THE WEEKEND NEEDLE DROP 52 Weeks 52 Albums
Week Eight Oingo Boingo Only a Lad
Released May 1981
Middagh Goodwin
Anyone who knows me and my musical taste, knows I have an affinity for SKA music. A band that especially in the early days skirted the line of SKA but never got pigeonholed as a rival band was Oingo Boingo. With their upbeat tempos and incredible horn section(and occasional rude boy references) it would have been easy to just write them off. They were much more than a genre mixing elements orchestral soundtracks, jazz, punk, SKA, new wave and creating something that was unique and their own.
Only a Lad, introduced Oingo Boingo to an unsuspecting nation of youths and I was one of them. Released in May of 1981 I was in 8th Grade and living in LA. I was refining my tastes in music and with a radio station like KROQ streaming songs by bands like XTC, Elvis Costello, Japan and more along side local up and coming acts like the Go Go’s and Oingo Boingo.
I remember hearing “You Really Got Me” the Kinks song covered by Boingo and going nuts. I had loved the original and to hear it revamped with such fervor, I was hooked and went out and bought the album.
I think the album stayed on my turntable for weeks maybe months. It became the sound track to the summer before my Freshman year. A transitional album and a favorite to this day.
As with all the Needle Drops an interesting bit of trivia. The album was mastered by legendary engineer George Marino(KISS, ACDC, Metalica, Guns&Roses.) The song “Capitalism” was named one of the “50 Greatest Conservative Songs of All Time.” Danny Elfman considers himself far left.
