Song · Oingo Boingo
“Little Girls” by Oingo Boingo
From the album Only a Lad (1981)
“Little Girls” by Oingo Boingo appears on 11 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 1988 and 2008. It was first released in 1981 on the album Only a Lad. Its best result is #47 on the KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,243 alternative song of all time.
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"Little Girls" kicks off Only a Lad, Oingo Boingo's 1981 debut album, and it's a jolt: a punk-charged satire with a full horn section blaring behind it. Danny Elfman wrote it after something he read in a newspaper, and he sings it from inside the head of a character he has no intention of defending. Years later he said he was just grabbing characters and voicing them, knowing it was irreverent and hoping to offend absolutely everyone.
The band plays it like a nervous twitch. Elfman and Steve Bartek slash away on guitars, Kerry Hatch and Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez keep it jittery, Richard Gibbs splits keyboards and trombone, and Sam "Sluggo" Phipps, Leon Schneiderman and Dale Turner punch in the sax and trumpet stabs. The band produced it with Peter Solley. It was issued as a single in Australia.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 142 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) | 496 |
| 1989 | 47 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1992 | 376 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) | 500 |
| 1994 | 72 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) | 497 |
| 1995 | 141 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) | 500 |
| 1996 | 121 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) | 500 |
| 1998 | 74 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) | 488 |
| 1999 | 166 | 91X | 91X Fat 500 Songs of All-Time (July 1999) | 500 |
| 2003 | 1065 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2006 | 49 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006) | 500 |
| 2008 | 279 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2008) | 500 |
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