KooKoo was recorded while Harry and boyfriend Chris Stein were taking a year long break from the band Blondie. The album was produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the 70s disco group Chic, who had just had major success working with Diana Ross on her 1980 album Diana. Harry and Stein first met the pair at the Power Station recording studio in New York while Blondie were recording their 1979 album Eat To The Beat, and they remained good friends in the intervening years. KooKoo was one of three albums to be (co)written and produced by Rodgers and Edwards in 1981, the other two being Chic's fifth album Take It Off and Johnny Mathis' I Love My Lady which remains unreleased.
KooKoo showcased the early fusion of funk, rock and dance music that would become the trademark of Rodgers and Edwards, and this style would later be evident on albums such as David Bowie's Let's Dance, Duran Duran's Notorious, The Power Station's self-titled debut album, and Robert Palmer's Riptide. Backing vocals were provided by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale of Devo, credited as Spud and Pud Devo.
KooKoo reached #6 in the UK and stayed in the charts for seven weeks, being certified "Silver" by the BPI for sales in excess of 60,000 copies. The album reached #25 in the US and was certified "Gold" by the RIAA for sales in excess of 500,000 copies.
Originally only available on vinyl album and cassette, KooKoo was digitally remastered and re-issued on compact disc with two bonus tracks (the 12" versions of "Backfired" and "The Jam Was Moving") by EMI in the UK in 1994, and again by Razor & Tie in the US in 1999, this time with just one bonus track. The album was reissued again in the US by Gold Legion Records in 2011 (the 30th anniversary of the album's release). This reissue includes three bonus tracks (both of the aforementioned 12" versions, and also the rare extended mix of "Inner City Spillover") as well as extensive liner notes.
