Oingo Boingo Album: “Only A Lad”

How do I even start? This is one of Oingo Boingo's best. It's classic!

The layering of instruments is really awesome. What You See has so many turns it takes a while to get sick of it.

The lyrics are really clever...I'm assuming Danny Elfman wrote them. They're dripping with sarcasm, dry comments on people in our society...awesome! It takes a real genius to turn a subject like pedophiles into a song that makes you smile and tap your foot.

Speaking of pedophiles, "Little Girls" deserves its own paragraphs. It opens up the album. The first time I heard this song I was like, "this is so awful!". The lyrics were just so...yikes. But at the same time I was having way too much fun listening to it. After awhile you begin to think, "how can you NOT love this song?".

Finally, Danny Elfman is unbelievably fun to listen to. He just might be my favorite singer. The vocals in "What You See" are fantastic. His voice can go from sounding tender to demonic in a few seconds, and he's so expressive.

I think I've listened to nothing but Oingo Boingo for about two weeks now. This CD is a complete earworm! It wriggles into your skull and camps out. Don't worry, you won't mind at all! It's nasty, it's controversial, it's funny, it's a good time!

You will listen to Only a Lad. You will not stop. You will learn to appreciate every song on here, even the ones (or perhaps especially the ones, depending on your tendencies) dripping with libertarian sympathies. You will admit that Danny Elfman is an evil mastermind and trust him when he says "Put your life into my hands/Look around you'll understand". You will like all of the other Boingo albums very much, you will appreciate Danny's soundtracks, but they will never match the hyperkinetic joy of Only a Lad. Submit.

Being a fan, I enjoy the entire catalogue but I keep returning

to the first three albums.It's the faster pace and energy that seems to appeal to me.Only A Lad, along with Nothing To Fear and

Good For Your Soul are the records I would gladly recommend to

a virgin ear and mind.Danny sings with such mad glee that I find

myself forced to listen and even sometimes think about what he's

actually singing.Little girls?????Nasty habits??????

I love it!!!!!!!!Cheers!!!

Although not as consistant as some of their later releases, Only A Lad is an album unlike any other. It is piled high with fiendishly catchy tunes (Only A LAd, Little Girls) and incredibly witty lyrics (Perfect System, Capitalism).

Although I normally don't like political music, I find Danny's views to be well thought out and on par with my own. However, if you are not into that sort of thing it certainly won't hamper your listening experience. Sadly, there are a couple of duds on this album (Imposter, What You See) but it's a small price to pay for one of the most enteraining and original albums I've ever heard.

In the year 2002, I downloaded a song called "Weird Science," to put on a mix CD. I had heard the song many times and I loved it, but I had never heard of the group Oingo Boingo. (The singers of the song.) So I went online to find more of their music. The first song I heard was "Little Girls." The song was genius, and as I soon discovered all their songs were a genius. So the first CD I bought by them was Only a Lad. I cannot tell you how many weeks this CD sat in my Cd Player. I lisened to it Day and Night. Danny Elfman is a genius at writing music. One of his best Oingo Boingo Cd's is Only a Lad. Great songs like "What you see," and "On the outside." I highly recommend this CD.