Oingo Boingo Dead Man’s Party – The Man Behind The Song

Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" was huge in the '80s, especially on the West Coast. While they are considered a one-hit wonder nationally, locally this band had a massive following. The song was a sign of what was to come for Danny Elfman... the man behind Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party."

Danny Elfman is the genius composer behind 19l Tim Burton movies including Nightmare Before Christmas. Danny also provided the singing vocals for Jack Skellington. Elfman has composed for other as well: The Simpsons, Batman, Good Will Hunting... he's scored more than 100 films! Danny's first Tim Burton project: Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

Danny Elfman was the lead singer and songwriter of Oingo Boingo for 17 years. He is a heavily tatted, incredibly buff ginger and he has presence. One of his favorite things is the element of surprise. Danny Elfman has always been known for the unexpected.

Oingo Boingo's biggest (and only national) hit is "Dead Man's Party." The lyrics are smart, edgy, and funny.

Dressing the dead in their finest clothes for burial... in olden days, silver dollars were used to weigh down the eyelids and keep them from popping open. You can see why Tim Burton may have been drawn to Danny Elfman's style.

In an interview with Consequence Podcast, Danny said he was inspired to write the song by his daughter, Lola. When she was a child, she came into his studio and asked "What does this do?" regarding Danny's DMX Drum machine. He showed her by testing it out and playing a few things on the spot. After Lola left the studio, Danny thought, "This is not too bad." What he had played became the rhythm of Oingo Boingo "Dead Man's Party."

"Dead Man's Party" has been in a bunch of films. One of my personal favorites is Weird Science ('80s teen cinematic masterpiece lol). The song was most famously a part of Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield where the band played itself.

Still composing, creating and surprising, Danny Elman performs as well. He has been married to Bridget Fonda since 2003. They met on the set of A Simple Plan: Fonda starred and Elfman composed for the movie.

Scroll down for more on the song... including the video Tim Burton made for "Dead Man's Party" and "leave your body at the door."

In my opinion, Halloween and classic rock go hand in undead hand. Lots of classic rock songs lend themselves to the spooky vibes of Halloween and scary movies. This list is dedicated to scary movie classic rock songs and the moments they appear in scary movies.

I chose the top 7 Scary Movie Classic Rock songs based on input from a recent post on the WCSX Facebook page:

"People Are Strange" from The Doors was covered by Echo and The Bunnymen for the movie Lost Boys. This 1987 CLASSIC film featured the hottest vampires we'd seen thus far plus some post-Goonies Cory Feldman and his BFF Corey Haim fighting vampires like true nerd-heroes.

Deep Purple's "Hush" is a banging masterpiece, but it's also a cover! The song was written by Joe South and first recorded by the country singer Billy Joe Royal in 1967. The song was not a hit for Deep Purple. Kula Shaker covered the song for I Know What You Did Last Summer in 1997.

The songs on my list of scary movie classic rock songs are all originals. Some have been used in multiple movies. I did not include ALL of the movies, but there are videos of the movie scenes with the song for the most part. Some movies fell before the days of videos. Do you have any top pics off the top of your head? Think it over or scroll down to peruse our picks.

"Don't Fear The Reaper" plays in the background as Jamie Lee Curtis drives around with her girlfriend smoking a joint and it runs again on the end credits. "It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare." - Brackett

Dokken created the title track for Nightmare on Elm Street 3 - Dream Warriors. "Welcome to prime time." - Freddie Krueger <--Robert Englund played Freddie. He adlibbed that line to give some dark humor to the scene. Entertainment Weekly rated all the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. You can check out their work here.

This song has been in a ridiculous amount of movies and TV shows. "Deadman's Party" is best known for the scene where the band plays the song in Back To School with Rodney Dangerfield, which is obviously not a scary movie, but the song was also a part of Ghostbusters, Donnie Darko, and Weird Science. Have you seen the video Tim Burton did for the song?

It's all fun and games until the CCR kicks in. "We were attacked by a werewolf. On the moors, we were attacked by a lycanthrope, a werewolf. I was murdered, an unnatural death, and now I walk the earth in limbo until the werewolf's curse is lifted." - Jack Goodman

Stephen King kicks off the movie as a goof that gets crapped on by an ATM. The movie was directed by King and based on his short story, Trucks. "The implications are pretty clear; fill up them trucks as fast as you can, then get right down to business, bubba." - Hendershot

You're minding your own business, driving home and singing along to Tom Petty's "American Girl." The next thing you know, you're putting the lotion in the basket. "Mister... my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you're askin' for, they pay it." - Catherine Martin

Stephen King makes his second appearance on our list of scary movie classic rock songs with his use of "Bad to the Bone" in Christine. "Oh man, there is nothing finer than being behind the wheel of your own car! Except *maybe* for ___!"- Good old Arnie Cunningham has a way with words.

Alice has written entire album's for scary movies. I chose instead to highlight "Go to Hell" used in the TV series Ash Vs Evil Dead. Actually, multiple Cooper songs have been used in the show including "Is It My Body" "Be My Lover," and "No More Mr. Nice Guy." "Poison" was featured in American Horror Story S9E7 "The Lady in White." Alice also helped compose the soundtrack for Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives