Welcome to the Hobby Shop! Marketing and Technology CEO Ali Fathali will take you through his wild and eclectic life, talking about the gadgets, ideas, and techniques that he finds fascinating. So come aboard this DIY 80s neon art rock fever dream- we're very excited to have you!
Being 71, I was there for all this and I'll tell you that it was rare for a band to achieve "magic" - I mean the live interplay of human musicians male and female that resulted in a feeling that swept you up in it, especially the band themselves, because not only were you MAKING that music second-to-second, but you are right there in the midst of these lives drums, amplifiers blasting and man, there's NOTHING like that. Of course, with the BOINGO example, you have early A.I. - sequencers, digital samples, keyboards being used as bass guitars, drum pads that had sounds loaded, so the machines in my beloved Oingo Boingo were also there with them. But when it's magic, it's magic, as long as it's 98% human, in my opinion...but I guess the end result (driving people into a frenzy and having them say they went to the best effin' concert ever last night! The problem is when you THINK it's live cats and there's BS going on behind the scenes. I personally LIKE to hear a vocalist a little pitchy here and there like the Freddy Mercury example (with his out-of-control vibrato, that would now be tamed in Melodyne) because it says to your lizard brain THIS IS REAL. If someone reading this (haha, lost you a loooooong time ago if you're under 30) IS under 30, go listen to the big bands of the 30's, 40's and 50's, 9black, white or - best - integrated races. Or you could binge THE TUBES.
Boingo’s best stuff was their debut EP, their first three albums and Danny Elfman’s “So-Lo” album. They all were released before 1985. I saw them live in 1985 and it was one of the BEST concerts I ever attended.
i have no idea how many times I've rewatched this specific concert, it's one of the best live shows I've seen. so happy more people are starting to discover boingo!
I've always admired this performance, they are obviously brilliant, but have always wondered too if there was some post-processing/overdubs on it, that was done in the 80s on occasion for live footage moved over to video, Journey comes to mind, for example, the echo effect at 4:29, how would something like that be done within a live performance?
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO/VLOG! FINALLY SOMEONE WITH THE INTELLIGENCE AND OBSERVATIONAL SKILLS TO GIVE OUR YOUTH SOME PERSOECRIVE!! Sorry for the all caps but this was exciting! Hehe 👏👏👏👏
Ive watched that Ritz concert more times than i can count, it's mesmerizing. I wish i could have been there ... happy to have been at several they might be giants concerts over the years. Their tight tight everything, manic unfathomable energy and exuberant horn section feels like a less malevolent version of Oingo Boingo.
saw them every year or more in the 80s. went to their farewell concert. they were HUGE in so cal. oddly, not so much even in no cal. i went to berkeley and people would be like "i know oingo boingo. dead man's party." and you just knew they didn't really know. OB were so connected to the audience. when danny elfman did nightmare before christmas at the hollywood bowl, we were going and i told my boyfriend they'd play an OB song and he didn't believe me. and sure enough, opened with dead man's party. worse sounding dead man's party but i didn't care. love them so much. a friend who worked at Sam Goody's told us that they'd have to pretend to have preorders for OB because corporate ordered and distributed evenly to all stores (mind boggling to me as i once worked in DVD allocating initial shipments for studios and that's a great way to waste money).
8:33 what you hear is _talent_ . What modern musical performers lack is _talent_ . They can't sing in tune, they can't conspire with a live band, they can't move even while they _pretend to sing_ . Oingo Boingo was peak what live music was meant to be.
2:38 No in-ear monitors, still in tune, hits high notes: You can see him checking his ear a couple of times through the performance (just closing it with a finger to hear his own voice in his skull). He simply knows how to sing and has practiced the part. What a sad state it is that today we have no expectation of singers to do this.
This is a great live performance. The video has nothing to do with AI. And it wouldn't have killed you to look up the musicians' names. But otherwise I agree with your breakdown of what an incredible performance this was.
Oingo Boingo got their start as an avant-garde performance troupe with a performance that took a lot of its cues from Cab Calloway and other swing groups, then segued into New Wave in the late 70's. So they were always a live performance band.
Danny Elfman is the most important person in music of the past century. He has touched more souls than anyone could have ever dreamed. He is everywhere. he did it all in stealth. There is nobody that is more music. AI will never capture the soul of danny elfman. Congratulations for trying. Danny didn't break the rules - he made them.
I saw Death Grips play live last year. Basically all it was was colored lights, a drum set, a mic, a guitar and a keyboard. All the vocals were amazing, and the instrumentalists killed it. I think they are definitely one of the best modern bands for live performances, amazing.
You are not- by any stretch of the imagination - a young man. How is all of this so amazing to you? This is how live music was for decades - DURING your lifetime. Having said that, it's adorable when folks discover the wonders of Oingo Boingo for the first time.
