October 31, 2002

2:08 PM

Most people think of trick-or-treating, costumes, and jack-o-lanterns, but for me, and a lot of other Southern Californians, Halloween was always about Oingo Boingo's Dia de los Muertos concerts. With t-shirts inspired by Jose Guadalupe Posada, huge paper-mache skeletons jerkily moving to "Dead Man's Party", xylophone games and at least three hours of madcap music, you could always be guaranteed an excellent time. Unfortunately, the band broke up in 1995, so all we have now is tr ibute bands, Danny Elfman's filmmusic career, and a heck of a lot of really cool t-shirts .
posted by Katemonkey (12 comments total)

Let us not forget Danny Elfman's involvement in the greatest movie about Halloween of all time, a movie that also featured the sexiest animated character ever.

PS - Nice links!
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:17 PM on October 31, 2002

i fondly remember my days working at a local theme park in Atlanta and watching one of their shows use "Dead Man's Party" and "No one Lives Forever". Not only great themes for Halloween, but just good fun music for all seasons.
posted by psycht at 2:20 PM on October 31, 2002

Dia De Los Muertos is also an excellent trick-taking game.
posted by Shadowkeeper at 2:25 PM on October 31, 2002

May I simply state that the first film on Elfman's long list was his best. And if you've never seen Forbidden Zone, do yourself a favor and find a copy RIGHT NOW. SEE the chicken boy. SEE Danny Elfman as Satan. HEAR Herve Villechaize sing! What the F*** are you waiting for?!
posted by pejamo at 2:57 PM on October 31, 2002

featured the sexiest animated character ever. you're kidding? sexy? In a bookish librarian sort of way.
posted by mary8nne at 3:16 PM on October 31, 2002

Oh man... that brings back memories. I went to at least 4 Boingo Dia De Los Muertos shows. Everyone I knew in SoCal had seen them about half a dozen times. I've always considered them to be the world's most successful local band, because I never remember them ever going on tour. Anyone outside of Cali ever see them?
posted by braksandwich at 3:31 PM on October 31, 2002

In a bookish librarian sort of way.

mmmm...bookish librarians...
posted by rushmc at 4:06 PM on October 31, 2002

I was thinking about the band, too. I have the bittersweet distinction of seeing my first and last Dia De Los Muertos show in 1995 at Universal when they called it quits. My wife (prior to us getting married) had tried to convince me to go for years, but I missed the boat, thinking that flying to California for a Halloween concert seemed a little over the top. I was wrong. Glad I got one in before it was over.
posted by O Boingo at 5:07 PM on October 31, 2002

Imagine Danny shirtless but with suspenders on his khakis at the end of the show:
I can't believe
I'm still around
It's getting kinda late
Gonna leave
For a change of scenery
I'm going crazy
It's not the same
Since you've been around

I'm crazy, so crazy
You treat me like a dirty clown
You're always kickin' my dog around
I never get nothin' but constant abuse from you
You couldn't care less what I think, or my point of view

You're always puttin' the make on my friends, always giving
Them eyes and the dirty lies 'bout me and you, well I'm
Through, it's the end of the line for you babe, here's a
Ticket one way Cincinnati, I'm sendin' you home to your ma
And your daddy, so don't try to call me, you'll only be wastin' your Ti~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~me!
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye!


No longer rustin' Tustin
posted by planetkyoto at 5:27 PM on October 31, 2002

An Oingo Boingo thread, yay!!!!

I've been waiting for a segue into my Air Supply post for months!!! Yay!!!!
posted by ttrendel at 11:29 PM on October 31, 2002

You are so wrong, ttrendel, but then again, it's so easy to prove

If you are an old school Oingo Boingo fan, check out this Elfman interview on Morning Becomes Eclectic for an interesting insight into the influences on his writing.
posted by planetkyoto at 12:51 AM on November 1, 2002

To answer braksandwich's question: I saw Oingo Boingo at the Paradise in Boston in 1983. It was a great show, but then I had to trudge off, my ears still ringing, to my job as a security guard on the graveyard shift at a nearby hospital. But I had also seen the band a year or two earlier at the University of Southern California. Strangely enough, a bunch of my pals back in New England had all mutated into O.B. fans at the same time. Elfman's solo album is great too.
posted by Man-Thing at 2:14 PM on November 1, 2002