"Born to Laugh at Tornadoes"

An album that proved to be an inflection point in many ways still dazzles, provokes

By Kent Anderson

When I first read a review of the Was (Not Was) album “Born to Laugh at Tornadoes,” I didn’t know what to think. First, there was the name of the group. Was it a person? A group? Something parenthetical to both? As a name, Was (Not Was) was strange, to say the least.

I liked the evocative, carefree, rebellious album title, and the cover …