Oingo Boingo

From LoveToKnow Music
Oingo Boingo
Genre Rock Music
Origin Los Angeles, CA, USA
Active 1970's-1995
Albums Only A Lad (1981)
Nothing To Fear (1982)
Good For Your Soul (1983)
Dead Man's Party (1985)
Boi-ngo (1987)
Boingo Alive (1988)
Dark End Of The Tunnel (1990)
Boingo (1994)
Farewell (1996)
Songs Weird Science
Dead Man's Party
Website Official Site

Oingo Boingo is best known for two things: their eclectic 80’s soundtrack hits like “Weird Science” and their lead singer, Hollywood composer Danny Elfman. However, devotees are familiar with the band dating back to their performance art days in the late 70’s. A cult band to be sure, they ended their long union in 1995.


Before Oingo Boingo

Before the band became the rock group known as Oingo Boingo, they were The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. A strange performing arts group, they played in clown white makeup and could have over a dozen people at a time on the stage. Formed by filmmaker Richard Elfman, the group’s composer would eventually become Richard’s younger brother, Danny. After weeding out some members and shortening the name to Oingo Boingo, Danny assumed the role of lead singer of what was now a rock band.


Original Line-up

Danny Elfman- lead vocals, guitars
Steve Bartek- lead guitar, vocals
John Avila- bass, vocals
Johnny “Vatos” Hernandez- drums
Richard Gibbs- keyboard, synthesizers
Dale Turner- trumpet, trombone
Leon Schneiderman- saxophones
Sam Phipps- saxophones, clarinet


Cult Success

Oingo Boingo was a rock band based out of Los Angeles. They had a unique sound, as they arranged their music with a horn section. They transcended genres, although you could definitely hear influences of jazz and ska. The group had an almost comical, offbeat way about them that was not unlike one of their contemporaries, Devo. Even in Oingo Boingo’s early days, you can hear Elfman’s ambitious compositions behind what were often amusing and strange lyrics.

As locals began to form a cult-like following of Oingo Boingo, the band’s fame started to spread beyond L.A. and across the West Coast. Once signed with A&M Records, their first album, Only a Lad, was a modest success in 1981. They owed much of that success to great live shows and word of mouth, as their sound was a bit strange for radio play. Thanks to MTV, their theatrical background would come in handy and videos for songs like “Nothing To Fear” would be given regular rotation.

With the success of their stellar live shows and unique music videos, Oingo Boingo earned a national following. Their biggest hits were released during the mid-80’s, which included “Dead Man’s Party” and Weird Science”. Although they never became a huge commercial success, Oingo Boingo drew a loyal crowd until their farewell concert in 1995. (The previous year saw the band shorten their name once again, to just Boingo.)


Danny Elfman Goes To Hollywood

Director Tim Burton had been a huge fan of Oingo Boingo in the early 1980's, so he asked Danny Elfman to score the film Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Elfman obliged, thus creating a long collaboration between the two artists. Subsequently, Elfman became one of Hollywood's most sought after composers. His work includes the theme song to "The Simpsons" and the film scores to Batman, Good Will Hunting, and Spider-Man (to name but a few). Danny's prolific film compositions may be the reason why the band was never a huge commercial success, as he was concentrating on both careers.


 


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