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Tommy Dunbar and Jon Rubin formed The Rubinoos while still in junior high school. By age fourteen, after playing a few school dances, they graduated to the club circuit. In 1975 the band was signed as one of the original acts on the newly formed Beserkley label. The Rubinoos made their recording debut that year with the song Gorilla, on the Beserkley Chartbusters LP. By 1977 the boys had finished recording their first LP The Rubinoos. Gene Sculatti of The New York Rocker called it “the best pop album of the decade.” The first single, a cover of the Tommy James classic “I Think Were Alone Now,” reached the top 40 nationwide and the top 10 in many major U.S. cities. Appearances on Dick Clarks American Bandstand, The Rolling Stone 10th Anniversary TV Special, and features in numerous Teen Magazines helped put The Rubinoos into the pop consciousness. At the same time, the group was receiving a lot of attention overseas: critical acclaim and airplay in Europe, and top tens in Japan and Australia. In 1978 they left for their first European tour. The first show was an appearance on German TV’s Rockpalast. The rest of the tour took them through northern Europe performing concert dates and appearing on assorted TV shows such as Top Pop (The Netherlands), Old Grey Whistle Test, and Rock Goes to College. As there was no photo on the first LP the British press assumed the group was a contrivance but were startled to find The Rubinoos were the real thing. During that summer the seminal Power Pop song I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend was recorded and released as a single in England, ending up as the number 4 airplay song of the year. It was also chosen as Music Week magazines record of the year. The Rubinoos finished recording their second LP, Back to the Drawing Board, in late 1978 for release in early 1979. Because of their success in the UK, The Rubinoos were chosen to open the US portion of Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces Tour, playing fifty-six sold out shows to screaming encores and rave reviews. Meanwhile, Back to the Drawing Board was a breakout all over U.S. radio, selling over 100,000 copies and making a run for the gold which was unfortunately cut short by the bankruptcy of its distributor GRT/Janus. In 1983, The Rubinoos were signed by Warner Brothers Records and made the Mini LP Party of Two produced by Todd Rundgren and Utopia (their first production project as a group). The video for the single If I Had You Back achieved heavy rotation on the fledgling MTV. In 1985 the band members chose to pursue other interests, leaving behind a reputation as one of the best pop groups of that era. By the mid 90s rekindled interest in Power Pop combined with The Rubinoos stature in the field earned the group major releases of two compilations containing previously unavailable material, Basement Tapes and Garage Sale. In 1995 Basement Tapes was picked by Billboard magazine as one of the years ten best CDs. In addition I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend has been included on many recent Power Pop compilations. In the fall of 1999 The Rubinoos reformed to play at the I.P.O. (International Pop Overthrow) festival in Los Angeles. Their appearance was the hit of the event. Along with the rare live performance, Rubinoos fans were treated to the debut of material from the May 2000 release Paleophonic. This stellar collection was produced by the late, great Kevin Gilbert. The next couple of years were spent playing occasional Pop festivals in the US and working on their individual musical projects. In 2002, the band, getting a little nervous and not wanting to spoil their streak of one CD every 10 years or so, headed back into the studio to record a new CD of all pop covers, Crimes Against Music. After finishing recording they hit the road for two smash tours of Japan and Spain. |
