(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
Originally, the (Mystic Knights Of The) Oingo Boingo were an eight-piece orchestra devoted to avant-garde theater pieces. Hailing from Los Angeles and led by singer Danny Elfman, they debuted with a self-titled EP in 1980, which included two tracks destined to become classics: the rock and roll of Only A Lad and the ska-metal of Aint This The Life.
The era of Only A Lad (A&M, 1981) was marked by the driving hard rock of Controller and Nasty Habits, a playful dive into the Zappa-esque music hall clownery. Out On The Inside revealed their penchant for Caribbean fanfares, but it was Little Girls that defined their sound: exuberant ska wrapped in an electronic sheen, with modernist vocals reminiscent of XTC and a touch of zaniness.
Nothing To Fear (A&M, 1982) features Grey Matter, another delirious ska with Chinese percussion and hard-rock bursts, the driving and lush Insects, and the rollicking operetta-style Reptiles And Samurai.
This mlange of styles evolved into the punchy, highly arranged synth-funk of Good For Your Soul (A&M, 1983), including Wake Up, the voodoobilly of No Spill Blood, and a peak of ferocity in the epileptic ska of Who Do You Want To Be.
Elfman then recorded the solo album So-Lo (MCA, 1984), which includes Gratitude, before reaching with Oingo Boingo the successful synthesis of Dead Mans Party (MCA, 1985), spanning the apocalyptic Weird Science and the Caribbean fanfare of Dead Mans Party, the Cossack-style ska of No One Lives Forever, and the Merseybeat tune of Stay.
In 1985, Elfman composed his first film score, inspired by Nino Rota.
Boi-ngo (MCA, 1986), with the gentle Tex-Mex serenade of We Close Our Eyes, Dark At The End Of The Tunnel (MCA, 1990), and Boingo (MCA, 1994), opened by the tribal and demonic ceremonial of Insanity and closed by the amusement-park waltz of Helpless, the bands final albums, mainly showcase Elfmans acrobatic arranging skills.
On Halloween 1995, Oingo Boingo performed their farewell concert, which became the album Farewell (A&M, 1996), a generous compilation of thirty songs that does justice to their stature and legacy. Seven minutes of Insanity set the ceremonial tone with tribal and demonic overtones, but immediately after Little Girls kicks off the parade of hits, continuing with Insects and Out On The Inside, Nasty Habits and Grey Matter.
The Cossack-style ska of No One Lives Forever, the ska-metal of Aint This Life, the amusement-park waltz of Helpless, the manic beat of Wild Sex, the Caribbean fanfare of Dead Mans Party, the voodoobilly of No Spill Blood, the rock and roll of Only A Lad, and the rollicking operetta of Reptiles And Samuraiall are represented. Listening to Who Do You Want To Be at full volume gives a sense of what was happening in Los Angeles nightclubs during those years.
The band was among the major fixtures of Los Angeles' discopunk in the early 1980s. Driven by Devo-like frantic bursts, Elfman and his companions pan-ethnic dance rock is the zany, over-the-top version of the nightclub.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
In the 1990s, Danny Elfman became a successful composer of film
soundtracks, among the most imaginative soundtracks of his time:
Martin Brest's Midnight Run (1988),
Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and especially Mars Attack (1996),
Guy Van Sant's To Die For (1995) and Good Will Hunting (1997),
Taylor Hackford's Dolores Claiborne (1995),
and then for countless Hollywood blockbusters.
Elfman also composed the music for Twyla Tharp's ballet "Rabbit and Rogue" (2008), the "Serenada Schizophrana" (2005), the violin concerto "Eleven Eleven" (2017), a piano quartet (2018), a percussion quartet (2019), a cello concerto (2022), a percussion concerto (2022), the orchestral work "Wunderkammer" (2022), and "Suite for Chamber Orchestra" (2023).
Elfman also released the double album Big Mess (2020), his first solo studio in almost 40 years.
