV (and I hit the record button on the VCR very quickly!). It was a brilliant move to include portions of like 9 songs in one video. Before hearing the record I already knew I liked practically every song! It was a no-risk purchase.

 

Yeah, in terms of Reeves' tone and trem work. In every other way, no, but Reeves was pretty prominent (and not to suggest he was all bad, just that his misunderstanding the aesthetic no doubt proved a turn off for the very music fans Bowie was seeking to engage--late '80s NE alt rockers). -E

 

The one with the b/w Bowie cover - three different versions for your consideration

 

Reeves misunderstanding the aesthetic?

 

Yeah. If Bowie was trying to emulate/inspired by SY, Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies, Reeves got the raw aggression of those bands but missed their primitivsm and (comparatively) naturalistic sound, hewing closer to the kind of guitar "heroes" those guys were trying to abengate. -E

 

I feel that the first Tin Machine record is tampered with an overlong tracklist. If the album had been cut down to 10 songs, it would have been a semi-classic record. The songs between Bus Stop and Baby Can Dance, are among the worst music he has made. It came out at a time where records should be longer, no matter what. The other songs, however, are great. Here is how it could have been done.

Side 1:
Heaven's In Here
Tin Machine
Prisoner Of Love
Crack City
I Can't Read

Side 2:
Under The God
Amazing
Working Class Hero
Bus Stop
Baby Can Dance

 

Emulate? Thing is, it was Reeves that introduced those bands to Dave though, who was merely going with the flow.

 

Really?! Well, my point still stands, even if I misunderstood whose goal it was to emulate those bands. Reeves missed the bulk of the charm of those bands in his guitar playing--that said, I think the band paid too dear a price for it. The material was mostly great, and Reeves feel was good even if his sound was "wrong."

I agree it's overlong, so I'd swap "pretty thing," "run" and "sacrifice yourself" for the turgid "Crack City" and godawful "Working Class Hero." -E

 

This guy's been doing that for 35 years!

 

Not hated by me but I think it got on people's nerves that Bowie was "pretending" to be in grungey/punk that had 4 way individual thinking. If he released it under his own name it would have done better but the thin White duke was edging his bets hence the very commercial Black Tie White Noise. Musically Tin Machine was closer to Man Who Sold the World in sound.

 

When I was a young David Bowie fan, Tin Machine was an annoying fact of life. I admired the drummer for singing and drumming at the same time, but where was David?

 

I didn't like them... I thin Reeves was the problem.... boy did Bowie stick with him a long time..

 

Love the first Tin Machine album.

I thought they were reminiscent of the Yardbirds, but with an "updated" sort of NYC sound; sort of prefigured where rock music would go in the '90s (apart from the sharp suits!). Would have been perfect as a club band in that film adaptation of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City with stockbrokers and models doing Bolivian Marching Dust in the toilets.

 

Oh Tim's for sure. Didn't you play woodblock for them?

 

Spot on. It is one of the reasons he is my favourite artist of all time.

I actually admire an artist who calculates his next move, and I find that Germanic cold-hearted stance has always run through his music in a way far more palatable than Kraftwerk ever managed. Yet the most impressive thing is pulling off this trick of "Conning The Suckers" without falling on either side of the tightrope of being found out as contrived or pretentious.

I loved Tin Machine, not least as it was a reboot of his "The Phil Collins years" as if they had not happened. Happily, I had just got into this alt-rock four-piece from Boston called the Pixies, when he came up with TM; and whilst at college I was very pleased to see fair-weather music fans who liked Modern Love, Dancing In The Street, Magic Dance, etc recoil in horror.

Personally, I think the first album is really good, other than falling a bit flat in the second half of the CD, as others have mentioned it would have made a killer 10 track vinyl album. The second album was not so good, as it was far more patchy, although it was not without its highlights with "Amlapura" being the best track on it.