Oingo Boingo ( Danny Elfman )... IMO one of the greatest little known writers and bands
Oingo Boingo (
/ˈɔɪŋɡoʊ ˈbɔɪŋɡoʊ/) was an American
new wave band, formed by songwriter
Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a
surrealist musical theatre troupe,
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the years previous.
[3]
Oingo Boingo were known for their high energy live concerts and experimental music, which can be described as mixing
rock,
ska,
pop, and
world music.
[1] The band's body of work spanned 17 years, with various genre and line-up changes. Their best-known songs include "
Only a Lad", "
Dead Man's Party" and "
Weird Science".
As a rock band, Oingo Boingo started as a
ska and
punk-influenced
[4][5] new wave octet, achieving significant popularity in
Southern California. During the mid-1980s, the band changed line-ups and adopted a more pop oriented style, until a significant genre change to
alternative rock in 1994. At that point, the name was shortened to simply
Boingo and the keyboardist and horn section were dropped. The band retired after a farewell concert on Halloween 1995, for which they reverted to the name Oingo Boingo and readopted the horn section.
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American composer, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He first became well known as the singer-songwriter for the
new wave band
Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s,
[4] and has since garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature
film scores,
[5] as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.
Elfman has frequently worked with directors
Tim Burton,
Sam Raimi, and
Gus Van Sant, with notable achievements the scores for 16 Burton-directed films including
Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, and
Dumbo;
[6] Raimi's
Spider-Man,
Spider-Man 2, and
Oz the Great and Powerful;
[7] and Van Sant's
Academy Award-nominated films
Good Will Hunting and
Milk.
[8] He wrote music for all of the
Men in Black and
Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for the Burton-produced animated
musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the
themes for the popular television series
Desperate Housewives and
The Simpsons.
[9]
Among his honors are four
Oscar nominations,
[5] two
Emmy Awards,
[10] a
Grammy,
[11] six
Saturn Awards for
Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award,
[12] the 2015
Disney Legend Award,
[13] and the
Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017.
[14]