Don Was (born Don Fagenson) and David Was (born David Weiss) grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, and met in junior high school in the 1960s. It was a heady time for the Detroit music scene. The Motown assembly line was turning out non-stop hits. Revolution, as represented by the MC5 and the Stooges, was in the air. And then there was George Clinton. Elsewhere, Frank Zappa was turning the music world on its ear, and Miles Davis was reinventing music, again.
After they both attended the University of Michigan, Don Was played bass in the Detroit jazz scene, and David Was got a job as a jazz critic in L.A. The pair wrote songs over the phone, and in 1980, when they decided to form a band in an effort to escape having to get a straight job, Was (Not Was) was born. They put together a great lineup that included singers Sweet Pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowen, ex-MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, trumpet player Marcus Belgrave, Parliament Funkadelic percussionist Larry Fratangelo, and guitarist Randy Jacobs, among others. (more…)
