In the first year or so of MTV, fronted
by the theatrical, vocalist extraordinaire, and
future film scoring giant, Danny Elfman,
Oingo Boingo made their debut into the punk
rock new wave universe and the national
consciousness with the insane music video
for their first single, the cringy (especially in
hindsight), “Little Girls.” As a high school kid
and a budding punk rocker, I loved their
circus-like presentation and their irreverence.
That first album was a wonder of maniacal
songwriting, frantic rhythms, guitar stabs,
brilliant horn blasts, and it contained, I think, the
greatest recorded cover song in the history
of the world, next only to Devo’s “Satisfaction.”
Oingo Boingo’s version of the Kinks’
“You Really Got Me” is completely off the hook.
At any rate, from 1981 forward, I was
devoted to the band and super sad to see
them close up shop fourteen years later,
especially after recording and releasing
what I still think is the best album of their
entire career, the 1994 Boingo.
During the great vinyl purge of 1989,
I willingly gave up all my Oingo Boingo
vinyl to satiate the lust for compact discs,
but eventually I would recover almost all
of those records on CD. Only in the last
few years, though, have I recovered my
favorites in special vinyl editions, the
first of which, probably the most
successful album in the entire discography,
the 1985 Dead Man’s Party, containing
as it does two giant songs featured
in blockbuster 80’s films, the title track
in Rodney Dangerfield’s comedy
Back To School, and of course the
Frankenstein inspired “Weird Science.”
Oingo Boingo had finally crossed
over into the mainstream, which was
a welcome development: this record,
while perhaps a little more pop
oriented than earlier material, still
absolutely kicks ass. Every tune is a
banger, and for my money, all of the
cuts on this album are better than
“Weird Science,” which is not a bad song,
only somewhat too gimmicky for me.
It’s appropriately the last track on side
two. Listening to this album today is still
as much fun as it ever was. I’m rocking
out and singing along to this nearly perfect
Halloween soundtrack album, fittingly
pressed on equally perfect 180 gram
translucent orange vinyl.
The band’s last album, coming ten years
later, eponymously titled with a
truncated band name, Boingo, is, to me,
a veritable rock music masterpiece.
The horns are absent here in favor of
orchestral flourishes that provide
a kind chamber pop vibe to the onslaught
of mostly guitar, bass, drums, and
Elfman’s masterful and versatile singing.
It’s at once heavier and more melodic
than any proceeding record.
Lyrically, it is smart and serious and not
nearly as cartoony. These songs are
meant to get you in the feelers, and
a wide range of emotion is represented
here, from the terror of the opening
track, “Insanity,” to the heartbreak of
“Mary,” which features a kind of lyric
storytelling that is not usually a thing
Elfman does. There’s plenty of existential
angst coupled with the wisdom of
acceptance as Danny sings, “I’ve never
been lost like this, but I wouldn’t be
happy anywhere else.” There’s lots
of bile and anger in the sardonically
delivered satire of “War Again,” and
resignation coupled with longing
invoked by the last epic track, “Change.”
It is a prodigiously ambitious album.
Tunes clocking in at 6 or 7 (ha!) or
9 minutes, with “Change” taking up
an entire fourth side at 16 minutes,
these tunes are way more complex,
way more progressive than any
previous Oingo Boingo album.
Finally, and (I find) wonderfully, this
record seems almost haunted by
The Beatles, as allusions to their
string arrangements, specific musical
or thematic references to songs like
“Taxman” and “She’s Leaving Home,”
a generous sprinkling of Sgt. Pepper-like
found audio, are difficult to miss. And!
There’s an actual cover, an intense,
rousing, and enormous version of
“I Am The Walrus.” As the last chapter
in the band’s magical mystical history,
it is a doozy, a 90’s record, unlike so
many 90’s records, that is as good today
as it was 30 years ago.
Notes on the vinyl editions:
- Dead Man’s Party, Geffen Records, 1985, new pressing on 180 gram translucent orange vinyl.
- Boingo, Warner Records, 2025 reissue of the 1994 album, 180 gram translucent clear with black smoke double vinyl.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
michael jarmer 