Born to Laugh at Tornadoes

Born to Laugh at Tornadoes
Studio album by Was (Not Was)
Released	September 1983
Recorded	November 1982–June 1983
Studio	Sound Suite Recording Studios and Gnome Sound (Detroit, Michigan) Record Plant, Mediasound Studios, 39th Street Music Studio and Sigma Sound (New York City, New York) Criteria Studios (Miami, Florida)
Length	35:31
Label	ZE, Geffen
Producer	Jack Tann David Was Don Was
Was (Not Was) chronology
Was (Not Was) (1981) Born to Laugh at Tornadoes (1983) What Up, Dog? (1988)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Robert Christgau	B+[1]
Rolling Stone	link

Born to Laugh at Tornadoes is a 1983 album by the art-funk band Was (Not Was). Rolling Stone declared it "conceptually, the best album of the year" shortly after its release.^[2] Despite the glowing reviews, Tornadoes made little commercial impact in a year dominated by Michael Jackson's Thriller and Prince's 1999. (It did manage to become the band's first release to make it onto Billboard's album chart, peaking at #134 in a nine-week stay in the fall of 1983.)

This album boasted an impressive array of guest vocalists, ranging from hard rocker Mitch Ryder (on "Bow Wow Wow Wow"), former Black Sabbath vocalist Ozzy Osbourne ("Shake Your Head"), rock 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 rock ("Bow Wow Wow Wow"), psychedelic synthesized mod music ("Man Vs. The Empire Brain Building") and even easy listening cocktail jazz ("Zaz Turned Blue", a ballad about a man who nearly chokes to death in a park).

Also noteworthy is a credit to Robert Kinkel as Assistant Engineer; Kinkel went on to be co-creator of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The front cover illustration, "After Compton's", was credited to Dan Chapman in 1953 and Jeri McManus was the art director.