Oingo Boingo was the band of composer Danny Elfman from the mid-1970s to October 31, 1995. An early version of the band (who produced a novelty record about kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, "You've Got Your Baby Back") was known as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
Early success for the group came in 1980 with the song "Only A Lad" from its first EP release. The song aired frequently in Los Angeles on KROQ-FM and complemented the station's then-unusual New Wave format. Although the song was deemed New Wave due to its theme, the sound of Oingo Boingo generally defied categorization. Replete with staccato brass arrangements and surrealistic imagery, the music appeared to be influenced as much by Frank Zappa as it was by Cab Calloway. Following regional success of "Only A Lad," the group released its first album of the same name the following year.
The band is probably best known for appearing on a number of soundtracks in the early-to-mid-1980s. Their most well-known song, " Weird Science" was, in fact, written for the John Hughes movie of the same name. The band made an appearance playing their hit "Dead Man's Party" on stage in the memorable party scene in the movie Back to School (for which Danny Elfman composed the score), in addition to appearing in the 1981 film Longshot, performing their unreleased song "I've Got To Be Entertained". They also contributed two songs (neither of which can be found on any Oingo Boingo release) to the soundtrack for 1984's Bachelor Party; "Bachelor Party" and "Something Isn't Right".
They also made a cameo appearance as the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in the 1980 movie Forbidden Zone, written and directed by Richard Elfman, the brother of Danny Elfman. In this incarnation, the idea of which was initially formed in late 1972, the band was essentially a musical theatre troupe. Most of the members performed in whiteface and clown makeup; a typical show would contain music ranging from the 1890s to the 1950s (some of which were covers, some of which were original material based on music of another era.) This version of the band had as many as 15 members at any one time, playing over 30 instruments between them. Unfortunately, very little recorded material from this period exists. Because of the expense and difficulty of maintaining an ensemble of this size, Danny Elfman decided in 1978 to reduce both the band and its name, dropping the "Mystic Knights" moniker. Around 1994 it was yet again shortened, this time to "Boingo".
