O/T: Oingo Boingo - Dead Man’s Party
Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
Forum Name: Chat Board
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9906
Printed Date: 15 November 2025 at 10:26am
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Topic: O/T: Oingo Boingo - Dead Man’s Party
Posted By: NightAire
Subject: O/T: Oingo Boingo - Dead Man’s Party
Date Posted: 28 January 2023 at 11:44pm
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Using my typical sources (which unfortunately do not include physical copies), I'm having a terrible time sorting out versions of Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo.
The LP, "Dead Man's Party," was released in 1985 and had a version labeled as running 6:23. A "Party 'Til You're Dead" remix was released in 1986 on a 12" single labeled as running 8:36. There is a 7" single label showing up on 45cat.com that lists a time of 4:14. Wikipedia claims this was a "B-side edit." The expanded edition of the album tacks on a "short version" labeled as running 3:48. A YouTube video calls this the "Radio Promo Length." Wikipedia also claims there was a "video edit" which ran 3:52... which is suspiciously close to the short edit / radio promo length. Can anyone help me sort out the various releases of this song (outside of the Rhino / Elvira Halloween compilations)? THANKS!! ------------- Gene Savage http://www.BlackLightRadio.com - http://www.BlackLightRadio.com http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage - http://www.facebook.com/TulsaSavage Tulsa, Oklahoma USA |
Replies:
Posted By: EternalStatic
Date Posted: 29 January 2023 at 9:25am
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Hi Gene,
I'm no expert on Oingo Boingo, but I did a little digging after reading your post, as I'm a pretty big fan of this track. For one, I was surprised to learn that apparently, "Dead Man's Party" was never released as the A-side of a 45 here in the States, but only as the commercial B-side of their single "Just Another Day". As you pointed out, the label for that single has a listed time of 4:14. The common 6:20 album version appeared on 1985's Dead Man's Party and was recycled on the Back to School movie soundtrack the following year. After that, the 8+ minute Party 'Til Your Dead Mix you mentioned above was released on a 12" single with a remix of "Stay". The "Stay" 45 featured a different B-side, not "Dead Man's Party". The "Short Version" tacked on the Rubellan Remasters expanded release, which I haven't heard, is interesting in the sense that it doesn't appear to have ever appeared on a promo 45 or 12". My guess is that it's probably the video version, although that is 1000% conjecture on my part as I have never heard the 4:14 45 version or the video version. Rubellan appears to have had access to the master tapes, so one would think that the <4min. version is also official in some capacity. Anyway, back to the facts: I found 3 CD's at Discogs that appear to contain versions that run between 4:14 and 4:19, which would seem to be the 45 B-side mix: • Priority's Rock of the 80s Volume 6 (1993), • Hip-O's The 80's Hit(s) Back 3 (1997), and • MCA's Soundtrack Smashes - The 80's and More... (1990) Hope this helps! |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 30 January 2023 at 9:19am
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I have an mp3 of the 45 version I must have created from a
45 online. I don't have an original source in my file description. Gene, when you get a chance, please post editing instructions so I can recreate it (again.) ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA Celebrating 28 years as a full-time wedding & special event DJ! |
Posted By: EternalStatic
Date Posted: 25 October 2025 at 12:47pm
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Coming back around on this one. I was able eventually to find a copy of Rock of the '80s Vol. 6 online, which contains the 4:19 "single edit" (B-side of "Just Another Day" 45). It's a simple edit of the album version, with only one edit at about 3:14. The edit occurs during two very similar segments of the song and try as I might, in reverse engineering it from the remastered CD album version, I couldn't 100% confirm that exact edit point. What sounded best to me was cutting from the double-snare hit ("Only me...") at 3:14.08 to the similar double-snare at about 5:16.341. Ending of the 45 version is cold like the album version. I haven't tried to reverse engineer the ~3:50 "Short Version" that seems to be the Video Version, but it is also an edit of the album version. It keeps some elements that are edited out of the 4:19 single edit, so you can't simply make further edits to the longer edit to get down to the shorter one. |
Posted By: Brian W.
Date Posted: 27 October 2025 at 1:25am
| How strange to come home to see these posts tonight. Just a couple hours ago Danny Elfman performed "Dead Man's Party" at the Hollywood Bowl as an encore when I went to see "A Nightmare Before Christmas Live." When he introduced his backing band, one of them was original Oingo Boingo guitarist Steve Bartek. |
Posted By: EternalStatic
Date Posted: 28 October 2025 at 9:58am
| Very cool. When I was going down a Boingo rabbithole recently, I saw this had happened at a show several years ago but I wasn’t aware he and Mr. Bartek were working together regularly. Hope it was a fun time, Brian! |
Posted By: EternalStatic
Date Posted: 30 October 2025 at 7:44am
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Adding a little info. because this is likely to come up someday. At least 2 of the CD's that contain the 'single edit' (~4:14 version) differ from each other in that one contains the short audio of someone speaking ("...yeah yeah, let him in"?) before the guitar comes in at the very start of the track (as also found on the album version) and one does not. According to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KvTOoKdq2k&list=RD4KvTOoKdq2k" rel="nofollow - this Youtube video , the true 45 does contains this pre-guitar audio, although I can see why one would want to cue up past the voice if playing on the air! At any rate, Hip-O's The 80's Hit(s) Back 3 (1997) contains the voice at the start of the track while Priority's Rock of the 80s Volume 6 (1993) does not. |
Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 31 October 2025 at 12:46am
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If the song were in the database, then that would be good to know to find the true 45 version, Eric. ------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA Celebrating 28 years as a full-time wedding & special event DJ! |
Posted By: EternalStatic
Date Posted: 31 October 2025 at 8:47am
Haha ... Well, I guess at least it's searchable in this thread for posterity then 
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