"Talk to Ya Later"

The MTV era arrives

From art rock to
new wave on your TV.

"Talk to Ya Later" is a 1981 track by The Tubes, written by Fee Waybill, Steve Lukather, and David Foster and released on the band's fifth studio album, The Completion Backward Principle. Produced by David Foster, the song represents one of the cleanest pivots in The Tubes' history: from the theatrical excess and extended arrangements of their A&M Records era into something tighter, sharper, and built for a new medium — MTV.

The track has the hard-edged momentum of post-punk and the melodic accessibility of new wave: a riff that locks in and doesn't let go, Fee Waybill's vocal riding the surface of something that could easily turn into a full-band eruption. The lyric is pure Tubes wit — dismissal with style, cutting someone off with a grin. The title phrase became one of The Tubes' most quoted lines.

MTV launched on August 1, 1981 — the same year The Completion Backward Principle came out. "Talk to Ya Later" and its video became part of the network's early rotation, helping establish The Tubes as a band whose visual identity translated perfectly to the new format. They'd spent years building a stage show that was essentially a live music video; when music videos became the medium, they were ready.

David Foster and The Completion Backward Principle

David Foster produced The Completion Backward Principle, and the shift in sound was immediate. Where earlier Tubes records had been sprawling and confrontational, this one was focused — shorter songs, cleaner arrangements, a sharper attack. Foster's pop instincts pushed the band toward precision and commercial accessibility without stripping the personality.

The Tubes at their commercial peak

The record reached number 36 on the Billboard 200 and yielded two charting singles, including "Talk to Ya Later" and "Don't Want to Wait Anymore." Bill Spooner's guitar drives the track — his playing is a master class in serving the song — and the band's ability to deliver someone else's vision as powerfully as their own is a testament to how accomplished they had become as performers.