Waking Up with the House on Fire

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.^[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Robert Christgau	B[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[8]
Smash Hits	[4]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	2/10[9]

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...".^[4]

AllMusic's Lindsay Planer retrospectively rated the album two out of five stars. He noted that "overexposure in the media, the ever-changing tides and trends of pop music, and, quite frankly, a less than laudable collection of songs resulted in [the album] receiving a less than enthusiastic response." He also explained that it "was in no way aided by the irony-laden yet undeniable banality of the emphasis track [...], "The War Song"." However, he stated: "Two of the more interesting cuts are the vintage R&B "Crime Time" and the upbeat and soulful "Mannequin," blending Beach Boys-esque vocal harmonies with a distinctly Carolina beach and shag flavour."^[5]

Robert Christgau rated it a B, stating: "Since I had even less use for the dismissive because-he-wears-dresses theory than for the ridiculous new-Smokey analysis, I could never figure out [Boy George's] means of commercial propulsion". He also stated the band's commercial decline "calls for concerted protest – which might be easier to whip up if the latest album weren't part three of more-of-the-same."^[6]

• The Chilean cassette edition starts with an extended version of "The War Song".

Culture Club

• Boy George – vocals
• Mikey Craig – bass guitar
• Roy Hay – guitar, piano, keyboards, sitar, electric sitar
• Jon Moss – percussion, drums

Additional musicians

• Phil Pickett – keyboards, backing vocals
• Steve Grainger – saxophone
• Kenneth McGregor – trombone
• Ron Williams – trumpet
• Helen Terry – backing vocals
• Imogen Exton – backing vocals
• Derek Green – backing vocals
• Alice Kemp – backing vocals
• Andriana Loizou – backing vocals
• Alanda Marchant – backing vocals
• Nancy Peppers – backing vocals
• Chris Rainbow – backing vocals
• Louis Rogers – backing vocals
• Martin Sunley – backing vocals
• Tara Thomas – backing vocals
• Clare Torry – backing vocals

• Steve Levine – producer, digital mixing
• Gordon Milne – engineer
• Peter Lees – assistant engineer
• Jon Moss – digital mixing
• Ray Allington – hair stylist
• Kim Bowen – stylist
• Stevie Hughes – photography, makeup
• Connie Jude – cover and rear sleeve illustration