On November 17th in music history, one significant event took place in 1990. On this day, David Bowie's sound engineer, Ingo Vauk, stole the master tapes for the artist's then-unreleased album, "Tin Machine II." The theft occurred during the final recording sessions for the album in Switzerland.

The story goes that Vauk, who had been working with Bowie for years, suddenly disappeared with the master tapes, leaving the studio in disarray. Bowie and his team were shocked and immediately launched an investigation to locate the missing tapes and the engineer.

The theft caused a significant delay in the album's release, as Bowie and his band had to re-record parts of the album from scratch. The incident also led to a falling out between Bowie and Vauk, who had been a trusted member of the artist's inner circle.

Fortunately, the tapes were eventually recovered, and "Tin Machine II" was released in 1991. The album, which featured a harder rock sound compared to Bowie's previous works, received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike.

This bizarre event in music history showcased the importance of maintaining the security of master recordings and the trust between artists and their production teams. It also added an extra layer of intrigue to the story behind David Bowie's "Tin Machine II" album.