From the time the band was born until the time it died, the music wended it's way through the hearts and minds of millions. A haunting mix of rock and world music with up to 20 members, this band can only be described as eclectic. With albums going gold and people still singing the praises of an artist well beyond the ranges of mortal men, Oingo Boingo will never die. But on All Hallows Eve in 1995, they did. Of course, even with the saddened yet inevitable breakup of Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman is still in business and still creating music that has all the life (and death) that Boingo ever had. So as a new era arives where there is no Boingo (aka Oingo Boingo, aka the Mystic Knights, aka the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo) we can look only to the music of the darkened theater to find the heart and soul that is cut open for us by the Mystic Knight Danny Elfman.

I have, since 1991, listened to Oingo Boingo. I regret that that is a much shorter time then they have been around but even those of us who enter the game late can get in on the pleasure and pain of Elfman and the Knights. The only question I have to ask is "why did they have to go?" But then, I listen to the music, I hear the lyrics and I remember that the one thing I ever learned from Oingo Boing was that the dead are never gone, they just don't visit as often as we'd like. So even with the band disbanded, I can still pop in a CD and listen to what once was. Not only that but I can always look froward to the next score that is released by someone who will be, not the next John Williams but just as grand as Mr. Williams in his own realm, Danny Elfman.

So why, do you ask, do I like this music so much. Well, I have always seen myself as mildly gothic in nature. As the overdramatic type with slight chronic depression and wild mood swings, the music fits my ever need and desire. It's loud when I want to be loud and down when I want to be down. Besides, Danny Elfman has the smile I wish I could smile, the impish smile of glee and evil.

But then there were the Mystic Knights... A performance troupe that toured the country performing odd and inventiveshows with music, acting and random entertainment. The group was founded by Richard Elfman, Danny's brother and starred Danny and most of the band Oingo Boingo. If you missed the troupe, like I did, as they were around in the late 70's, you can see their only long lating act, The Forbidden Zone, written and directed by Richard Elfman as a no-budget film. The score is comprised of 60 minutes of original music by Danny Elfman, one of his first works and performed by the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo just before they became Oingo Boingo. But then you ask, why is all this based on the phrase Oingo Boingo, and what does it mean? There are many questions in this world and only a few answers. the answer to this may be right or wrong but at least it's interesting. The phrase Oingo Boingo is translated in ancient Swahili to "dance while thinking." Wheather this is true or not it all looks good in Japaneese.

And now I will tell you of my discovery into Oingo Boingo and Danny Elfman. After having listened to many Oingo Boingo albums and Elfman Scores I have found that there are recuring themes. The two greatest examples are the following: On the album "Boingo" from 1994, the song Insanity starts off with a slowly rising horn dirge. If you were to listen to all of Elfman's soundtracks, you would find this dirge, almost identically in the opening themes of Nightbreed. A strange phenomenon, but a common one. Again, on thier 1990 release "The Dark at the End of the Tunnel," the song Try To Believe opens and drives all the way home with the main themes from Midnight Run. Any further occurences will be documented here, just send them to Kacey's Boingo Phenom and I will publish them here ASAP. Soon I hope to have the actual sound samples here as well.

On Dec 4th I picked up "Music for a Darkened Theater, Vol. 2", the day after it's release. It took me that long to find it. It's obviously not getting a large distribution. I have read of otehr's having trouble trying to find it. Of course the radio station I listen to advertised it the day it came out which was even more frustrating.
At any rate, it's out, and of course, I have it. It's a great album. A little different than Vol. one, in that instead of having compiled suites from movies like the first, it has a selection of tracks from various movies. This has both good and bad points. On the good side, you can hear whole movements from the movies, it's more like a collection of soundtracks, on the bad side, however, it has fewer movies represented, even on a double disk. It is still definitely worth the time and money (I picked it up for $20.99, which is less than the Oingo Boing Farewell CD I bought recently). Here is a scan of the back cover for a track listing, it may be a little hard to read, especially depending on the quality of your browser, but it's all there. In addition, here are some quick thoughts in general about most of the tracks....

Edward Scissorhands waited a LONG time to get on this compilation, but it's just as good now as it was when it was in first release. It just missed being on Vol 1 but now it has more play on Vol 2 than it would have gotten before.

To Die For has Danny back on his electric guitar, what more could a Oingo Boingo fan look for. see Dead Pressidents

Batman Returns is Batman again with even more Themes, as good as ever, plus Michelle Pfiffer in a cat suit (rowr).

On the Mission Impossible cuts you can even hear a trace of the origianl TV theme, that kicks ass, go Elfman!

Sommersby, a tin whistle! Now that rocks, I would have had a really hard time distinguishing this as Elfman had I not known it already, definitely a delightful variation on his style.

Dead Pressidents is Soooo 70's, it has all the aspects of a Black Panthers' meeting with a great hippie/Hendrix guitar by Danny himself, a reallt laid back Boing Style here and there. A great couple of tracks.

Nightmare Before Christmas: not much else to say, GREAT!

Freeway and Shrunken Heads are both strange and beautiful. Heads is more work with his brother Richard (Forbidden Zone), and supposedly, Freeway is all improv, wacky stuff.

It's nice to see Pee Wee Herman represented on this compilation again, I liked the show and here's some music from it, great to hear.

And quite possibly the end all and be all of the album, the original demo of This is Halloween, with Danny Elfman performing and singing All the parts with the help of a synthesizer. Very cool, very nutty, very Elfman. listen for the Tender Lumplings

Of course if you missed ever seeing the wonder of Oingo Boingo live here are some quick screen shots of the band on the stage in many situations, under many lights, and in front of many audiences. They are a band to remember:

Boingo Alive

What we do have to look forward to is a gammut of Danny Elfman Scores in movies to come. In the near future we have the reunion of Elfman and Tim Burtoin with Mars Attack which I believe is due out later this year. Like always it looks to be a good combination and will probably produce great music and visuals, as always.

Be sure to check out these other great Boingo/Elfman links from people who put a whole lot more time into this than I. I check them out periodically so much of the information here is gathered from those locations and compiled here. Return often for more interesting information on the one, the only, Oingo Boingo.

Last Updated by Kenneth Close: Oct 8, 1996