Clowns of Death: A History of Oingo Boingo (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 212 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738867225
• ISBN-13: 978-0738867229
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,493,346 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Kudos for writing it, but..., April 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Clowns of Death: A History of Oingo Boingo (Hardcover)

Kudos for writing it, but this is nothing more than a re-writing of other people's interviews and work, and most "factual" information is based on the writer's own bootleg collection. And being close with the band for many years, 40% of this book I know to be absolutely wrong. Speculation is not fact. I'd rather have a book that is 50 less pages than watch the author try to piece things together and fill in the gaps with his own weirdness. It does have its amusments though, and reprints of interviews/reviews that would be difficult to track down otherwise, but it simply isn't worth the price of admission.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Have you ever been in love with someone you hardly knew?, July 24, 2005

By	C. Summerell "C Rich" (Valencia CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well, someone that claims to love Boingo hardly seems to know them at all. This book has many glaring omitions and no actual information about the band members (Excluding Danny Elfman). This reads like a student term paper (I'd give it a "C"), full of quotes and footnotes and very little original information about the band's politics, fighting and creative process. There were a lot of guys in this outfit besides Elfman that I would have liked to learn more about. The author spends page after page giving his humble opinion about EVERY song on every album. BORING! How about why Kerry Hatch left the band, why did John Hernandez leave and return, etc. This could have been much, much more interesting.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Direct quote: "Pure rubbish.", July 14, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Clowns of Death: A History of Oingo Boingo (Hardcover)

Three Oingo Boingo band members have already commented elsewhere that this book contains more opinions and assumptions than actual fact, but it doesn't take that fact to notice it. Keith Breese skates through his mis-information and lack of simple research; filling in the blanks with his own imagination. He can't even keep low-level information, something as simple as dates, correct. Three quarters of the book is merely quoting other people's work, i.e. reviews and interviews. As one O.B. member said in an online review that is easily found, "pure rubbish." I think that says it all. It is no wonder why respectable publishers would print this; he had to print it himself through Xybris books (a pay-to-be-pulished outfit). The book itself is full of misspellings, bad typeography, misuse of quotations and punctuation, and is devoid of any form of proper grammar. Yes, you can say this isn't the pulp it was printed on, especially at this going price.