I’ve learned that my Tin Machine video featuring staged stage diving is no longer available on YouTube. Part of me is sad, while another part of me is proud of having shamed the owner of said video into taking it down. However, I sense you’re disappointed. To make up for the teaser of a long-forgotten Tin Machine video, I’m offering you three momentous looks back at the band – honest – Tin Machine. Enjoy, and feel free to share your memories of bands involving already-famous solo artists that really were a group. Really!

First up, an interview with the group – the whole group – on Arsenio.

Next, the countdown to the group’s first televised performance!

Hey, folks,

So I was out walking the pooch the other day, earbuds in place (uncharacteristically so — Mod, I may be coming around to your perspective on these things; increasingly, I find I favor the sound of the wind through the trees over bonus tracks from the most recent Apples In Stereo album… but I digress) — anyhow, earbuds in place — when I experienced a somewhat jarring alphabetic song transition that really got me thinking. The first song that popped into my earbones was this one: Track One.

Now, understand, I love this song. And I also have some firmly rooted opinions about its Importance. But when this track followed it into my brain, I really had to stop and think: Track Two.

My first reaction, strangely enough, was one of, um, relief. In other words, though I enjoyed bobbing my head to Track One as it coursed through my head, I was pleased to listen to Track Two in comparison. This actually concerned me a bit. In an effort to allay fears about my taste in pop music, and how it might be in the process of geezification, I’ve been re-cue-ing this tune at odd intervals over the last four or five days — to make sure I wasn’t just liking Track Two more, you know, because I was strolling through the park on a pleasant winter’s day or something. Nope. I’m definitely liking this song more than Track One.

So I asked myself: why? And in the process, I came up with a few questions I’d like to pass along to all of you. Listen to these two tracks. (And I ask you to actually listen to them, in their entirety, before answering. I know you know both songs in question; for me, it was the *re*-listening that brought these issues into clear focus. Humor me.)

After listening, answer the following questions:

1. Which of these two songs do you think actually had the most, uh, measurable impact on day-to-day human behavior during its popularity? I seriously think that more people — though perhaps in a more modest, immediate, fleeting fashion — changed their behavior, or at least felt differently about themselves, upon hearing what Track Two had to say, than Track One.

2. Imagine you have an iTunes playlist of two songs: Track One and Track Two. Which are you likely to listen to more often, today? Please try to avoid wishful, rearview mirror-gazing/too-cool-for-school responses to this question.

3. Today, are there any popular — or even just critically popular — artists mining the veins these two artists explored 30 years ago?

I look forward to your responses.

HVB