Born to Laugh at Tornadoes

Born To Laugh At Tornadoes is a 1983 album by the progressive pop band Was (Not Was). Rolling Stone declared it "conceptually, the best album of the year" shortly after its release.^[2] The advance publicity did not endear itself to the listening public at the time, and the album made little fanfare in a year dominated by the power pop of Michael Jackson's Thriller, or Prince's 1999.

This album boasted an impressive array of guest vocalists, ranging from hard rocker Mitch Ryder (on "Bow Wow Wow Wow"), heavy metal shock rocker Ozzy Osbourne ("Shake Your Head"), pop band The Knack's lead vocalist Doug Fieger (on "Betrayal" and "Smile"), Marshall Crenshaw ("The Party Broke Up"), and torch song vocalist/songwriter Mel Tormé (lead vocal on the closing song "Zaz Turned Blue").

The album also displayed a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from pop love ballads ("Betrayal") to heavy metal ("Bow Wow Wow Wow"), psychedelic synthesized mod music ("Man Vs. The Empire Brain Building"), to soft, easy listening cocktail jazz ("Zaz Turned Blue"), a ballad about a man who nearly chokes to death in a park ("Zaz turned blue/What were we supposed to do?/When Zaz turned blue?").

Also noteworthy is a credit to Robert Kinkel as Assistant Engineer, who went on to be the co-creator of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

Track listing

All tracks composed by David Was and Don Was

1. "Knocked Down, Made Small (Treated Like a Rubber Ball)" – 3:07
2. "Bow Wow Wow Wow" – 3:10
3. "Betrayal" – 3:06
4. "Shake Your Head (Let's Go to Bed)" – 3:55
5. "Man vs. the Empire Brain Building" – 4:02
6. "(Return to The Valley of) Out Come the Freaks" – 4:22
7. "Professor Night" – 4:10
8. "The Party Broke Up" – 2:14
9. "Smile" – 3:15
10. "Zaz Turned Blue" – 4:19

Personnel

• Marshall Crenshaw – organ, guitar, vocals
• Ozzy Osbourne – vocals
• Mitch Ryder – vocals
• Vinnie Vincent – guitar
• Joseph LoDuca – guitar
• Mel Tormé – piano, vocals
• Carol Hall – vocals
• Sweet Pea Atkinson – vocals
• Wayne Kramer – guitar
• Marin Alsop – violin
• Chris Blackwell – vocals
• Sir Harry Bowens – vocals
• Jervonny Collier – bass
• Michael Edwards – vocals
• Doug Fieger – vocals
• Yogi Horton – drums
• Bob Kulick – guitar
• Jay Leonhart – bass
• David McMurray – soprano & tenor saxophone
• Bruce Nazarian – guitar
• Luis Resto – organ, synthesizer, vocorder
• Paul Riser – horn & string arrangements
• John Robie – synthesizer
• John Sinclair – background vocals
• David Was – keyboards, saxophone, vocals
• Don Was – synthesizer, bass, vocals
• Randy Jacobs – bass, guitar, background vocals
• Lawrence Fratangelo – Percussion

References