Oingo Boingo

You are in CHUD, which makes me assume you probably like decent movies and can see how that same question can apply to anything with above average quality.

And, while I would never admit to bedroom dancing, if I had ever done it, it probably would've been to Dead Man's Party on repeat, because who could ask for more?

That song, incidentally, makes the Burton/Elfman fit quite inevitable in retrospect.

I bought the Skeletons in the Closet greatest hits album and listened to it while reading Little Children, and thanks to that, I will never seperate "Little Girls" while thinking about Ronnie McGorvey.

Because they're weird.

I am! I put Oingo Boingo on a Swap CD for some lucky sod a couple of years ago.

They're one of my favorite bands, from their early, punky stuff, through there later pseudo gothy stuff, and all the super poppy stuff in between.

That didn't stop me from selling their farewell tour DVD on eBay for $80.

I burned it before I sent it, of course.

I hope RB2 will get some Oingo Boingo DLC. It's a crime that they are left out.

Nothing lifts my spirits like putting Not My Slave (long version) on repeat.

I too enjoy O.B. One of my favorite songs of theirs is the version of "Ain't This the Life" from Urgh a Music War

Any band that can make you want to boogie down using lyrics cribbed from "The Island of Dr Moreau" is aces in my book.

Anybody who shows up as the house band in BACK TO SCHOOL is okay by me.

Saw these guys on what was probably one of their last tours, when they switched to just Boingo, awesome show, and I shook Elfman's hand. True story.

I have the LPs Only a Lad, Nothing to Fear, Good for Your Soul, So-Lo and Dead Man's Party. That how long I been listing to the knights. I wasa big fan back in High school. So-Lo and Dead Man's Party are not as good as the other three. Only a Lad, Nothing to Fear, and Good for Your Soul are three of the best LPs from the 80s, top 10 maybe, easy top 20.

Not only do I get to enjoy the fact my high school had the guy who did the music in Bloodsport teaching English but my English teacher dated Elfman before he was famous.

I was/am a big fan of Oingo Boingo. I read somewhere a few years back that Elfmann would never do a reunion and doesn't even acknowledge his time with the band.

I saw them onstage as the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (pre-Elfman, I think), and thought there were kind of amusing, but never really got onboard with them in their MTV days-- a few fun tracks here and there, for sure.

I had never given the band much thought, but near the end of their Oingo Boingo time (right before just becoming Boingo) they played a concert when I was in high school and sold tickets for $10. I didn't care much about them so had no intention of going. Ticket sales were so slow that they dropped the price to $5 (it was a large venue) and as a way to not lose any of the money they'd already made they allowed no refunds but did allow people who had bought a $10 ticket to get 1 more ticket for free. Because of that, lots of tickets were floating around and I ended up with one for free.

I say with absolute certainty this was one of the greatest live shows I've ever seen. I'll never know if it was low expectations playing into it or not, but they were absolutely amazing.

"Dead Man's Party" is my current ringtone.

One of my fave bands ever. I discovered Elfman through Burton and Boingo in hindsight through the soundtracks they appeared on (WEIRD SCIENCE, etc). My love for Oingo Boingo's punk/hot jazz/juke/vaudeville/ska sound led me to check out the newer "hurdy gurdy" Circus Contraption, the toy band Twink, and punk cabaret Dresden Dolls and go backwards to the pioneering Tom Waits.

I love the retro, creepy, playful, dirty sound of this eclectic kitchen sink subgenre (if you can really collect them into one group). New wave, rockabilly, surf guitar, ska, swing, klezmer/polka, cartoon, monster mash novelty... cramming multiple styles all together into a unique sound/s.

Devo
Squirrel Nut Zippers
The Aquabats
Man or AstroMan?
Morphine
Southern Culture on the Skids
Dr. Steel
etc.

Anyone got any related recommendations?

Was this the Desert Sky Pavilion concert in Glendale, AZ (I see you are in Phoenix)? I had to beg someone to go with me, as none of my friends were into the band and afterward, he agreed it was a fantastic show. I think we were in the second row. I also caught Boingo at the old Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix a few years earlier. The band had incredible energy live.

Hay DARKMITE8 you ever listen to Ian Dury & The Blockheads?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq4NZEtNTAo

Right up there as one of my alltime favourite bands. I even managed to track down a vinyl copy of their debut 4-track EP, which - besides the Farewell Concert DVD/CD - has the only recording of their awesome "I'm So Bad" on it.

As much as I love their 80's stuff (particularly the "Good For Your Soul" and "Dead Man's Party" albums in general), I absoutely adore the shit out of their last studio album as just Boingo . . . would've loved to have seen where they would've taken the new style with a couple more albums before calling it a day.

And it's weird seeing ex-members pop up all over the place (Vatos drumming for Tito & Tarantula, Jon Avila playing bass on Vai's "The Crying Machine", if I remember correctly, etc etc) . . .

They never really caught on in NZ (I think "Weird Science" was about the only song that got any airplay whatsoever, and that was severely limited), but then, we had Split Enz cornering the market for that kind of sound/look, and they were local heroes, so . . .

They've been one of my favorite bands for a long time. I remember finding the Danny Elfman So-Lo cd used a couple of years ago, then finding out it was hard to find. I've hoped for a long time that Elfman would do a reunion or something, but I've realized that it's never going to happen and he's going to keep making scores that sound the same.

Really? I might have to do that too.

Well, The Cramps come to mind, though I'll admit they've kind of run the joke into the ground over the years. Still, Gravest Hits, Songs the Lord Taught Us, and Psychedelic Jungle (or the Bad Music For Bad People comp) are all worth hearing.

I don't know that I'd exactly describe what Deadbolt does as music, since that tends to involve things like tunes, but they definitely fit the category.

The Sadies don't quite have the same trash aesthetic, but their blend of surf/rockabilly/country is very much their own thing.

Webb Wilder, being the "last of the full-grown men", gets the point across pretty well.

There's a ton of bands defining themselves as "psychobilly," which might appeal. A few I like are Belmont Playboys,The New Duncan Imperials, Hillbilly Hellcats, Dash Rip Rock, Ted and the Tall Tops, Frantic Flintstones, Hayride To Hell, and of course The Reverend Horton Heat. I think they all take a backseat to SCOTS, but you might check them out.

And, if you're in an instrumental mood, there's oceans of great nuvo-surf music out there: I'd start with Los Straitjackets, Jon and the Nightriders, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

Christ! Someone else has listened to Webb Wilder?

Kudos, sir.

That was the show. I saw a lot of interesting shows at that venue, and a lot of the bands I didn't really care about ended up being some of the best live performers.