Was (Not Was) is an American band founded in 1979 in Detroit, Michigan, by David Weiss and Don Fagenson, who adopted the stage names David Was and Don Was.[3] Their song catalog features an eclectic mix of pop and rock styles, often featuring guest musicians from across the musical spectrum. The band's most popular period was during the 1980s and early 1990s, with their highest-charting hit, the song "Walk the Dinosaur", released in 1987 as the lead single from their 1988 album What Up, Dog?, becoming a worldwide top-40 hit and peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The band went on indefinite hiatus in the mid-1990s, but has returned sporadically since the turn of the millennium. Their most recent release was the 2008 album Boo!.
Career
Beginnings
Weiss and Fagenson were childhood friends who grew up together in suburban Detroit, Michigan, United States.[3] Partly due to Fagenson's poverty they decided to form Was (Not Was) in 1979.[4] The name of the band was derived from Fagenson's then-infant son Tony, who was just beginning to talk and enjoyed contradicting words such as "Blue" with "Not Blue". Their first recording was "Wheel Me Out", a 12-inch dance record for the avant-garde ZE Records. David's mother Elizabeth Elkin Weiss, an actress and radio pioneer in their native Detroit, provided the outré vocals. The track was later included on the 2000 compilation album Disco Not Disco.
In 1982, the group played on Don't Walk Away, a solo album for lead singer "Sweet Pea" Atkinson.[7]
Development
Born to Laugh at Tornadoes (1983)[3] had even more guest musicians, including Ozzy Osbourne rapping over electro, Mitch Ryder singing a techno-rockabilly number, Mel Tormé performing a ballad about asphyxiation, and an abstract funk piece called "Man vs. the Empire Brain Building". Singer Donald Ray Mitchell joined the group as third lead vocalist.[8]
Artist/animator Christoph Simon[11] created videos to accompany some of their stranger album tracks, such as "What Up, Dog?",[12] "Dad I'm in Jail,"[13] and the Tom Waits-style "Earth to Doris."[14] The videos appeared on MTV's Liquid Television and in various film festivals, including the Spike & Mike festival. Around this time, the Was Brothers developed separate careers as producers, film scorers, and music supervisors.
In late 2004, Was (Not Was) reformed for a two-month club tour through the US, including stops at the House of Blues in Cleveland and Chicago and the Trocadero in Philadelphia. In October 2005, they played four gigs at the Jazz Café in London.
Writing in Detroit's Metro Times, Brian J. Bowe described the band as "an endearing mess....a sausage factory of funk, rock, jazz and electronic dance music, all providing a boogie-down backdrop for a radical (and witty) political message of unbridled personal freedom and skepticism of authority."[15]
All except noted: David Kent (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, N.S.W. ISBN0-646-11917-6.
"Papa Was a Rolling Stone": Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 297.