Before becoming a world-renowned film composer, Danny Elfman fronted the band Oingo Boingo. Formed in 1979, Oingo Boingo imitially had a style that mixed Punk, Ska, Rock and New Wave. The band stood out from traditional guitar/bass/drums by incorporating a 3-piece brass section to accompany their quirky, frantic rhythms.​ Originally released by A&M records in 1981, Only A Lad fit alongside other contemporaries of the day, including Devo and Suburban Lawns, with the high energy, herky-jerky and complex arrangements. The video for the opening track Little Girls was played on MTV and other video shows of the day. Elfman has said that much of his early material was written after reading newspaper articles and are presented from a character’s point of view. A cover of the sixties hit You Really Got Me by The Kinks stands out as one of the most original remakes of the period. Remastered from original master tapes from the Universal Music tape archive, Only A Lad receives it’s first reissue in over 30 years, now including the 1980 debut EP, released on CD for the first time, as bonus tracks.