Nothing to Fear (but Fear Itself)—Oingo Boingo
#365Songs: May 13
There are a lot of different lenses through which to view the 1980’s.
It was literally the best of times and the worst of times.
Ronald Reagan became president, and AIDS happened. We’re still trying to recover from both.
On the other hand, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice. And Apple computers stood up for creativity and inspired us (as opposed to crushing creativity and disgusting us).
Musically, MTV happened. We’re definitely still trying to recover from that.
On the other hand, It Takes A Nation Of Millions happened. And we’re still trying to recapture that.
Since our focus here is music, let’s just pause a moment and ponder on all the things that transpired in the 80’s.
Madonna. Hair Metal. Synthesizers. We Are The World. Raves. CD’s. College Rock. Menudo.
It was a pretty remarkable decade.
So why, with so much to choose from, did I choose a semi-obscure minor hit from a band that started as a theater troupe called The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo?
Because I seriously think they were one of the most innovative and talented bands of the era.
If you only know them from “Weird Science,” then you can be forgiven for thinking me delusional.
But if you know all their early albums, you know how — with supreme artistry and vision — they managed to combine rock, rhythm and blues, ska, punk, hard rock, pop, new wave, and just about everything else, into a sound that literally no one had ever heard before. Changing keys and time signatures. Complex harmonies, arrangements, and chord patterns. Electric guitars. Brass sections. Synthesizers. Home-made instruments. Lyrics about pedophilia and capitalism. Song titles like “Reptiles and Samurai” and “Wild Sex (in the Working Class).”
If the sound was a kind of melting pot of oddities, so was the band itself. Dale Turner was a Minnesotan who played trumpet, trombone, guitar, and percussion. Sam Phipps was a Berklee College of Music student who played saxophone, clarinet, and flute. Stever Bartek was an electric guitarist who started out as a flutist with the psychedelic one-hit wonders Strawberry Alarm Clock, who gave us “Incense and Peppermints.”
The mastermind behind it all was, of course, Danny Elfman, who started out as a busker and went on to become Tim Burton’s composer-of-choice on just about every major movie the director made — not to mention some 100 other feature films.
So, by now, I’ve obviously convinced you that Oingo Boingo was the right choice of artist.
But why “Nothing to Fear (but Fear Itself)”?
Well, for one thing, the lyrics sum up pretty much everything good and bad about the entire decade:
Hey neighbor let me give you some advice
The Russians are about to pulverize us
In our sleep tonight
That is if the crazy Arabs
Or the riots don’t get us first
And the fire will rain down from the sky
The fire will rain down from the sky
People will die — People will die
People will die — People will die
But go ahead sleep tight in your beds
Remember what the wise man said
There’s nothing to fear (but fear itself)
Hey little girl won’t you come this way
Won’t you let me buy you candy or perhaps a chocolate shake
Or perhaps some nice cocaine or perhaps a little kiss
Or perhaps a ride in my big car
Perhaps a ride in my big car
Won’t you make an old man happy
Won’t you make an old man happy
Won’t you let me show you paradise
(Don’t ask your mother for advice)
There’s nothing to fear (but fear itself)
If they don’t turn you into a junkie or a zombie on the street
If they don’t turn you into a yo-cat or a grinning Jesus freak
If they don’t take away your brains or turn your body inside out
If they don’t take away your passion with a color TV set
They’ll take away your heart and soul
But remember what the wise man said
There’s nothing to fear (but fear itself)
And musically, it literally comprises pretty much every genre of note: it’s a dance song, it’s a ska song, it’s a funk song, it’s a punk song, it’s … well, frankly, it’s kind of an insane song, too.
Like, literally kind of insane. Manic. Crazed. Frantic. Even a bit frightening.
It’s sort of like if Midnight Oil and INXS artificially inseminated the Violent Femmes and Siouxie Sioux with a test tube full of Parliament and The Specials and gave birth to triplets named David Byrne, Thomas Dolby, and Andy Partridge.
And if that doesn’t convince you, then I can’t do nothin’ for ya, man.
And before I sign off, here’s something for you to consider. Oingo Boingo survived as an actively performing octet for something like six years before they had a hit. That would be literally impossible in today’s music industry. A new band with 8 members grinding it out for six years before charting a hit song that didn’t even crack the top 20? All while funded by an actual record label?
No wonder we get a bit nostalgic sometimes.
~
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