associated_acts years_active label article_title past_members background genre origin name
kid original savannah band creole and the coconuts , dr. buzzard 's 1977 -- 1981 , 2009 -- present rca victor , rca machine -lrb- band -rrb-
 august ferguson melvin lee darnell clare bathé jay stovall kevin nance lonnie group_or_band funk , pop , soul , disco new york city , new york , united states machine
machine -lrb- band -rrb-

machine was an american funk disco group , formed by jay stovall in 1977 .
the band started in new york city with the intent to create the disco equivalent of r&b message songs .
the band released its self-titled debut album in 1979 , which produced its most famous single `` there but for the grace of god go i '' .
the song describes two latino parents named carlos and carmen vidal who move out of the bronx to protect their baby daughter .
in their new surroundings , their daughter is cut off from her own heritage and becomes self-destructive from the vidals ' cosseting .
when the daughter grows up , her parents find she is the type of person from whom all their peers are trying to protect their own children .
it ends with the mother 's conclusion that `` too much love is worse than none at all . ''
`` there but for the grace of god go i '' reached number 77 on the `` billboard '' hot 100 and spent ten weeks on the chart .
slant magazine later named it the sixth greatest dance song , and pitchfork media included it in its collection of `` the pitchfork 500 '' .
machine released its second and final album `` moving on '' in 1980 with two accompanying singles , but the album suffered from poor sales .
the group disbanded the following year , and august darnell went on to form kid creole and the coconuts , who released a cover of `` there but for the grace of god go i '' in 1980 .
in 2009 , three of the band 's original members , jay stovall , kevin nance , and clare bathé , reformed the act for a tour .
