''Dead Man's Party'' is the fifth

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American new wave band

Oingo Boingo Oingo Boingo () was an American new wave band formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the ye ...

, released in 1985. The album contains the only two singles by the band to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100: " Weird Science" at number 45, and "Just Another Day" at number 85. The album cover art is an homage to the Mexican holiday

Día de Los Muertos The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

Composition

Elfman stated that he wrote the album's lead single, " Weird Science", spontaneously in his car, after receiving a call from director John Hughes about composing a song for his upcoming film of the same name. The song went on to become the band's most commercially successful single, which Elfman later regretted, as he believed it "just didn't feel like it was really a part of

he band's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

repertoire".

In film and television

"Just Another Day" was featured as the opening theme for the 1985 film '' That Was Then... This Is Now''. It also appears in season 2, episode 1 of the Netflix series ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers, who also serve as showrunners and are executive producers along with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. Produced by Monkey Massacre Prod ...

'', where it underscores Hopper's introduction scene, though somewhat anachronistically, as the episode takes place on October 28, 1984, a full year before the actual release date of the ''Dead Man's Party'' album. The title track appears in the 1986 film ''

Back to School ''Back to School'' is a 1986 American comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Terry Farrell, William Zabka, Ned Beatty, Sam Kinison, Paxton Whitehead and Robert Downey Jr. It was directed by Alan Met ...

'', wherein the band performs the song live at a party. It also appeared in the ''Chuck'' television series, in the episode "

Chuck Versus the Couch Lock The fourth season of ''Chuck'' was announced on May 13, 2010. Having initially ordered 13 episodes, NBC ordered an additional 11 on October 19, 2010 for a total of 24 episodes. Throughout the season, Chuck faced individual villains: Alexei Volkoff, ...

". "No One Lives Forever" appears within the opening minutes of two

Cannon Group The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested ...

films: the 1986 production of ''

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2'' (also known as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2'') is a 1986 American black comedy slasher film directed by Tobe Hooper. It is a sequel to ''The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'', also directed and co-written by Ho ...

'' and the 1987 production of ''

Down Twisted ''Down Twisted'' is a 1987 thriller film, directed by Albert Pyun, starring Carey Lowell, Charles Rocket, Courteney Cox, Norbert Weisser, Linda Kerridge, Trudi Dochtermann and Nicholas Guest. Plot A naïve, good-hearted Los Angeles waitress d ...

''. It was later used in '' Casper: A Spirited Beginning'' (a 1997 direct-to-video release from

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and

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and S ...

) and as the theme for the October 29, 2010 episode of ''

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program ''Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series '' 30 Minute Meals''. ...

''. The song "Stay" became a hit in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and was used as the theme song for the Brazilian ''

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

'' ''Top Model'', which increased the popularity of the band in that country and resulted in a Brazilian compilation album, ''

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

''. It was also featured in '' Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut'', as well as in the 2012 Australian film ''Any Questions for Ben?''. The final track, "Weird Science", was written for the aforementioned John Hughes film of the same name and was used again as the theme to the

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

on the

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Reissue

In 2021, Rubellan Remasters issued a remastered version of ''Dead Man's Party'' on CD with seven bonus tracks.

Track listing

2021 CD bonus tracks

Charts

Personnel

Oingo Boingo *

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

– vocals, rhythm guitar *

John Avila John Avila is an American bassist and music producer, best known for being in the new wave band Oingo Boingo from 1984 to 1995. Career Avila co-founded the music group ''Food for Feet'' in 1981, and played with them until 1991. In 1984, he j ...

– bass guitars, vocals *

Steve Bartek Steve Bartek (born January 30, 1952, in Garfield Heights, Ohio) is an American guitarist, film composer, conductor, and orchestrator. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the band Oingo Boingo and for his orchestration work with composer Da ...

– guitars * Mike Bacich – keyboards * John Hernandez – drums, percussion *

Sam Phipps Sam "Sluggo" Phipps (born 1953) is an American saxophone player, best known for being a member of the new wave band Oingo Boingo. Early life Sam Phipps was born in Los Angeles, California. He played piano and trombone from an early age, but an ...

– tenor saxophone * Leon Schneiderman – baritone saxophone, alto saxophone *

Dale Turner Dale Turner may refer to: * Dale Turner (cricketer), Australian cricketer * Dale Turner (trumpeter), American trumpet player with the American new wave band Oingo Boingo * Dale Turner (songwriter) Dale Turner is an American singer-songwriter, ...

– trumpet, trombone Technical * Danny Elfman – co-producer * Steve Bartek – co-producer * Michael Frondelli – mixing * Bill Jackson – engineer * David Leonard – engineer, mixing ("Weird Science") * Stuart Farusho – second engineer (recording) * Paul Levy – second engineer (recording) * Mike Kloster – second engineer (recording) * Judy Clapp – second engineer (mixing) * Charlie Pakkari – second engineer (mixing) * Laura Engel – studio production assistant * Wally Traugott – mastering * Larry Vigon – art direction, design * Jayme Odgers – art direction, photography * Celeste Williams – clay figure creation

References

{{Authority control 1985 albums Oingo Boingo albums MCA Records albums I.R.S. Records albums Albums produced by Danny Elfman Albums produced by Steve Bartek