the group chose the name tin machine after one of the songs they had written. tony sales joked that, as all four members were divorced when the band formed, originally the band was going to be called "the four divorcés" or "alimony inc." gabrels suggested calling the band "white noise", but bowie dismissed it as too "racist". "leather weasel" was "considered and quickly discarded." gabrels later elaborated on the real name choice, saying the band's name "worked on a number of levels for us. the archaic — the idea of tin, which is still everywhere: tin cans, when you go to the supermarket; when you walk down the street you find rusting tin. it's such a supposedly archaic material, but it's everywhere. sort of like the idea of us playing this music and not using drum machines and sequencers and things like that. there's a point at which it connects. at least for us. and the final thing, for lack of a better name."