Was (Not Was)

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Experimental pop/funk ensemble created by Don Was (Don Fagenson) and David Was (David Weiss).

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: "Knocked Down Made Small (Treated Like A Rubber Ball)"
• Amoral Attorney: Bobby Maggot in "Out Come The Freaks".
• Disappeared Dad: "Somewhere In America There's A Street Named After My Dad", the cover of "Papa Was A Rolling Stone". "11 Miles An Hour" notes that Lee Harvey Oswald had a disappeared dad as well.
• Elvis Has Left the Planet: And in an extra verse to "Walk Of Dinosaur" on Hello Dad... I'm In Jail, he comes back.
• Everything's Better With Dinosaurs: "Walk The Dinosaur".
• Funk and Funk Rock
• I Have No Daughter: "(Return To The Valley Of) Out Come The Freaks"
• List Song: "Shake Your Head (Let's Go To Bed)"
• Nubile Savage: The video for "Walk The Dinosaur" includes four of them dancing to the song.
• One Phone Call: "Dad I'm In Jail"
• Open-Heart Dentistry: literally in "I Feel Better Than James Brown".
• Rearrange the Song: Most obviously "Out Come The Freaks", but others get the treatment too. Their 1992 UK hit "Shake Your Head" was completely reworked from the original 1983 version.
• Record of Loudness War: The greatest hits collection Pick Of The Litter has been criticized for this.
• Ripped from the Headlines: "Maria Navarro"
• Robot Girl: "Robot Girl", obviously.
• Self-Titled Album: Their debut, though its expanded reissue was retitled Out Come The Freaks.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Tends strongly toward the cynical end.
• Soprano and Gravel: the 1992 remake of "Shake Your Head" is a duet between Ozzy Osbourne and Kim Basinger.
• Surreal Humor: One of the things they're particularly known for.
• Unplugged Version: Their Greatest Hits album Hello Dad... I'm In Jail includes an acoustic demo of "How The Heart Behaves".
• Who Shot JFK?: "11 Miles An Hour"