The 1981 Listening Post - Oingo Boingo - Only a Lad

 Oingo Boingo - Only a Lad

By Andrew Anthony

June 19 1981

Oingo Boingo

Only a Lad 

Genre: New Wave 

Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5

Anthony’s Rating: 11-12 year old Andrew—1 out of 5 stars

        16 year old Andrew-2 ½ out of 5 stars

50 year old Andrew-- 4 out of 5 stars

Highlights: 

Capitalism

Only a Lad

Little Girls

Requisite 80s Cover/Lowlight: You Really Got Me (although it’s growing on me)

When this album came out, 11-12 year old me would have wrinkled his nose and wondered what this weird crap was. 11-12 year old Andrew was not ready for quirky, experimental art rock.  11-12 year old Andrew was more into mainstream AOR and Top 40, his undying devotion to Van Halen still a year or two away. 11-12 year old Andrew wouldn’t have gotten the subversive, satirical lyrics of songs like Capitalism and Little Girls. The straightforward, earnest lyrics of Escape by Journey and Hi Infidelity by REO were more his speed.  11-12 year old Andrew wouldn’t have liked Danny Elfman’s partly spoken, partly yodeled, partly screamed vocals.

        16 year old Andrew, having experienced a wider variety of musical styles, would find that later Boingo hits were more to his liking, but was starting to be more tolerant of non-mainstream music.  He wouldn’t be put off by a brass section, unlike 11-12 year old Andrew.  Boingo’s Devoesque version of You Really Got Me would have likely pissed him off, without an amazing guitar solo like Van Halen’s version. 

        50 year old Andrew listened to Only A Lad for the first time in his life a few weeks ago.  50 year old Andrew’s musical tastes have become almost insanely eclectic.  50 year old Andrew has seen Forbidden Zone and knows that Elfman and the Boingo boys were very much into experimenting and shocking their audiences with strange visuals and unusual audio. 50 year old Andrew, knowing more about the world than 11-12 year old Andrew could have ever imagined, has a greater appreciation for early Boingo than he would have had as a snot-nosed kid in junior high, or even as a less snot-nosed kid in high school. 

        50 year old Andrew WAS put off by Boingo’s version of You Really Got Me, so he asked his 48 year old wife (who WAS a big Boingo fan back in the day) what she thought of it.  She wrinkled her nose and wondered what this weird crap was.  I kinda had to agree.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7MhIp0eE5ymTKIZu0xO9lu?si=IO2BivaeQJ-pRhRrratLKw

The 1985 Listening Post - Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party

Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party

#406/1042

October 28 1985

Oingo Boingo

Dead Man’s Party

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

No One Lives Forever

Stay

Help Me

Weird Science

Wow, Listen to that opening track “Just Another Day” Danny Elfman went full Duran Duran. 

And I  know that the song was used in “Back to School” but “Dead Man’s Party” with it’s “walkin’ with a dead man over my shoulder”…how is that not the theme to “Weekend at Bernie’s”??

You know if you get past the obviousness of it’s devotion to being “weird” and “New wavy”, there’s some good tracks in here that suggest everything from the aforementioned Duran Duran Stadium sound to even, Madness (“Stay”) and INXS (“Help Me”)

You know what? This is actually the first Oingo Boingo album that I enjoyed from top to bottom. Even the shitty-hits like the title track and “Weird Science”, though perhaps it’s the familiarity that allows that enjoyment. 

This whole record feels like a calculated attempt at a cash grab while at the same time sounding like a last ditch effort at said cash grab and somehow it all works for me. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/dead-mans-party/1440740144

The 1984 Listening Post - Danny Elfman - So-Lo

Danny Elfman - So-Lo

#303
November 11 1984
Danny Elfman
So-Lo
4 out of 5

Highlights:
Gratitude
Cool City
It Only Makes Me Laugh

This is an Oingo Boingo but was released as a solo record for legal reasons.

Ok. I've heard terrrrrible things about this. So of course when "Gratitude" plays I am hopelessly tapping my feet and fondly reminiscing about the best of Devo. Easily my favorite track that Oingo Boingo put out in the era.
So much of this album is just fun without pretention ("Cool City", "It Only Makes Me Laugh") or actually songs that could be recorded by any number of the blue-eyed soul New Wave bands of the era ("The Last Time").
I thought this album was a blast. Much better than recent Devo, not as great as Sparks' Cool Places. But solid.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/so-lo/5242455

The 1983 Listening Post - Oingo Boingo - Good for Your Soul

Oingo Boingo - Good for Your Soul

#120

July 26 1983
Oingo Boingo
Good For Your Soul
1 out of 5

Highlights:
Little Guns (but that's just for energy and musicianship, it sounds most like Mystic Knights)

You know what I’ve learned? I think, I’m not 100% sure, but I think…Richard Elfman is actually the funnier of the two Elfmans. (Elfmen?) While I liked Only a Lad a lot, the last album and this one are so pedestrian and devoid of actual humor…much like Danny’s soundtrack work. Case in point: The Nightmare Before Christmas…when it tries to be funny in song, it’s caustic and sarcastic. He doesn’t seem like a nice person. He seems like the person he tries to look like: a red haired devil. But the Devil seems like he’s more fun to be around.
Elfman scored his brother’s movie, The Forbidden Zone around a couple years before this and that album is 100X more fun than this thing. Presumably because Richard had input.
Imagine collecting your allowance, mowing the lawns, getting your paltry paycheck from that weekend job and deciding to spend part of it on this piece of garbage.