Songoftheday 4/28/16 - I recorded every movement and plotted how to seize her, I used a tiny camera I thought I'd Japanese her...

"Spy In The House Of Love" - Was (Not Was)
from the album What Up, Dog? (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's song of the day comes from the alternative-pop/dance act Was (Not Was), who were led and put together by producers David Weiss (David Was) and Don Fagenson (Don Was) in the late 70s in Detroit. In 1980, they released the single "Wheel Me Out" (with Weiss' mom Elizabeth singing/speaking), which landed at #34 on Billboard's Dance Club Play/Disco chart. But by the time of their self-titled debut album a year later, the duo brought on a pair of soul singers in "Sweet Pea" Atkinson and Harry Bowens, who added a flavor of old-style soul to the avant-garde production. Their first release together, "Out Come The Freaks", was a nod to the hiphop/disco amalgam that was gaining tread with the Sugar Hill Gang and the Furious Five, and climbed to #16 on the dance chart. Another track from the album, "Tell Me That I'm Dreaming", made it to #3 on that list, and crossed over to Billboard's R&B chart at #68.

Two years later, the band released their sophomore full-length set, Born To Laugh At Tornadoes, which had gathered a cult following since, with its mixture of styles and guests as varied as Mel Torme' and Ozzy Osbourne. "(Return To The Valley of) Out Come The Freaks", a sequel of sorts to their hit from the last album, in a old-school soul style like the Drifters, just missed the top-40 in England at #41.

In 1986, their most successful album to date, What Up, Dog?, was recorded, which found Was (Not Was) a much tighter unit and centered on Atkinson and Bowens singing more classic pop instead of the studio tricks that marked their last albums. The first single from the set, the funky workout "Robot Girl", nicked the British chart at #95. But the second release, "Spy In The House Of Love", was a perfect nugget of dance-pop with Atkinson's growl weaving a tale of betrayal over a sophisti-pop groove...

"Spy In The House of Love" became the group's first big pop success in the States, reaching the top-20 on the pop chart in December of 1988. The song also crossed over to Billboard's R&B chart at #77. Internationally, the record initially went to #51 in the UK in 1987, but on re-release a year later climbed to #21 (and #13 in Ireland). The 12" remixed single, which sounded dramatically different from the original version, topped the American dance chart for two weeks, and was one of the most notable club hits of the year.

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Here's the "Dr.X" remix of the track, which helped top the dance chart, and was by far one of my favorite club jams of the year for its innovative "cut and paste" rearrangement of the record...