Oh, I Know Go. Boy, I Know Go!

Recently, I was speaking to a couple millennials and they did not know who Oingo Boingo was. This is perfectly understandable as Oingo Boingo were kind of a Southern California band. They did not really have a huge following outside of there and that seemed to be mainly because when they toured, they didn't go worldwide. They kept it pretty local. I remember they would do a Halloween show in Hollywood or somewhere and that was pretty much it.

But they did have a following. And it seemed that most everyone I knew were familiar with them and really enjoyed their sound. It consisted of a sort of artistic, new wave style with a horn section, keyboards, guitar, drums. Lots of instruments and a lead singer whose last name was Elfman. He had red hair, very white skin and seemed kind of elf-like.

The cool thing about OIngo Boingo was that they had a sort of edginess to them. They were mocking the establishment, but not in a typical liberal way. "There's nothing wrong with capitalism. There's nothing wrong with the free enterprise." And "Hey there, Johnny Boy. I hope you fry!" But then they did mock the military too with "Tiny soldiers with tiny brains. Little bullets flowing in their veins." 

What Oingo Boingo did for me in high school was help me make the transition from pop music to something else. They were a great something else type band. I could get into them without feeling like my parents were going to be worried I was listening to the wrong kind of music. (My Dad actually owned Only a Lad a few years before I knew who they were.) 

But as I listened to them, I started to feel like this could definitely qualify as the wrong kind of music. "This is my private life. Come and get me out of here." "Wild sex in the working class." "The girls look really cute. They really make it work. They think I'm just a jerk." Of course, I was still pretty young to even know what they were talking about, but what I did know was that it was cool. It wasn't mainstream. It was artistic. It was fun. And you could probably mosh to it.

So now, fast forward to today. How do I introduce Oingo Boingo to a crowd that is not searching for this kind of rebelliousness? All that can stand is the music. The argument and artistic expression is somewhat minimal. They didn't have a ton of videos. But honestly, that was all I had as well. I just bought the albums and listened to the songs over and over again. And if that doesn't hold up now, I guess nothing will.

Start out with Only a Lad. Then, move on to Nothing to Fear. Good For Your Soul and Dead Man's Party. Subsequent albums were good too, but different. These main four are the core for me.

This is what I think should be done with most bands. Go back to the beginning. Go back to their earliest releases. I hated the Rolling Stones until I heard their earliest stuff. After that, I could appreciate them. "I am waiting." B-52s also. Their first 3 albums are so great. "She came from Planet Clairrrrre." "Has anybody seen a dog dyed dark green?" Red Hot Chili Peppers too. "Mommy! Where's Daddy?"  

The popular songs for a band are rarely who the band is. It takes research. And work. Sometimes I find myself just going to youtube now and getting a very superficial look and listen to a band. I know I am cheating myself. I know the right way. I was taught the right way... 

One Can Only Go Solo

We went and saw Solo. My joke was that we were going to find out that his real name was Hank Solinski. I saw it and enjoyed it. Mostly a fun movie. 

But that's just me. I saw the original Star Wars, before it was A New Hope, in 1977. I was hooked. I loved it. But I was also five. I think I loved Sesame Street, Welcome Back Kotter, and Mr Rogers. My parents could have thrown anything at me at five and I would have loved it. 

People tell me now that they hate Star Wars. I hate them. But I cannot really defend it. It was like my first car. I'll always love that. Sure it broke down on the freeway a couple times. Maximum speed was 50 mph. Gas gauge didn't work. When I started it, the starter would miss the flywheel and make this awful grinding sound, but I loved my International Scout.

Star Wars and me are like soulmates. I couldn't say no to Solo. And I definitely could not say no to Ron Howard. I knew he was going to get Clint in there. It is like the Alfred Hitchcock or Stan Lee cameos. Clint Howard is a staple.

The guy who played Solo wasn't very Han Solo-ish. Kind of looked like him, but basically, it wasn't really him. And there was no way it could be.

And that brings me to this: Why? What was the point? Were they sitting around in a room thinking about all the different possible Star Wars movies?

1. How about a story revolving around the Cantina? We could have it be like Cheers. And different folks come in and out. We could make it a trilogy. The Cantina Trilogy...

2. How about the prequel to the prequels? It could be the years from Anakin's birth to when he turned ten years old and Qui-Gonn and Obi Wan and Jar Jar come in and change his life forever.

3. How about a remake of A New Hope and have George Lucas lookalikes play all the characters in the movie?

Each one of these makes as much sense to me as doing the Han Solo origin story. They didn't even go that far back. It's an origin story, but we are only going to show him five years before he showed up in A New Hope. Those were very formative years though. Everything he references in the other movies happened in this span...

Why not show him as a 6 year old kid travelling around with his costumed mates picking pockets for a living? Or show him cruising around in his go-cart and after evading all the neighborhood bullies, he points to the sky and says: "Travelling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!"

Disney is sitting there going: Alright, we've got Star Wars! Now what?! Let's just crank out as much as we can. That should work. And we don't need any new ideas. We'll just use what worked before and go with that.

But alas, I am still five years old. They got me. They could throw up Ewok adventures and Holiday Specials and Jar Jar origin stories and I am in.