OINGO BOINGO - "Insects" (1982)

 

Rich here, betting that you know of the composer Danny Elfman -- and that if you don't know his name, you've surely heard his soundtracks in the past 40 years, including in more than 20 Tim Burton films. He's been nominated for numerous Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy Awards.

 

Maybe you didn't know that Elfman's been composing music since he was a teenager. In the early '70s, he became the music director for his older brother's street theatre art troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, which by 1979 had evolved into an the 8-man rock band Oingo Boingo with Elfman as the lead singer and primary songwriter. Oingo Boingo's music was wildly eclectic with Elfman's angular compositions that careened all over the musical landscape while combining sophisticated arrangements and bizarre subject matter. It wasn't everyone's cup of tea, and though Oingo Boingo had a taste of mainstream success with "Dead Man's Party" and "Weird Science," Elfman's quirky ska-meets-new wave-meets-jazz-and-pop was more suited to a quirky new wave cult audience -- the kind of audience sought by Tim Burton when he recruited Elfman to compose soundtracks for his equally quirky movies, starting with "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" (1985) and "Batman" (1989) and to the present day. 

 

Meanwhile, here's an emblematic taste of Elfman's work with Oingo Boingo, "Insects," from their 1982 album "Nothing to Fear."

OINGO BOINGO - "Insects" 

SPIDER SONGS!

 

I didn't know until recently that the 1966 album by The WHO titled "Happy Jack," was originally named "A Quick One." Apparently the title was changed for the American version after the song "Happy Jack" started getting some airplay, and also because they thought the title was a double entendre, that might be perceived as something dirty or nasty by the general public. 

This is one of my favorite WHO albums, and also one of my favorite 'spider' songs all in one neat package!

THE WHO - "Boris The Spider" 

 

This is the back of Link Wray's 1969 album titled "Yesterday And Today," that included his song "The Black Widow." "The Black Widow" was originally on Link's earlier album in 1962 when he was performing as Link Wray And His Ray Men.

It doesn't get much more classic than this!

LINK WRAY - "The Black Widow"

Even though there are hundreds of spider songs out there, I'd be doing a great disservice if I didn't mention the 1967 film "Spider Baby Or, The Maddest Story Ever Told" that had music written by the incredible Ronald Stein. If you're not familiar with him, Ron Stein was the mastermind behind the music in films like "Invasion of The Saucer Men," "Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman," "Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow," "Dementia 13," "Journey To The 7th Planet," etc, etc!!

The cherry on top is who performs this song!

LON CHANEY JR. - "Spider Baby" 

THREE DECADES OF MONKEYS!!!

 

I was going to write about songs with spider references in them tonight, but something threw a monkey wrench into my plans, and it ended up being songs about monkeys instead.

There have been so many songs with monkey references over the years.

Here's a couple of good ones, and speaking of monkey wrench....

FOO FIGHTERS - "Monkey Wrench" 

 

One of the most common monkey songs would without a doubt be the classic by The Miracles in 1963 from this album titled "Doin' Mickey's Monkey."

THE MIRACLES - "Mickey's Monkey"

 

 

There are probably hundreds or more titles out there, but I'm through monkeying around for now, and am going to round out this perfect trio with a 1951 single by "Stick McGhee And His Buddies" on the "Atlantic Label" that will rock your socks off.

STICK McGHEE AND HIS BUDDIES - "One Monkey Don't Stop The Show" 

STEWART COPELAND - "The Rhythmatist" (1985)

 

This solo record by Police drummer Stewart Copeland, the soundtrack for a 1985 film called "The Rhythmatist," which he also co-wrote, just shows you what an integral part of The Police's sound he really was. 

STEWART COPELAND - "Brazzaville" 

THE AGENTS - "Modern Girl" (1983)

 

The Agents were a Power Pop band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and as far as I can tell, their total output was this one single in 1983.

Sounds like a pretty big production for a one off single. 

THE AGENTS - "Modern Girl" 

BLUR - "Song 2" (1997)

 

Blur's 4th album came out in 1997, and was titled simply "Blur."

Oddly enough, the second song is titled "Song 2."

I've dug this song ever since the second time I heard it.

BLUR - "Song 2" 

LORD KITCHENER - "Kitch 67" (1966)

 

A couple of years before he died, Lord Litter confessed to me that this gentleman right here named Lord Kitchener was where he got the idea for his name.

Lord Kitchener, aka Aldwyn Roberts, was a giant in the world of Calypso. "Kitch 67" came out in 1966 and was his 4th album out of the 37 he recorded.

Here's a great song about telling a person to mind their own business! 

 LORD KITCHENER - "Take You' Meat Out Me Rice"