Oingo Boingo

February 18, 2013 18 Comments

What was the deal with them? What did they think they were doing?

An RWCG Readers Open Forum.

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18 Responses to Oingo Boingo

  1. Kid Dynamite says:
    February 18, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    that’s how I feel about Frank Ocean

    Reply
    • The Crimson Reach says:
      February 18, 2013 at 7:04 pm

      Hey, “Caribbean Queen” wasn’t a bad song.

      Reply
      • Kid Dynamite says:
        February 21, 2013 at 9:00 am

        not at all… billy ocean = good… Frank Ocean: not so much

        Reply
  2. dana says:
    February 18, 2013 at 7:03 pm

    they made on of my favorite movies in the world… I give you “The Forbidden Zone”:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3Uh-AFFDys < one segment "bim bam boom"

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvkQYGGGddE < the whole movie!! if you can watch the first 3 minutes without laughing ill eat my hat

    the alphabet song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZrkuPIt2bk

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eHUrvuWpr8 < danny elfman dressed as the devil singing minnie the moocher

    Reply
    • The Crimson Reach says:
      February 18, 2013 at 7:10 pm

      Thanks for those. I will watch!

      But that’s what I mean. What did they think they were doing? Into which tradition does this fall?

      Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        February 18, 2013 at 7:18 pm

        Surrealism, art rock, performance art, dadaism

        Reply
        • The Crimson Reach says:
          February 18, 2013 at 8:21 pm

          All of those? And: is that what they themselves thought they were doing?

          I think part of this is just that it’s disorienting. There is also some very mainstream, nice pop-rock from the late ’80s. Where does that fit into ‘dadaism’? Were they ‘being ironic’?

          Reply
          • Texan99 says:
            February 20, 2013 at 11:13 am

            Don’t you think they were just being rebellious and a little cute? It’s the “flippancy” mode of humor — not quite commentary, more puncturing what they saw as the inflated egos of the society that so cruelly constrained their creativity. Ah, the sorrows of having to earn a living in a bourgeois world. I like absurd humor, myself, though perhaps they’re not my favorite example. “Buckaroo Banzai” is more my style, or the Marx Brothers.

            Reply
  3. Mike says:
    February 18, 2013 at 7:54 pm

    Capitalism

    Only a Lad

    I used to listen to KROQ back in the 80′s. When you hear those two songs, you wonder how they ever got air time. I know Danny Elfman does a lot of movie soundtracks these days. He’s either gone over to the dark side or keeps his mouth shut.

    Reply
    • aretae says:
      February 18, 2013 at 8:13 pm

      I thought it was called Middle Class Socialist Brat.
      And all other things aside, I liked that one.

      Reply
      • The Crimson Reach says:
        February 18, 2013 at 8:30 pm

        I was always 50/50 on whether it was ‘ironic’ i.e. being sung in-character. Maybe just because one never heard stuff like that sung sincerely.

        Reply
    • The Crimson Reach says:
      February 18, 2013 at 8:25 pm

      Yup. So did they just ‘sell out’? And, consciously?

      But the problem is larger. There are just multiple, incoherent phases to keep track of: that old Mystic Knights stuff whatever that was, the early-80s conservanerd ska, the late-80s pop, the movie soundtracks. How does one tell a coherent story here?

      Reply
      • Mike says:
        February 18, 2013 at 10:07 pm

        I left KROQ and the eighties in California when I moved to Texas. Marriage and children prevented me from keeping track of all the various cul-de-sacs Danny Elfman and Oingo Boingo might have gone down.

        I just got back form Wikipedia. Up until just now, I thought Jenna Elfman was Danny Elfman’s daughter. You can see how poorly I kept track of that stuff.

        Reply
        • Mike says:
          February 18, 2013 at 10:08 pm

          from. I just got back from Wikipedia.

          Reply
  4. Pastorius says:
    February 18, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    Other bands went through phases from their early beginnings as Art Rockers to later periods as mainstream pop artists.

    Some other examples;

    Genesis

    David Bowie (Modern Love, Cat People, those are pure pop songs, no art to them at all, imo)

    Check out this from Genesis, what the hell did they think they were doing?

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      February 18, 2013 at 11:38 pm

      A LOT of ACID, That’s what they were doing.

      Reply
    • The Crimson Reach says:
      February 19, 2013 at 9:37 am

      I haven’t even attempted to grasp early Genesis, let alone assimilate them in with ’80s-era Phil Collins (a topic which merits an RWCG Readers’ Forum all its own; why/how on earth did Phil Collins become a superstar?).

      Reply
  5. d3ft punk says:
    February 19, 2013 at 12:06 am

    They are one of those bands I always meant to get around to some day trying to think about someday maybe looking at getting to listen to at some point in the future.

    Still thinking about doing that at some point. In the future.

    Reply

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