Produced by Al Kooper, this debut by the notorious San Francisco group is best known for the blazing anthem "White Punks on Dope". The Tubes were arch satirists of popular culture whose outrageous performance-art concepts -- which swung wildly from soft-core pornography to suit-and-tie conservatism -- frequently eclipsed their elusive musical identity. The beginnings of the group originate in Phoenix, Arizona in the late '60s, where guitarist Bill Spooner, keyboardist Vince Welnick and bassist Rick Anderson formed as the Beans (alternately billing themselves as the Radar Men from Uranus). After moving to San Francisco in 1972, the Beans recruited guitarist Roger Steen and drummer Prairie Prince (from Red, White & Blues), and later became The Tubes with the addition of Michael Cotten on keyboards and former roadie Fee Waybill on lead vocals.

Murphy Blend, from Berlin, Germany, was another of the many bands that were around only long enough to release one record and then vanish into the nether of rock obscurity. Their one album, First Loss, from 1971 is considered one of the classics of Teutonic heavy rock, and though it relied on some influences by British heavy rock bands like Deep Purple, Uriah Heap and Atomic Rooster, the oddly accented vocals, innovative mix of progressive and psychedelic styles, and the dark angst put them squarely with other heavy Krautrock bands like early Jane. Bilboard.com