Use Basic Chemistry To Terrify The Neighbors

Well I can't say I was expecting that when I hit play on youtube!

Entertaining to say the least! :)

Wow, it's great to see this band get some credit and coverage aside from Danny Elfman's soundtrack fame; I'm quite a fan of Oingo Boingo :)
~Marilyn Roxie

That's cool to read more info on them, I only knew them through a couple songs and had no idea their history was so colourfull.

Great Article! It should be noted though the second album was actually "Nothing to Fear" followed by "Good for your Soul". I saw them at the Arlington in Santa Barbara in 1982. This I believe was the apex their high energy stage shows.

It's "Bartek", no 'c'

You know, for such an odd band, they did really well for themselves. I had forgotten about some of the movie appearances. I must have seen them in 'Back to School' a thousand times on HBO as a kid.

Great stuff. I'm a big fan but I noticed some things weren't mentioned. One, Richard Elfman is a director and I love Forbidden Zone. Also, there are rumors as to the Oingo Boingo name. One, is that Danny Elfman had said once that it is the sound that it makes when you hit a basketball against a dog. Two, it means something in Swahili although I'm not sure if either one is true, hint; rumors. There's a lot more info that could've been added, like Gibbs is now a composer as well and that the tribute band will be performing in Anaheim again later this year around Halloween (if not on Halloween). Lots of info but what there was, very cool. Thanks! :D

This sounds a bit apocryphal, but I heard from a filmmaker friend that when Paul Thomas Anderson met Tim Burton for the first time, he said only, "You stole Danny Elfman from me."

There was an EP first, which contained Only a Lad, but which had three other bad ass songs (like Violent Love)--which I have always thought were some of their best.

Also, you failed to mention the influence of El Muerto art on their style, which I consider to be very important.

Their live act ruled. I've seen them like 10 times. Scholar Brad, I was at that show, but it wasn't their apex--they kept putting on incredible shows well into the 90s.

I was very happily surprised to see this. Good job.

I believe that the name, "Oingo Boingo," was inspired by the name, "Bongo Congo," as mentioned in this article about a cartoon series from my childhood:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Leonardo_and_his_Short_Subjects

I have great memories of many Oingo Boingo shows from the late 70s and early 80s. That was a great time when they still did a lot of the costume stuff, as well as huge jams on their homemade instruments.

Sadly, I don't think their music has aged all that well. The motifs that Elfman became known for work much better in the later, orchestral soundtrack formats that Elfman pursued.

And #9 is right - the first EP still ruled over all the later stuff. It also had great cover art by artist Louis Wain, created during the later stages of his schizophrenia.

Good catch on the Bartek and the album numbers.

One other thing I thought was interesting but didn't include in the article was that No Spill Blood was written about the Island Of Dr. Moreau.

I can honestly say that I was not expecting to see my favorite eighties/early nineties band featured on Neatorama. I think I attended one of their concerts in the womb even. Thanks for sharing the Gong show bit too, I haven't seen much of their Mystic Knights galavantings, just heard some of their performances from that time period.

Oh yeah, so Nothing to Fear (I guess which was before Only a Lad) and then the Oingo Boingo album (with electric cat), wouldn't those be considered their first albums?

Another interesting fact: Richard Gibbs has written a number of movie themes as well and regularly produces and records with Korn!@

Thanks for this Neatorama. Oingo Boingo is such a great band. Some very talented individuals.

It should also be noted that while there's never been an "official" Oingo Boingo reunion, there has been plenty of times where most of the band members (Not Elfman) will get together and play in LA for Halloween. I went to a show in 2006, and it was amazing. They did songs from Boingo, Nightmare Before Christmas, and other covers as well. It's usually billed as "Tribute to Halloween", but I think in recent years they've changed it to "Tribute to Oingo Boingo. http://www.myspace.com/johnnyvatostributetohalloween

Way cool that so many of us are also Oingo Boingo fans. They were my favs in high school and I went to a number of their Halloween and other concerts.

Wow, everything I didn't like about the band was confirmed in that short clicp...

Wow...

I had no idea Danny Elfman look so freaking scary!

HUGE fan of the band and Danny. Wonderful clip of the Gong Show - I had not seen that before!

I have all their albums and saw them live numerous times when their tour would bring them to Houston, TX! I have autographs of everyone except Bartek... sneeky bastard would always slip past...lol

So sorry to hear of Danny's hearing loss. That man has the most beautiful voice I've ever heard and it saddens me to know I will never see the band and him live again.

The name will be debated forever but I saw an old cartoon (forgive me, can't remember the name...it's the cat and his sidekick, very famous old comic!) where the cat was bouncing down the street and the sound it made was (apparently 'Oingo Boingo!' written in big bold letters...I'd be very surprised if it was a coincidence knowing what they are into!

Great info here. there is so much more of their history, I wish someone would put together a book ( like the Kisstory ) on oingo boingo. The band is still one of my favorites, genius pure genius. I listen to music from swing , counrty to hard rock. I have still never heard any band that is so complex and musically satisfying. Back in the eightys I would say " Danny Elfman is a god" and few got it. But I think now many understand he was so ahead of the rest. I saw them live twice in Richmond Va, once around 1983 and there wasn't 100 people there so I rocked out front and center. It was like it was just me and the band.I think Danny thought I was crazy.We high fived after a few songs, the stage was not 18" tall.So we were inches apart. Not many on the east coast knew how great they were. I still listen to the last halloween concert album it makes me sad to think that that would never happen again. I own a Sound lighting and Video Production company and I give credit to the love of bands like oingo boingo and kiss as major reasons I am here. They realized that it was not just music but performance and style.