History Music / TinMachineAlbum

* BreatherEpisode: "Amazing" a relatively laid-back love song situated right between the musically intense, lyrically political "Under the God" and the minor-key, thumping, and downright nihilistic "Working Class Hero".

''Tin Machine'', released in 1989, is the eponymous debut studio album by British-American AlternativeRock {{supergroup}} Tin Machine, formed the year prior to help frontman Music/DavidBowie reinvigorate his artistic passion. Produced with a deliberately raw and improvisational style with little overdubbing, the album exerts a more HardRock-oriented sound that sharply contrasts most of the rest of Bowie's '80s output. Bassist Tony Sales described it as a deliberate reaction to the prevalence of "{{disco}} and dance music and drum machines" on the radio, while guitarist Reeves Gabrels described it as the band "screaming to the world" and "a project that would put an end to rock 'n' roll." The album is also much more openly socially conscious than Bowie's prior oeuvre, with "Under the God" scathingly criticizing social and institutional racism, neo-Nazism, and white supremacy.

''Tin Machine'', released in 1989, is the eponymous debut studio album by British-American AlternativeRock {{supergroup}} Tin Machine, formed the year prior to help frontman Music/DavidBowie reinvigorate his artistic passion. Produced with a deliberately raw and improvisational style with little overdubbing, the album exerts a more HardRock-oriented sound that sharply contrasts most of the rest of Bowie's 80's output; guitarist Reeves Gabrels described it as the band "screaming to the world" and "a project that would put an end to rock 'n' roll." The album is also much more openly socially-conscious than Bowie's prior oeuvre, with "Under the God" scathingly criticizing social and institutional racism, neo-Nazism, and white supremacy.

The hard rock direction wasn't the main intention from the get-go: when Bowie and Gabrels originally convened to try and help the former rediscover his artistic muse, the two originally planned to take on an art rock-driven direction in the vein of Bowie's most famous works, to the point where Bowie re-recorded [[Music/{{Lodger}} "Look Back in Anger"]] as a starting point. However, the duo's meeting with prior collaborators Tony and Hunt Sales (who'd previously performed alongside Bowie on Music/IggyPop's supporting tour for ''Music/TheIdiot'') led to the musician brothers orienting Bowie's new sessions in a harder direction, with Bowie drawing inspiration from Music/ThePixies, a band he quickly grew to admire since their inception. The end result of this was the formation of Tin Machine and the recording of this abrasive, rage-driven album.

* CoverVersion: "Working Class Hero", originally written and performed by former [[Music/TheBeatles Beatle]] Music/JohnLennon.

* DrugsAreBad: The general message of "Crack City", partly rooted in Bowie's own past as a cocaine addict throughout the first half of the 1970's.

* NewSoundAlbum: Hard rock cum proto-{{grunge}}, a deliberate contrast to the pop-rock of ''Music/LetsDance'', ''Music/{{Tonight}}'', and ''Music/NeverLetMeDown''; Bowie himself considered it a continuation of the style developed on ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''. Much of the album's sound seems to be inspired by Music/ThePixies, a band Bowie admired and considered one of the most compelling of the 1980's. Tin Machine would later cover the Pixies' "Debaser" in live performances, and Bowie himself would perform a solo cover of "Cactus" on his 2002 album ''Music/{{Heathen}}''.
* PerformanceVideo: The 13-minute promotional video is this; said video would later be cannibalized for the album singles' music videos.

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: InUniverse; "Bus Stop" is an unsubtle criticism of religious fanaticism.

* UsefulNotes/{{Agnosticism}}: The narrator of "Bus Stop" describes himself as "a young man at odds with Literature/TheBible."

* UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar: Alluded to in "Sacrifice Yourself".

* SpiritualSuccessor: Invoked: Bowie himself considered this album one to ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'', being a similar blend of hard rock and art rock with lyrical themes of sociopolitical protest. Additionally, while ''Scary Monsters'' is typically classified as a PostPunk record, ''Tin Machine'' falls in-line with post-punk's daughter genre, AlternativeRock.

* VariantCover: The arrangement of the band members on the cover photo differs between each format. From left to right, [[https://img.discogs.com/GceryxVMFAw9sxQmehrcSSEc7Vs=/fit-in/600x588/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-389990-1459163159-2230.jpeg.jpg the CD cover]] features David Bowie, Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, and Reeves Gabrels; [[https://img.discogs.com/5tRbL_oNO4bTJFbaq0-KqithkH0=/fit-in/564x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3522074-1333760090.jpeg.jpg the LP and digital covers]] feature Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie, and Tony Sales; [[https://img.discogs.com/dF82fLafaIeoMfZ9nKXJRqhdvyM=/fit-in/383x591/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11109008-1509999571-2554.jpeg.jpg the cassette cover]] features Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, and David Bowie.

* LongestSongGoesLast: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]; the 6:01 "Heaven's in Here" ''opens'' the album rather than closing it.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Bowie himself considered this album one to ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps'', being a similar blend of hard rock and art rock with lyrical themes of sociopolitical protest. Additionally, while ''Scary Monsters'' is typically classified as a PostPunk record, ''Tin Machine'' falls in-line with post-punk's daughter genre, AlternativeRock.

** "Prisoner of Love" quotes the opening line of the Creator/AllenGinsberg poem "Literature/{{Howl}}".

* MythologyGag: The quotation of Creator/AllenGinsberg's "Literature/{{Howl}}" in "Prisoner of Love" subtly nods back to Music/IggyPop's "Little Miss Emperor", whose parent album Bowie co-wrote and co-produced; the Bowie and Pop songs both quote the opening line of Ginsberg's poem.

** "Video Crimes" takes jabs at the then-growing sensationalism of news media.

* FaceOnTheCover: All four band members appear on the cover, arranged differently depending on the format of release. From left to right, [[https://img.discogs.com/GceryxVMFAw9sxQmehrcSSEc7Vs=/fit-in/600x588/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-389990-1459163159-2230.jpeg.jpg the CD cover]] features David Bowie, Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, and Reeves Gabrels; [[https://img.discogs.com/5tRbL_oNO4bTJFbaq0-KqithkH0=/fit-in/564x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3522074-1333760090.jpeg.jpg the LP and digital covers]] feature Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie, and Tony Sales; [[https://img.discogs.com/dF82fLafaIeoMfZ9nKXJRqhdvyM=/fit-in/383x591/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11109008-1509999571-2554.jpeg.jpg the cassette cover]] features Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, and David Bowie. All four variations of the cover image were photographed by Masayoshi Sukita, who previously shot the cover photos for Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot'' and Bowie's own ''[[Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum "Heroes"]]''.

* ShoutOut: "Sacrifice Yourself" mentions being "married to a [[Franchise/StarTrek Klingon]]."

* FaceOnTheCover: All four band members appear on the cover, arranged differently depending on the format of release. From left to right, [[https://img.discogs.com/GceryxVMFAw9sxQmehrcSSEc7Vs=/fit-in/600x588/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-389990-1459163159-2230.jpeg.jpg the CD cover]] features David Bowie, Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, and Reeves Gabrels; [[https://img.discogs.com/5tRbL_oNO4bTJFbaq0-KqithkH0=/fit-in/564x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-3522074-1333760090.jpeg.jpg the LP and digital covers]] feature Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie, and Tony Sales; [[https://img.discogs.com/dF82fLafaIeoMfZ9nKXJRqhdvyM=/fit-in/383x591/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11109008-1509999571-2554.jpeg.jpg the cassette cover]] features Tony Sales, Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, and David Bowie. All four variations of the cover image were photographed by Masayoshi Sukita, who previously shot the cover photos for Music/IggyPop's ''Music/TheIdiot'' and Bowie's own ''Music/HeroesDavidBowieAlbum''.

The hard rock direction wasn't the main intention from the get-go: when Bowie and Gabrels originally convened to try and help the former rediscover his artistic muse, the two originally planned to take on an art rock-driven direction in the vein of Bowie's most famous works, to the point where Bowie re-recorded [[Music/{{Lodger}} "Look Back in Anger"]] as a starting point. However, the duo's meeting with former Music/ToddRundgren collaborators Tony and Hunt Sales (sons of Creator/{{Soupy|Sales}}) led to the musician brothers orienting Bowie's new sessions in a harder direction, with Bowie drawing inspiration from Music/ThePixies, a band he quickly grew to admire since their inception. The end result of this was the formation of Tin Machine and the recording of this abrasive, rage-driven album.

''Tin Machine'' was released to rave critical reviews and was the subject of heavy hype from the public and press (including a half-hour performance video on [=BBC2=] and an appearance at the 1989 International Rock Awards) thanks to how ''different'' it was than Bowie's prior albums with Creator/EMIAmericaRecords, but sold nowhere near as much as its predecessors; while it still peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums chart, No. 10 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] College Albums chart, and No. 20 on the same magazine's broader albums chart, it sold too low to be certified in any region and missed the Billboard charts altogether. Additionally, the album, like Tin Machine themselves, later became the subject of scorn among both fans and critics, who became increasingly apprehensive of the idea of Bowie being reduced to just a band member and came to view this album's intentionally simplistic lyricism as juvenile. Bowie himself would also start to agree more with these sentiments, which contributed to Tin Machine's short lifespan (disbanding in 1992) and resulted in their second and final album, the aptly-titled ''Tin Machine II'', being much more elaborate in production and Bowie-esque from a musical and lyrical standpoint.

Because of the album's relative failure compared to Bowie's previous 80's albums, EMI grew threateningly apprehensive of Tin Machine, motivating Bowie to ditch the label in 1990; he would still license international distribution of his 90's solo albums to EMI subsidiary Creator/VirginRecords until 2001, and let them produce and distribute the 1999 remasters of his albums between ''Music/SpaceOddity'' and this one. Despite the constant drubbing throughout the 90's and 2000's though, both Tin Machine and ''Tin Machine'' have started to become VindicatedByHistory in recent years, with music analysts noting how the album and its follow-up, in true Bowie fashion, predicted the rise of {{grunge}} as a mainstream force in the 1990's. As a testament to its influence, co-producer Tim Palmer recalled to Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels that he caught the members of Music/PearlJam listening to "Heaven's in Here" during the mixing for ''[[Music/TenPearlJamAlbum Ten]]''.

Furthermore, despite rumors that Bowie experienced CreatorBacklash towards his stint in the band, he would constantly reiterate in the years after Tin Machine's disbanding that he quite enjoyed the project, considering it the outlet that both let him rediscover his love for music (after nearly retiring out of ArtistDisillusionment in the wake of ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' and the Glass Spider tour's overwhelmingly negative reception) and allowed him to finally break free of the pop rock pigeonhole ''Let's Dance'' carved for him back in 1983. As a testament to his fond memories of Tin Machine, Bowie would re-record "I Can't Read" for the 1997 film adaptation of ''Film/TheIceStorm'', releasing this version as a single that same year to promote the film, with another re-recording of the same song being made around the same time for an early draft of ''Music/{{Earthling}}''. This other take ultimately went unused, but later resurfaced on the posthumous ''Is It Any Wonder?'' EP in 2020.

Where this album ranks in Bowie's discography is... complicated. Contractually, it was a David Bowie album, and as such is included in the 1999 reissue campaign of the man's solo works, credited under Bowie's name. However, the members of Tin Machine considered themselves and the material they put out as a separate entity from Bowie's solo material. Additionally, fans will gladly classify ''Tin Machine'' as either a Bowie project or a Tin Machine-exclusive project depending on who you talk to; Bowie's status as the FaceOfTheBand only complicates this, despite his own attempts to avert it. As such, it's hard to definitively say whether or not ''Tin Machine'' is its own thing or a part of the David Bowie release timeline. As a bit of a compromise, this wiki includes the album among Bowie's solo works on the [[Creator/DavidBowie "Creator"]] page (and will do the same for ''Tin Machine II'' if/when a page gets made for that), while the [[Music/DavidBowie "Music"]] page places it and ''Tin Machine II'' in a separate category.

''Tin Machine'', released in 1989, is the eponymous debut studio album by British-American AlternativeRock {{supergroup}} Tin Machine, formed the year prior to help frontman Music/DavidBowie reinvigorate his artistic passion. Produced with a deliberately raw and improvisational style with little overdubbing, the album exerts a more hard rock-oriented sound that sharply contrasts most of the rest of Bowie's 80's output; guitarist Reeves Gabrels described it as the band "screaming to the world" and "a project that would put an end to rock 'n' roll." The album is also much more openly socially-conscious than Bowie's prior oeuvre, with "Under the God" scathingly criticizing social and institutional racism, neo-Nazism, and white supremacy.

* RearrangeTheSong: "I Can't Read" would later be re-recorded as a solo Bowie song for the 1997 film ''The Ice Storm'', performed as a more downtempo dirge.

''Tin Machine'', released in 1989, is the eponymous debut studio album by British-American AlternativeRock {{supergroup}} Tin Machine, formed the year prior to help frontman Music/DavidBowie break out of his critical and artistic slump post-''Music/LetsDance''. Produced with a deliberately raw and improvisational style with little overdubbing, the album exerts a more hard rock-oriented sound that sharply contrasts most of the rest of Bowie's 80's output; guitarist Reeves Gabrels described it as the band "screaming to the world" and "a project that would put an end to rock 'n' roll." The album is also much more openly socially-conscious than Bowie's prior oeuvre, with "Under the God" scathingly criticizing social and institutional racism, neo-Nazism, and white supremacy.

''Tin Machine'' was released to rave critical reviews and was the subject of heavy hype from the public and press (including a half-hour performance video on [=BBC2=] and an appearance at the 1989 International Rock Awards) thanks to how ''different'' it was than Bowie's prior albums with Creator/EMIAmericaRecords, but sold nowhere near as much as its predecessors; while it still peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums chart, No. 10 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] College Albums chart, and No. 20 on the same magazine's broader albums chart, it sold too low to be certified in any region and missed the Billboard charts altogether. Additionally, the album, like Tin Machine themselves, later became the subject of scorn among both fans and critics, who became increasingly apprehensive of the idea of Bowie being reduced to just a band member and came to view this album's intentionally simplistic lyricism as juvenile. Bowie himself would also start to agree more with these sentiments, which contributed to Tin Machine's short lifespan (disbanding in 1992) and resulted in their second and final album, the aptly-titled ''Tin Machine II'', being much more elaborate in production and Bowie-esque from a musical and lyrical standpoint.

Because of the album's relative failure compared to Bowie's previous 80's albums, EMI grew threateningly apprehensive of Tin Machine, motivating Bowie to ditch the label in 1990; he would still license international distribution of his 90's solo albums to EMI subsidiary Creator/VirginRecords until 2001, and let them produce and distribute the 1999 remasters of his albums between ''Music/SpaceOddity'' and this one. Despite the constant drubbing throughout the 90's and 2000's though, both Tin Machine and ''Tin Machine'' have started to become VindicatedByHistory in recent years, with music analysts noting how the album and its follow-up, in true Bowie fashion, predicted the rise of {{grunge}} as a mainstream force in the 1990's. As a testament to its influence, co-producer Tim Palmer recalled to Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels that he caught the members of Music/PearlJam listening to "Heaven's in Here" during the mixing for ''[[Music/TenPearlJamAlbum Ten]]''.

Furthermore, despite rumors that Bowie experienced CreatorBacklash towards his stint in the band, he would constantly reiterate in the years after Tin Machine's disbanding that he quite enjoyed the project, considering it the outlet that both let him rediscover his love for music (after nearly retiring out of ArtistDisillusionment in the wake of ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' and the Glass Spider tour's overwhelmingly negative reception) and allowed him to finally break free of the pop rock pigeonhole ''Let's Dance'' carved for him back in 1983. As a testament to his fond memories of Tin Machine, Bowie would re-record "I Can't Read" for the 1997 film adaptation of ''Film/TheIceStorm'', releasing this version as a single that same year to promote the film, with another re-recording of the same song being made around the same time for an early draft of ''Music/{{Earthling}}''. This other take ultimately went unused, but later resurfaced on the posthumous ''Is It Any Wonder?'' EP in 2020.

Because of the album's relative failure compared to Bowie's previous 80's albums, EMI grew threateningly apprehensive of Tin Machine, motivating Bowie to ditch the label in 1990; he would still license international distribution of his 90's solo albums to EMI subsidiary Creator/VirginRecords until 2001, and let them produce and distribute the 1999 remasters of his albums between ''Music/SpaceOddity'' and this one. Despite the constant drubbing throughout the 90's and 2000's though, both Tin Machine and ''Tin Machine'' have started to become VindicatedByHistory in recent years, with music analysts noting how the album and its follow-up, in true Bowie fashion, predicted the rise of {{grunge}} as a mainstream force in the 1990's. As a testament to its influence on the latter genre, co-producer Tim Palmer recalled to Tin Machine guitarist Reeves Gabrels that he caught the members of Music/PearlJam listening to "Heaven's in Here" during the mixing for ''[[Music/TenPearlJamAlbum Ten]]''.

''Tin Machine'' was released to rave critical reviews and was the subject of heavy hype from the public and press (including a half-hour performance video on [=BBC2=] and an appearance at the 1989 International Rock Awards) thanks to how ''different'' it was than Bowie's prior albums with Creator/EMIAmericaRecords, but sold nowhere near as much as its predecessors; while it still peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums chart, No. 10 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] College Albums chart, and No. 20 on the same magazine's broader albums chart, it sold too low to be certified in any region and missed the Billboard charts altogether. Additionally, the album, like Tin Machine themselves, later became the subject of scorn among both fans and critics, who became increasingly apprehensive of the idea of Bowie being reduced to just a band member and came to view this album's intentionally simplistic lyricism as juvenile. Bowie himself would also start to agree more with these sentiments, which contributed to their short lifespan (disbanding in 1992) and resulted in their second and final album, the aptly-titled ''Tin Machine II'', being much more elaborate in production and Bowie-esque from a musical and lyrical standpoint.

''Tin Machine'', released in 1989, is the eponymous debut studio album by British-American AlternativeRock supergroup Tin Machine, formed the year prior to help frontman Music/DavidBowie break out of his critical and artistic slump post-''Music/LetsDance''. Produced with a deliberately raw and improvisational style with little overdubbing, the album exerts a more hard rock-oriented sound that sharply contrasts most of the rest of Bowie's 80's output; guitarist Reeves Gabrels described it as the band "screaming to the world" and "a project that would put an end to rock 'n' roll." The album is also much more openly socially-conscious than Bowie's prior oeuvre, with "Under the God" scathingly criticizing social and institutional racism, neo-Nazism, and white supremacy.

''Tin Machine'' was released to rave critical reviews and was the subject of heavy hype from the public and press (including a half-hour performance video on [=BBC2=] and an appearance at the 1989 International Rock Awards) thanks to how ''different'' it was than Bowie's previous three albums, but sold nowhere near as much as Bowie's prior albums with Creator/EMIAmericaRecords; while it still peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums chart, No. 10 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] College Albums chart, and No. 20 on the same magazine's broader albums chart, it sold too low to be certified in any region and missed the Billboard charts altogether. Additionally, the album, like Tin Machine themselves, later became the subject of scorn among both fans and critics, who became increasingly apprehensive of the idea of Bowie being reduced to just a band member and came to view this album's intentionally simplistic lyricism as juvenile. Bowie himself would also start to agree more with these sentiments, which contributed to their short lifespan (disbanding in 1992) and resulted in their second and final album, the aptly-titled ''Tin Machine II'', being much more elaborate in production and Bowie-esque from a musical and lyrical standpoint.

''Tin Machine'' was released to rave critical reviews, but sold nowhere near as much as Bowie's prior albums with Creator/EMIAmericaRecords; while it still peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums chart, No. 10 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] College Albums chart, and No. 20 on the same magazine's broader albums chart, it sold too low to be certified in any region and missed the Billboard charts altogether. Additionally, the album, like Tin Machine themselves, later became the subject of scorn among both fans and critics, who became increasingly apprehensive of the idea of Bowie being reduced to just a band member and came to view this album's intentionally simplistic lyricism as juvenile. Bowie himself would also start to agree more with these sentiments, which contributed to their short lifespan (disbanding in 1992) and resulted in their second and final album, the aptly-titled ''Tin Machine II'', being much more elaborate in production and Bowie-esque from a musical and lyrical standpoint.

Furthermore, despite rumors that Bowie experienced CreatorBacklash towards his stint in the band, he would constantly reiterate in the years after Tin Machine's disbanding that he quite enjoyed the project, considering it the outlet that both let him rediscover his love for music (after nearly retiring out of ArtistDisillusionment in the wake of ''Music/NeverLetMeDown'' and the Glass Spider tour's overwhelmingly negative reception) and allowed him to finally break free of the pop rock pigeonhole ''Let's Dance'' carved from him back in 1983. As a testament to his fond memories of Tin Machine, Bowie would re-record "I Can't Read" for the 1997 film adaptation of ''Film/TheIceStorm'', releasing this version as a single that same year to promote the film, with another re-recording of the same song being made around the same time for an early draft of ''Music/{{Earthling}}''. This other take ultimately went unused, but later resurfaced on the posthumous ''Is It Any Wonder?'' EP in 2020.

The hard rock direction wasn't the main intention from the get-go: when Bowie and Gabrels originally convened to try and help the former rediscover his artistic muse, the two originally planned to take on an art rock-driven direction in the vein of Bowie's most famous works, to the point where Bowie re-recorded [[Music/{{Lodger}} "Look Back in Anger"]] as a starting point. However, the duo's meeting with former Music/ToddRundgren collaborators Tony and Hunt Sales (sons of Creator/{{Soupy|Sales}}) led to the musician brothers orienting Bowie's new sessions in a harder direction, with Bowie drawing inspiration from the Music/{{Pixies}}, a band he quickly grew to admire since their inception. The end result of this was the formation of Tin Machine and the recording of this abrasive, rage-driven album.

* NewSoundAlbum: Hard rock cum proto-{{grunge}}, a deliberate contrast to the pop-rock of ''Music/LetsDance'', ''Music/{{Tonight}}'', and ''Music/NeverLetMeDown''; Bowie himself considered it a continuation of the style developed on ''Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps''. Much of the album's sound seems to be inspired by the Music/{{Pixies}}, a band Bowie admired and considered one of the most compelling of the 1980's. Tin Machine would later cover the Pixies' "Debaser" in live performances, and Bowie himself would perform a solo cover of "Cactus" on his 2002 album ''Music/{{Heathen}}''.

''Tin Machine'', released in 1989, is the eponymous debut studio album by British-American AlternativeRock supergroup Tin Machine, formed the year prior to help frontman Music/DavidBowie break out of his critical and artistic slump post-''Music/LetsDance''. Produced with a deliberately raw and improvisational style with little overdubbing, the album exerts a more Music/{{Pixies}}esque hard rock-oriented sound that sharply contrasts most of the rest of Bowie's 80's output; guitarist Reeves Gabrels described it as the band "screaming to the world" and "a project that would put an end to rock 'n' roll." The album is also much more openly socially-conscious than Bowie's prior oeuvre, with "Under the God" scathingly criticizing social and institutional racism, neo-Nazism, and white supremacy.

The album was released to rave critical reviews, but sold nowhere near as much as Bowie's prior albums with Creator/EMIAmericaRecords; while it still peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums chart, No. 10 on ''Magazine/RollingStone''[='s=] College Albums chart, and No. 20 on the same magazine's broader albums chart, it sold too low to be certified in any region and missed the Billboard charts altogether. Additionally, the album, like Tin Machine themselves, later became the subject of scorn among both fans and critics, who became increasingly apprehensive of the idea of Bowie being reduced to just a band member and came to view this album's intentionally simplistic lyricism as juvenile. Bowie himself would also start to agree more with these sentiments, which contributed to their short lifespan (disbanding in 1992) and resulted in their second and final album, the aptly-titled ''Tin Machine II'', being much more elaborate in production and Bowie-esque from a musical and lyrical standpoint.

* TitleTrack: "Tin Machine" is one not only for the album, but also the band; the band in fact named themselves after the song, as it was a good fit for their rawer, harder sound.