Defining the music of Oingo Boingo is like kissing the back of your neck: It's just not possible.
Not that it's really that important to their thousands of rabid fans, who just want to be there to dance to it. And that's about how Danny Elfman, lead singer and songwriter for the group, sees it too."I just do what I do," he explained during a telephone interview. "I don't know why I do it. I really don't know what category we belong to."
If you're not familiar with the L.A.-based band, you've got the chance of a lifetime (well, I'm sure there'll be a few more) to see Oingo Boingo live, at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, in the Salt Palace Arena, and find out for yourself why their music gets such high praise. As a matter of fact, concertgoers are likely to get double their money's worth of the band's characteristic high-octane energy, since Salt Lake rates up near the top of Oingo's Top-10-cities list.
"We love playing Utah," said Elfman. "Salt Lake's No. 2, right behind our hometown. They've really given us enthusiastic responses."
The group's sounds include a bit of British ska, reggae, rock 'n roll, jazz, R&B, West African melodic scales, Balinese Gamelon (metal orchestra) and, added Elfman, "probably some other stuff I'm not aware of yet, that has influenced me subconsciously."
Nothing like covering all bases.
For Elfman, though, "writing is strictly a personal thing.
"I'm really not too concerned about influences from the outside world; it's not something I purposefully try to think about. If something just happens to pop up in a song - great, I'll go with it."
Such independence and unorthodoxy may have cost the band the nationwide success that a more traditional band can achieve, said Elfman, but that's part of Oingo Boingo's identity.
"We try to stay outside people's expectations," he admitted, adding that he has "no idea what anyone will think" of their new album due out in January, but then, that's what keeps them on the edge.
"We never really know if our fans will despise us or love us," Elfman said. "I think that's a pretty healthy relationship. It keeps the challenge there, and we try to come up with something really different every time."
The group - whose name, incidentally, means absolutely nothing - is made up of eight musicians; Elfman is the most recognized, however, largely because of his success as a film composer. He has scored such films as "Batman," "Beetlejuice" and "Back to School," and wrote the title song for the movie "Weird Science," which hit the Top 40 in 1985.
Tickets for Thursday's concert/show/dance are on sale at the Salt Palace, Huntsman Center and all Smith'sTix locations. Wear your Reeboks, and be prepared to sweat.