Formed in LA in 1979, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, later known just as Oingo Boingo (and later yet,
just as Boingo), was the later evolution of a musical theatrical
group that was originally put together by Richard Elfman. Having
formed The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in 1972, Rick later
passed the Oingo Boingo torch over to his brother Danny and turned
his efforts to producing movies. For Richard's first movie "The
Forbidden Zone" (1980) he actually enlisted brother Danny to write
the soundtrack, some of which was actually performed by Oingo
Boingo.
For a long time, Oingo Boingo was one of the best-kept
entertainment secrets. However, on the U.S. West Coast Oingo
Boingo had tremendous "underground" popularity. Part of the reason
for this was its leader and primary writer Danny Elfman's (Oingo
Boingo's lead vocalist) penchant for constant experimentation in
musical styles - including Balinese polyrhythms, West African
melodies, and big band-tinged horn-paced songs - that made Oingo
Boingo hard to categorize.
Oingo Boingo's initial release, "Oingo Boingo" (a four song
extended-play album on the IRS label) brought fierce negative
appraisals from local critics. The biggest complaint was that the
new stress on music was to pander to teenage tastes for commercial
ends. Stung by the press barbs, Elfman got back at reviewers with
the scathing lyrics of the 1981 Oingo Boingo song "Imposter"
(whose primary targets reportedly were the music writers of the
Los Angeles Times). Elfman indignantly denied he had slanted his
early writing specifically for the teenage level. "On the
contrary, when we (Oingo Boingo) started up, one of the reasons it
was hard to get signed was because they said our music was too
complex for a young audience to understand: rhythmically,
melodically, and lyrically. And, as the kids out here discovered
us on their own, we were surprised. We had almost begun to believe
what they had been telling us. But we came out with our first EP
and it was [with] the kids that we caught on."
Oingo Boingo had a modest local hit with the EP, which encouraged
A&M Records to sign them to a multiyear contract. The debut on
that label was "Only a Lad" (1981). A&M issued two more Oingo
Boingo albums, "Nothing to Fear" and "Good for Your Soul", from
1982 to 1984. Both contained tracks that received extensive
dance-club play (supported by videos that appeared on MTV and
other music video outlets), notably "Private Life" on "Nothing to
Fear" and "Wake Up, It's 1984" on "Good for Your Soul." The albums
achieved decent sales figures and, backed by constant nationwide
touring, helped slowly to add to Oingo Boingo's audience across
the U.S.
Oingo Boingo had a rather unorthodox size for a
rock group, numbering eight members including Danny Elfman on lead
vocals. One reason for the large group was the group's emphasis on
horn-driven arrangements.
Oingo Boingo consisted of:
Danny Elfman (leader, songwriter, lead singer, rhythm guitar,
co-arranger)
Steve Bartek (lead guitar, co-arranger)
Kerry Hatch (bass, vocals; '79 - '84)
John Avila (bass, vocals; '85 - '95)
Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez (drums)
Sam "Sluggo" Phipps (horns)
Leon Schneiderman (horns)
Dale Turner (horns)
Richard Gibbs (keyboards; '79 - '83)
Though Oingo Boingo started out as an 8-piece group, they
performed with as few as 5 members and as many as 20, playing a
variety of traditional and not-so-traditional instruments from all
over the world.
Other live (or session) Oingo Boingo members included: George
McMullen (horns), Warren Fitzgerald (guitar), Marc Mann
(keyboards), Doug Lacy (accordion, percussion), Katurah Clarke
(percussion), Carl Graves, Kerry Hatch, Mike Bacich, Bruce Fowler,
Rich Sumner, Willy Winant…
Information about Oingo Boingo could fill a small Jacuzzi, and yet
these links below do a much better job than swimming about the
flotsam and jetsam we could amass here:
Richard Elfman's
"OINGO BOINGO:
The Complete History":
http://www.oingoboingo.com/
Dan's Boingo Page:
http://www.boingo.org/
From Mystic Knights to Hollywood Lights:
http://oingoboingouk.tripod.com
And last, but not least:
The official Richard Elfman website:
http://www.richardelfman.com
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