Waking Up with the House on Fire is the third album by the English pop band Culture Club, released on 22 October 1984. The album peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the band's third top five album.
Overview
The first single, "The War Song", hit #2 in the UK and went Top 20 in the US in late 1984. While Waking Up with the House on Fire became the band's third consecutive Platinum seller in both the UK and the US, it was less successful than the group's previous album, Colour by Numbers (1983). It was certified gold or platinum in many countries, even earning Double Platinum status in Canada.
The other two singles were "The Medal Song" (UK No. 32), (with its B-side, "Don't Go Down That Street" being released as a single from a subsequent EP in Japan but only reaching No. 69 in the charts) and "Mistake No. 3" (US No. 33). In Mexico, "Don't Talk About It" was released as a single in mid 1985 and charted at No.#8. Billboard called "Mistake No. 3" "slow, lyrical musings on human weakness" that is "an unusually sad song" for Culture Club.
Reception
Reviews for Waking Up with the House on Fire have been fairly negative. In Smash Hits magazine, reviewer Tom Hibbert stated the album was "a disaster of mediocrity" and that the majority of the tracks were "a characterless stodge of bland blue-eyed soul, slouching rhythms, pedestrian horns and nonchalant vocals...".
|2
|-
|align="left"|Canadian RPM Albums Chart
|6
|-
|align="left"|Dutch Mega Albums Chart
|7
|-
|align="left"|French SNEP Albums Chart
|2
|-
|align="left"|Italian Albums Chart
|7
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Oricon LP Chart
|4
|-
|align="left"|New Zealand Albums Chart
|15
|-
|align="left"|Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart
|9
|-
|align="left"| Spanish Albums Chart
|align="center"|4
|-
|align="left"|Swedish Albums Chart
|19
|-
|align="left"|Swiss Albums Chart
|21
|-
|align="left"|UK Albums Chart
|2
|-
|align="left"|US Billboard 200
|26
|-
|align="left"|West German Media Control Albums Chart
|22
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!Chart (1984)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|Australian Albums Chart
|30
|-
|align="left"|French Albums Chart
|61
|-
|align="left"|Italian Albums Chart
|54
|-
!Chart (1985)
!Position
|-
|align="left"|Canadian Albums Chart
|89
|-
|align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart
Release details
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:85%;"
! Country
! Date
! Label
! Format
! Catalog
|-
|
| 1984
| Virgin
| CD
| 91392
|-
|
|
|
| LP
| 39881
|-
|
| 1996
|
| CD
| 86181
|-
|
| 2003
|
| CD
| 92406
|}