Sticking with early '80s pop, let me address a pet peeve and note a distinction between its New Wave and New Romantic strands, which often get conflated. It may sound like splitting hairs, but I think it's important to appreciate the richness of that era, especially the stuff that's fallen through the cracks. The music that makes it onto VH1 quasi-histories (ie Duran Duran type glam, the least interesting of the synth pop practitioners, and novelty numbers) mostly sidesteps the desperate, breathless sense of outsiderness that has more in common with punk and postpunk than the music would at first suggest. And with catchier hooks to boot. This is all very reductionist, but worth considering in light of today's song. You may remember Oingo Boingo from this, and you may also know that the band's mastermind was a young Danny Elfman, who has since carved out a cottage industry of well-known soundtrack work (like The Simpsons and nearly every Tim Burton movie). You can hear that tongue-in-cheek cartoon-spooky carnival aesthetic in its infancy on this track. It's almost showtune-esque in scope, but it's pure New Wave dorkery stoking the furnace.
Oingo Boingo - Nasty Habits
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