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Oingo Boingo

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Chaos386 (talk | contribs) at 18:18, 25 November 2007 (→‎Oingo Boingo: the MCA years (1985-1990): Fixed wikilinks to "Dead Man's Party"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other uses, see Oingo Boingo (disambiguation).
Oingo Boingo

Oingo Boingo was a critically acclaimed American New Wave rock band of the 1980s better known for their influence, soundtrack contributions, and high energy Halloween concerts than their chart successes. The band was founded in 1972 as a performance art group called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo; from 1976 it was led by songwriter/vocalist Danny Elfman, who later achieved substantial renown as a composer for film and television.

The group's format was changed twice. In 1980, it changed from a semi-theatrical music and comedy troupe into a new-wave octet, and shortened its name to "Oingo Boingo". In 1994, the band reshuffled its lineup, adopted a more modern rock sound and rechristened themselves Boingo. The band retired in 1995, having reverted to the name Oingo Boingo.

History

The Mystic Knights years (1972-1980)

The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, formed in late 1972 by Richard Elfman, was a musical theatre troupe in the tradition of Spike Jones and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, performing an eclectic repertoire ranging from Cab Calloway covers to instrumentals in the style of Balinese Gamelan and Russian ballet music. The name was inspired by a fictional secret society on the Amos 'n' Andy TV series called "The Mystic Knights of the Sea." Most of the members performed in whiteface and clown makeup; a typical show would contain music ranging from the 1890s to the 1950s, in addition to original material. This version of the band employed as many as fifteen musicians at any given time, playing over thirty instruments, including some instruments built by band members.

Few recordings from this period exist, although they did produce a novelty record about kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, "You've Got Your Baby Back."

As Richard's interest shifted to filmmaking, he passed leadership of the band to younger brother Danny Elfman, who had recently returned from spending time in Africa playing violin and studying percussion music. They gained a following in Los Angeles, and appeared as contestants on The Gong Show in 1976, winning the episode they appeared on with 24 points out of a possible 30 (and without getting gonged.) [1].

When the group began to move away from its cabaret style towards a more pop/rock format, Richard Elfman decided to capture the essence of their live shows on film. The result was the 1980 movie Forbidden Zone. Filmed in black and white with a cast mostly made up of band members and friends, the movie's music and visuals elaborated on the spirit of the Mystic Knights' concerts. In one scene Danny, as Satan, sings a version of Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" with modified lyrics integrated into the plot of the film. In another Richard sings the 1920s novelty song "The Yiddishe Charleston." The movie attained cult status, captured the essence of the Mystic Knights, and provided a springboard for the film and music careers of Richard and Danny.

Oingo Boingo: the A&M years (1980-1984)

Various reasons for the band's transformation from musical theatre troupe to rock band were given, including cutting costs and increasing mobility, exploring new musical directions (such as Danny's interest in Ska and New Wave), and a desire to perform music that didn't need theatrics to support it. Although there was some confusion about what name this new venture would operate under (in the 1987 short subject "Face Like A Frog", the band is credited simply as The Mystic Knights), the name was eventually and permanently shortened to Oingo Boingo for the Rhino Records "Los Angeles Rock And New Wave Band" compilation, L.A. In, featuring their song "I'm Afraid."

By this time, Richard was no longer a group member, and the band had coalesced into an octet: Danny Elfman on lead vocals; Steve Bartek on guitars; Richard Gibbs on keyboards; Kerry Hatch on bass; Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez on drums; and Leon Schniederman, Sam "Sluggo" Phipps and Dale Turner on horns.

Early success for the group came in 1980 with the song "Only a Lad" from their eponymous EP. The song aired frequently in Los Angeles on KROQ and complemented the station's then-unusual New Wave format. Although the song was classified as New Wave and was compared to Devo, Oingo Boingo defied easy categorization. Their use of exotic percussion, a three piece horn section, unconventional scales and harmony, and surrealistic imagery was an unusual combination. Following regional success of "Only a Lad," the group released its first full length album, also titled Only a Lad, in 1981. Oingo Boingo also appeared in the 1981 film Longshot, performing their unreleased song "I've Got To Be Entertained".

Cult success followed, especially in Southern California. The band, recording for A&M Records, released albums in 1982 (Nothing To Fear) and 1983 (Good For Your Soul) that continued to draw comparisons to Devo and later, Wall of Voodoo.

A dispute with A&M led to Danny Elfman cutting a 'solo' record in 1984 for MCA -- in fact, it was a group effort released under Elfman's name simply to circumvent a clause in Oingo Boingo's A&M contract. Subsequently, the band was allowed to record under their own name for MCA.

Oingo Boingo: the MCA years (1985-1990)

With the move to MCA, the band made two personnel switches: Mike Bacich took over on keyboards from departing member Richard Gibbs, and John Avila replaced Kerry Hatch on bass.

The group's first MCA album (1985's Dead Man's Party) contained Oingo Boingo's first real hit singles, which included "Weird Science" and "Just Another Day". However, it was exposure in motion pictures, not on radio or MTV, that really catapulted the band into the public eye.

To this day, Oingo Boingo is probably best known for appearing on a number of soundtracks in the early- to mid-1980s. Their most well-known song, "Weird Science", was written for the John Hughes movie of the same name, and was later included on Dead Man's Party. The song was one of the band's least favorites. It was rushed out of the studio for the film before they were finished with it, and it was almost never performed live.

Later, the band made an appearance playing their hit "Dead Man's Party" on stage in the movie Back to School. Three more songs from Dead Man's Party were used in soundtracks: the song "No One Lives Forever" was featured in Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, "Stay" was used as the theme music for the popular Brazilian soap opera Top Model, and "Just Another Day" opened the 1985 film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's That Was Then, This Is Now. (for more soundtrack appearances, see below under "Soundtracks and references in popular culture")

Oingo Boingo's 1987 album BOI-NGO didn't make a huge impression on the charts. After this album, Bacich was replaced by new keyboardist Carl Graves.

The band's 1988 release Boingo Alive was actually recorded live on a soundstage, with no studio audience, and contained a selection of songs from earlier albums, plus two new compositions. The Boingo Alive track "Winning Side" became a #14 hit on US Modern Rock radio stations.

Beginning with 1985's Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Oingo Boingo vocalist and composer Danny Elfman had been scoring major motion pictures with increasing frequency. On 1990's Dark at the End of the Tunnel Elfman's growing orchestral soundtrack career was obviously playing a big part in his songwriting. Unfortunately, the college party fan base Boingo had developed over the years wasn't ready for such a leap in maturity and the album met with limited commercial success.

Boingo: the final years (1991-1995)

The group, now dropped from MCA, responded by officially shortening their name to Boingo, and reshuffling their lineup somewhat. Graves was dropped, and added were Warren Fitzgerald on guitar, Marc Mann on keyboards, and Doug Lacy on accordion.

Boingo's lone self-titled album was issued on Giant Records in 1994. Though the band was officially a ten-piece ensemble, only five members (Elfman, Bartek, Avila, Hernadez and Fitzgerald) were pictured in the album's liner notes, and indeed the guitar-oriented album used the keyboards and horns of the five remaining members sparingly. The Boingo album also continued in the less party-friendly vibe of Dark at the End of the Tunnel, although it did contain the Modern Rock hit "Hey!"

Reverting to the Oingo Boingo name, the band amicably parted ways after their annual Halloween concert in 1995. The final concert is available on both audio and video recordings.

Quite simply... the time was right. After 17 years together, it finally occurred to me that we had survived about 16 years longer than I had expected... pretty good by any standards I think. It's been good, crazy times, and I'm always amazed how loyal our fans have been, but I think it's better to let things go before they turn sour. Also, scientifically speaking, modern research has recently proven that after a band has been together longer than a decade, the risk of the dinosaur factor kicking in increases exponentially each year thereafter. In short, it's been fun. Adios Amigos.

— Danny Elfman

Aftermath

Since the band's dissolution, frontman Danny Elfman has continued to find success in his career writing film scores, particularly in collaboration with director Tim Burton; he almost exclusively employs Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek as orchestrator. His film scores have included Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Good Will Hunting, Men in Black, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Big Fish, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and dozens more. Elfman also wrote the themes for more than a dozen TV series, including The Simpsons, Batman: The Animated Series, Desperate Housewives, Tales from the Crypt, and Sledge Hammer!.

Vatos formed a concert show along with Sluggo, Bartek, and Avila in California. The concert show features performances on Oingo Boingo's most popular songs. This has led to speculation about a reunion.

In early 2007, Danny Elfman said there would not be a reunion. He has irreversible hearing loss and is worried that playing live would exacerbate it. He stated that some members may suffer from it.

Members

The membership in both the theatre troupe and the rock band changed over time.

The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo

Open ended years-range for members that transitioned into Oingo Boingo.

Name Years Credits Additional Info
Richard Elfman 1972–1976 Founder, director, percussion Note that pretty much everyone played percussion
Danny Elfman 1974— Composer, music director, lead vocals, rhythm guitar, trombone, percussion, fire blower
Marie-Pascale Elfman 1972–? Vocals Richard Elfman's wife. She appeared with the band less and less after her husband left
Gene Cunningham 1972–? ? Aka Ugh-Fudge Bwana
Matthew Bright ?–? Bass Aka Toshiro Boloney
Steve Bartek 1976— Guitar, vocals, percussion Played guitar and flute in the 60's band Strawberry Alarm Clock
Kerry Hatch 1979— Bass guitar, vocals  
Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez 1978— Drums, percussion  
Sam "Sluggo" Phipps ?— Tenor & soprano saxophones, flute, clarinet  
Leon Schneiderman 1972— Baritone & alto saxophones, flute; instrument design and construction Schneiderman and Danny Elfman built many of the band's percussion instruments
Dale Turner ?— Trumpet, trombone  
Billy Superball 1972–1975, 1976–1978 Trumpet, Upright & Fender Bass Aka William Folwell. Appears in the Bill Murray movie Loose Shoes
Josh Gordon 1973–1975 Trumpet, sousaphone, banjar, guitar  
Jon Gold 1973–1976 Guitar, multi-instrumentalist  
Jan Munroe ?–? Sword swallower, slack-rope walker, fire breather  
William Winant 1972–1975 Percussion Toured with Oingo Boingo; has performed and recorded with Mr. Bungle, John Zorn, Secret Chiefs 3, and Sonic Youth
Ernie Fosselius ?–? ? Wrote "Hipsters On Parade"
Stan Ayeroff 1972–1975 Jazz guitar  
Miriam Cutler 1976–1979 Clarinet, vocals Cutler's website
Brad Kay 1974–1977 Keyboards  
Todd Manley ?–? Percussion  
Lori Mann ?–? ?  
Musti Faun ?–? ?  
Gisele Lindley ?–? ?  

Oingo Boingo / Boingo

Open beginning years-range for members that transitioned from Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.

Name Years Credits
Danny Elfman —1995 Lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion, composition
Steve Bartek —1995 Lead guitar, backing vocals, horn arrangements, percussion, accordion
Richard Gibbs 1980–1983 Keyboards, synthesizer, trombone, percussion, backing vocals
Kerry Hatch —1983 Bass guitar, bass synthesizer, percussion, backing vocals
Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez —1995 Drums, percussion
Sam "Sluggo" Phipps —1995 Tenor & soprano saxophones, clarinet, percussion, backing vocals
Leon Schneiderman —1995 Baritone & alto saxophones, percussion, backing vocals
Dale Turner —1995 Trumpet, trombone, percussion, guitar, backing vocals
David Eagle 1980–1981 Drums
Paul Fox 1984 Synthesizers
John Avila 1984–1995 Bass guitar, bass synthesizer, percussion, accordion, backing vocals
Michael Bacich 1984–1987 Keyboards, backing vocals
Carl Graves 1988–1994 Keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals
Warren Fitzgerald 1994–1995 Guitar
Doug Lacy 1994–1995 Accordion, percussion
Marc Mann 1994–1995 Keyboards, samples
Bruce Fowler 1983–1995 Trombone

Other projects

John Avila and Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez were two members of the trio Food For Feet. They also formed the rhythm section of Tito & Tarantula, a Los Angeles band fronted by Tito Larriva of The Plugz and the Cruzados. Avila and Hernandez also joined Larriva and guitarist Stevie Hufstetter in a one-off project band called Psychotic Aztecs. The Aztecs released one album on the Grita label called Santa Sangre.

After the break up, bassist John Avila, guitarist Steve Bartek, drummer Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez, and saxophonist Sam Phipps (along with Doug Lacy and other musicians) formed a band called Doug & The Mystics. They recorded one album, New Hat, which included a cover of the Oingo Boingo song "Try to Believe", original songs, and covers of songs by Frank Zappa and other artists.

During the Halloween 2005 season, Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez put together a tribute to the band (and to Halloween itself), joined by former Oingo Boingo members Steve Bartek, John Avila, and Sam "Sluggo" Phipps, which took place at the Grove of Anaheim. Standing in for Elfman was Bt4, a young man whom many fans call "the Danny byproduct" [citation needed]. During the Halloween 2006 season, there were two Johnny Vatos Tribute to Halloween shows, one in Los Angeles and one in Orange County, with Vatos, Bartek, Avila, Phipps, and Legacy, and Bt4 once again on vocals. "Vatos" has announced his intentions of hosting yet another concert along these lines in the 2007 Halloween season, this time at the House of Blues branches in Sunset Strip and Anaheim.

In 2005, John Avila, Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez and Steve Bartek joined the list of performers on the soundtrack of 2003 re-imagination of the classic sci-fi series, Battlestar Galactica. Richard Gibbs joined at this time as well, but is credited as both a performer and composer. Their performances can be heard in seasons 2 and 3 and will likely be heard on subsequent seasons of the series as well.

Discography

Albums

Chart singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
U.S. U.S. Modern Rock UK
1985 "Weird Science" 45 - - Dead Man's Party
1986 "Just Another Day" 85 - - Dead Man's Party
1988 "Winning Side" - 14 - Boingo Alive
1990 "When the Lights Go Out" - 15 - Dark at the End of the Tunnel
1994 "Hey!" - 23 - Boingo

Tribute albums

Filmography

As the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo

As Oingo Boingo

Soundtrack appearances

  • Oingo Boingo contributed two songs (neither of which can be found on any Oingo Boingo release) to the soundtrack for 1984's Bachelor Party: "Bachelor Party" and "Something Isn't Right". The soundtrack also included "Who Do You Want To Be" from their 1983 album Good For Your Soul; the song is played during one of the most frenzied moments in the movie.
  • Oingo Boingo contributed the song "Goodbye, Goodbye" to the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High and its soundtrack. It is also heard on Boingo Alive and Best O' Boingo as live recordings. The studio version is only available on the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack.
  • The studio version of "Winning Side" is found on the 1989 movie She's Out of Control soundtrack.
  • The song "Flesh 'N Blood", from Dark At the End Of the Tunnel, appears on the Ghostbusters II soundtrack. A short snippet is played as background music during the film.
  • In the John Hughes film Sixteen Candles, Farmer Ted dances spastically to the Nothing To Fear song "Wild Sex (In the Working Class)."
  • They contributed the song "Happy" to the 1987 film Summer School. The song was never released on any of Oingo Boingo's albums.
  • The song "Stay" is played in the director's cut of the film Donnie Darko.
  • The song "Who Do You Want to Be" is featured on the soundtrack to the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. It is also featured in the Nintendo DS version of Tony Hawk's American Sk8land. However, both games contain the Boingo Alive re-recording from 1988, and not the original recording from 1983's Good For Your Soul.
  • In Something Wild (movie) Boingo's song "Not My Slave" is heard as the song on the car's radio during a scene in which Ray Liotta is driving the convertible car (top-down) with Melanie Griffith, and Jeff Daniels in it.
  • "Dead Man's Party" can be heard during a costume party in the NCIS episode "Witch Hunt".
  • "Dead Man's Party" is a selectable and danceable song in the game DDR Ultramix 4 for the Xbox
  • The song "No One Lives Forever" is featured in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 during the bridge scene.
  • The song "Skin" from the album "Dark at the End of the Tunnel" is playing on the radio ( though not performed by Oingo Boingo) in a scene in the Clive Barker film "Nightbreed"
  • In the 1984 teen comedy "Surf II", "Hold Me Back" is played over the opening credits and "Only A Lad" plays during the closing credits.
  • The song "Same Man I Was Before" from the album 'Dead Man's Party' plays in the 1988 movie "My Best Friend Is A Vampire." The main character's best friend goes to his room and the song plays on his stereo.
  • Susanna Hoffs covered 'We Close Our Eyes' for the Soundtrack to the 1992 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film). The song played during the closing credits.
  • "No One Lives Forever" was featured in Casper: A Spirited Beginning
  • "Only a Lad" was featured in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s
  • The song "Who Do You Want To Be" appears in the 1987 comedy film Teen Wolf Too. An exercise and jump rope video montage of Todd Howard (Jason Bateman) has this song as the soundtrack.
  • "Capitalism" is in the movie and soundtrack: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
  • "Try to Believe", performed by Oingo Boingo under the alias "Mosley and the B-Men", appears in the 1988 film Midnight Run, a film scored by Danny Elfman. This version is different than the album version.


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