Dead Man's Party is the fifth album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, 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.
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 [the band's] repertoire".
In film and television
"Just Another Day" was featured as the opening theme for the 1985 film That Was Then... This Is Now.
The title track appears in the 1986 film Back to School. It has also appeared in episodes of Chuck and Stranger Things.
"No One Lives Forever" appears within the opening minutes of two Cannon Group films: the 1986 production of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and the 1987 production of Down Twisted. It was later used in Casper: A Spirited Beginning (a 1997 direct-to-video release from 20th Century Fox and Saban Entertainment) and as the theme for the October 29, 2010 episode of Rachael Ray.
The song "Stay" became a hit in Brazil and was used as the theme song for the Brazilian telenovela Top Model, which increased the popularity of the band in that country and resulted in a Brazilian compilation album, Stay. 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 on the USA Network.
The title track "Dead Man's Party" was used in Season 1, Episode 6 of Scorpion on CBS
Reissue
In 2021, a remastered issue of Dead Man's Party was released on CD with seven bonus tracks.
Track listing
2021 CD bonus tracks
Charts
Personnel
Oingo Boingo
Danny Elfman – vocals, rhythm guitar
John Avila – bass guitars, vocals
Steve Bartek – guitars
Mike Bacich – keyboards
John Hernandez – drums, percussion
Sam Phipps – tenor saxophone
Leon Schneiderman – baritone saxophone, alto saxophone
Dale Turner – 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