Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom and Dark Sneak Love Action
There was then a four-year gap until the band's next album, the first version of Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom, released in 1988. By this stage, the band's non-US deal with Island had expired and the album was released outside the United States on Fontana/PolyGram. On the album, the group adapted a more conventional rock style with a harder edged sound and a hint of menace in the lyrics of some songs. The group's line-up was also solidified along more conventional commercial lines. Whereas the previous two albums had been recorded by a loose collective of a dozen musicians, the band was now reduced to the trio of Weymouth, Frantz, and Weymouth's sister Laura Weymouth. Members Mark Roule, Gary Pozner and Victoria Clamp were part of the recording of this album and there were a number of prominent guest musicians on the record, including Lou Reed and Talking Heads' front man David Byrne on a cover of Reed's "Femme Fatale". The fourth member of Talking Heads, Jerry Harrison, also featured on some tracks. As with Close to the Bone, the album was not a commercial success although "Suboceana" received some radio play, mainly in the UK, and the single "Don't Say No" made the UK Singles Chart (Tom Tom Club's fifth, and to date final, single to do so). The album was the first Tom Tom Club album to be issued on CD and the Japanese CD version featured an added bonus track, the B-side "Devil, Does Your Dog Bite?", which was also featured on the soundtrack to the film Married to the Mob. "Suboceana" and "Don't Say No" were also remixed for dance clubs in Deep House and Acid House styles respectively by house music pioneer Marshall Jefferson in 1988.
The following year, in a bid to recapture the attention of the US market, the group and Sire Records decided to issue a radically altered version of the album in the United States. The US version of Boom Boom Chi Boom Boom replaced four songs with four others, one of which, "I Confess", was a total overhaul of the original album's "Mighty Teardrop". The four new songs, Call of the Wild, Wa Wa Dance, Kiss Me When I Get Back and I Confess were co-written by new band members Mark Roule and Gary Pozner. Notably, those songs were also produced by Arthur Baker. The running order of the rest of the album was shuffled while the artwork was revamped. However, the changes had little effect on the album's US commercial success.
In 1991, Frantz and Weymouth built the Clubhouse, a painting and music studio, over their garage near Gamecock Island, Connecticut. In 1992, they released the fourth Tom Tom Club album, Dark Sneak Love Action, which included a cover of Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing". The album focused on the burgeoning techno music scene. A single, "Sunshine and Ecstasy", featured remixes by Roger Sanchez.
