Hm hm. Well, here's the cut of the day:

In 1982, Boingo collaborated with Maya Shouno, a popular J-Pop artist at the time. There's not a lot of info as to why this came about, but it's fascinating nonetheless. The song "Oh My Papa", in particular, is very reminiscent of Only A Lad.

Boingo (1994) is unique to the rest of Oingo Boingo's discography in more than just soundscape. The album was only released on CD and cassette - no vinyls, minus a possible promotional one. The US cassettes and EU CDs included "Helpless", or as I like to call it, "Schrödinger's song" - it's unreleased, but it's also not. Cassette exclusive tracks are somewhat of an OB staple; the original "Gratitude" is another but I'll talk about that come November.

Speaking of SO-LO, we finally got an official reason for why it was released under Elfman's name, despite the fact that it's Boingo's fourth album. According to Steve Bartek, MCA records was only interested in signing Danny on - they didn't want the rest of the band. The album was made in an attempt to get them interested in the group. I'd say it payed off!

Supposedly, "Little Girls" got the band banned from performing in Canada (that might be a joke). Also, they played this song at a high school. In front of a bunch of kids.

There's only one book about Oingo Boingo - the unofficial Clowns of Death. I have it, and it's awful. However, as Danny seems reluctant to write anything about OB's history, it may be the only account we'll get. I might scan it and upload here...legally, of course.

Oingo Boingo's performance at US Festival 1982 is a bit of enigma. US Festival was a hot event, there's footage of almost everyone who was at the 1982 show, except for Boingo. There's soundboard recordings, there's backstage footage, but no one in the OB fan base seems to have the main event on tape. There's a documentary about US Festival that includes a few seconds of Boingo's appearance, which leads me to believe whoever made it has access to the full show. There's a full recording sitting out there somewhere, unreleased for whatever reason. It drives me insane.

"I'm Afraid" is a fun little relic from the Mystic Knights era. It was played during the band's "transitional" phase, so it includes a little quirk: there was a costume change before it was played. Sluggo would play "Nature Zone" (which appeared on his solo album) and Danny would dive backstage to change into a set of pajamas. He'd come out as "Nature Zone" was ending, with a big teddy bear in his arms, and sing "I'm Afraid." There's actually an audio recording on here that references the pajamas.

Maya Shuono photos

Us Festival 82 photos

And some rare "I'm Afraid" Photos

The original VHS release of Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1986)

A cover of the immortal “Monster Mash” from an unknown show in 1982.