| Weird Science | |
| Cover: | Oingo Boingo Weird Science Single.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Oingo Boingo |
| Album: | Dead Man's Party |
| B-Side: | "Weird Mama" (Ira and the Geeks) |
| Released: | 1985 |
| Recorded: | August 1985 |
| Genre: | |
| Length: | 6:10 (album version) 3:45 (single version) |
| Label: | MCA |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | Gratitude |
| Prev Year: | 1984 |
| Next Title: | Just Another Day |
| Next Year: | 1986 |
"Weird Science" is a song by American new wave band Oingo Boingo. Written by frontman Danny Elfman, it is the theme song to the Weird Science film and television series. It was released on the film's soundtrack, as well as Oingo Boingo's fifth studio album, Dead Man's Party (1985), in a longer mix. The song reached No. 45 on the US Billboard Hot 100,[1] No. 21 on the US Dance Club Charts,[2] and No. 81 in Canada.[3] It is Oingo Boingo's most successful single.
The song was written spontaneously by Elfman in the car, while driving home to Los Angeles, after a phone call from director John Hughes asking him to write a song for his movie of the same name. Elfman claimed to have "heard the whole thing in [his] head" by the time he ran home to his studio to record his demo.[4]
The music video for "Weird Science" features the band performing in an abstract laboratory. The video appeared in a number of different edits when broadcast, some featuring clips from the John Hughes film and other versions without. Elfman later expressed embarrassment at the video, stating that he was "horrified" by the outcome and that it was the only Oingo Boingo music video in which he had not been involved with production. Elfman had long felt that the song, a more commercial musical style than most of the band's previous releases at the time, was "not really a part of [the band's] repertoire".
The video would later be parodied on TV show Beavis and Butt-Head, where it was described by the titular characters as "complicated" and Elfman himself poked fun at with "How come they didn't let that dude back in Duran Duran?" Elfman claimed that following this broadcast he decided he "never [wanted] to play this song again!"[4]
| Chart (1985/86) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] | 39 | |
| Canada | 81 | |
| United States (Billboard Hot 100) | 45 | |
| United States (Cashbox Top 100) | 42 |
. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 222.