View source for Good for Your Soul

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album
| name         = Good for Your Soul
| type         = [[Album]]
| artist       = [[Oingo Boingo]]
| cover        = Good_For_Your_Soul_Album_Art.jpg
| alt          = 
| released     = July 26, 1983
| recorded     = January – June 29, 1983
| venue        = 
| studio       = *Baby O Recorders (Hollywood)
*Crystal Industries (Hollywood)
| genre        = *[[New wave music|New wave]] 
*[[ska]]
| length       = 41:42
| label        = [[A&M Records|A&M]]
| producer     = [[Robert Margouleff]]
| prev_title   = [[Nothing to Fear (Oingo Boingo album)|Nothing to Fear]]
| prev_year    = 1982
| next_title   = [[So-Lo]]
| next_year    = 1984
| misc         = {{Singles
 | name        = Good for Your Soul
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = Wake Up (It's 1984) / Sweat
 | single1date = July 1983
 | single2     = Nothing Bad Ever Happens / Who Do You Want to Be
 | single2date = 1983 (US)
 | single3     = Good for Your Soul
 | single3date = 1983 (Bolivia)
}}
}}

'''''Good for Your Soul''''' is the third studio [[album]] by American [[new wave music|new wave]] band [[Oingo Boingo]], released in 1983 by [[A&M Records]]. It was produced by [[Robert Margouleff]] and was the band's last album to be released on [[A&M Records]].

==Composition and production==
The track "No Spill Blood" is inspired by the [[H. G. Wells]] novel ''[[The Island of Dr. Moreau]]'',<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |last1=McDonald |first1=Steven |title=Good for Your Soul - Oingo Boingo |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/good-for-your-soul-mw0000195160 |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 29, 2021}}</ref> specifically [[Erle C. Kenton]]'s 1932 film adaptation of this novel, titled ''[[Island of Lost Souls (1932 film)|Island of Lost Souls]]''.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

Of "Nothing Bad Ever Happens", [[Danny Elfman]] said, "It's about somebody who chooses to ignore his neighbors' problems and doesn't get involved - but it's really about getting involved... We can't live like ostriches."<ref>{{cite interview |subject-link=Danny Elfman |title=Video One |interviewer-last=Blade |interviewer-first=Richard |interviewer-link=Richard Blade}}</ref>

"Wake Up (It's 1984)" is based on the [[George Orwell]] novel ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.<ref name="MIT ACT">{{cite web |url=https://act.mit.edu/2024/03/wake-up-its-2024-40th-anniversary-of-nam-june-paiks-good-morning-mr-orwell/ |title=Wake Up! It's 2024 : 40th Anniversary of Nam June Paik's Good Morning Mr. Orwell |website=[[MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology]] |access-date=June 14, 2025}}</ref> The instrumental track "Cry of the Vatos", named after drummer Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez, contains a [[backmasking|back-masked]] message jokingly promoting [[Christianity]] to its listeners.

Two outtakes from these sessions, "Lightning" and "Cool City", were released on Elfman's ''[[So-Lo]]'' album in 1984.<ref>{{cite AV media |people=Rubellan Remasters |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MudXgsaEe4 |title=Rubellan Remasters - The Life & Death of a Reissue Label, Episode 8 |publisher=Self-published |type=[[YouTube]] video |time=1:11 |date=June 11, 2025 |access-date=June 14, 2025}}</ref> Other outtakes include "All the Pieces" and "Waiting for You".{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

==Promotion==
The music video accompanying "Nothing Bad Ever Happens" depicts the band performing on a paradise island; Elfman appears watching TV, unaware that his house is being robbed behind him, referencing the lyrics of the first verse. He finishes taking a bath, before the tub catches fire, and catches sight of guitarist [[Steve Bartek]] being carried down the street by a lynch mob, but decides to ignore. The video ends with Elfman serving the singing severed heads of the band's horn section to three upper class diners, who at first appear shocked, but proceed to eat regardless. The paradise island from the start of the video then appears to get hit by a nuclear bomb while the band continue playing.

The band appeared in [[Nam June Paik]]'s ''[[Good Morning, Mr. Orwell]]'' on New Years Day of 1984, performing "Wake Up (It's 1984)".<ref name="MIT ACT"/>

==Critical reception==
{{music ratings
|rev1 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''
|rev1score = {{rating|1.5|5}}<ref name="RS">{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=518}}</ref>
}}
Ira A. Robbins of ''[[Trouser Press]]'' praised ''Good for Your Soul'', particularly producer [[Robert Margouleff]] for giving the band a "streamlined and powerfully driven attack", calling "Wake Up (It's 1984)" and "Who Do You Want to Be" "among the most invigorating and engaging things the band has ever done."<ref name="robbins">{{cite web |last=Robbins |first=Ira A. |title=Oingo Boingo |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/oingo-boingo |website=[[Trouser Press]] |access-date=August 29, 2021}}</ref> In a retrospective review, Steven McDonald of [[AllMusic]] called the album "underrated" but bemoaned its "inconsistency".<ref name="allmusic"/>

==Reissue==
In 2021, Rubellan Remasters issued a remastered version of ''Good for Your Soul'' on both colored vinyl and CD, the latter as an expanded edition with three bonus tracks.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duquette |first1=Mike |title=It's a Dead Man's Party: Rubellan Plans CD, Vinyl Reissues for Oingo Boingo |url=https://theseconddisc.com/2021/07/01/its-a-dead-mans-party-rubellan-plans-cd-vinyl-reissues-for-oingo-boingo |website=The Second Disc |access-date=August 19, 2021 |date=July 1, 2021}}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| all_writing = Danny Elfman
| headline = Side one
| title1 = Who Do You Want to Be
| length1 = 3:31
| title2 = Good for Your Soul
| length2 = 3:16
| title3 = No Spill Blood
| length3 = 3:42
| title4 = Cry of the Vatos
| length4 = 2:21
| title5 = Fill the Void
| length5 = 3:42
| title6 = Sweat
| length6 = 4:31
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Side two
| title1 = Nothing Bad Ever Happens
| length1 = 3:45
| title2 = Wake Up (It's 1984)
| length2 = 4:44
| title3 = Dead or Alive
| length3 = 4:04
| title4 = Pictures of You
| length4 = 4:03
| title5 = Little Guns
| length5 = 3:42
| total_length = 41:42
}}

===2021 CD bonus tracks===
{{Track listing
| headline = 
| title12 = Bachelor Party
| length12 = 3:49
| title13 = Something Isn't Right
| length13 = 3:42
| title14 = Wake Up (It's 1984) (Single Version)
| length14 = 3:00
| total_length = 52:13
}}

==Personnel==
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
'''Oingo Boingo'''
* [[Danny Elfman]] – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
* [[Steve Bartek]] – lead guitar
* [[Richard Gibbs|Ribbs]] – keyboards
* Kerry Hatch – bass guitar, bass synthesizer
* Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez – drums
* [[Sam Phipps|Sam "Sluggo" Phipps]] – lead tenor saxophone, clarinet, horn solos
* Leon Schneiderman – baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, original instruments
* [[Dale Turner (trumpeter)|Dale Turner]] – trumpet, trombone, horn solos

'''Additional musicians'''
* Miles Anderson – additional horns ("Cry of the Vatos", "Dead or Alive", "Wake Up (It's 1984)")
* Mario Guarneri – additional horns ("Cry of the Vatos", "Dead or Alive", "Wake Up (It's 1984)")
* Jimmy Wood – harmonica ("Sweat")
* Marko Babineau – backup vocals ("Dead or Alive", "No Spill Blood")
* [[Mike Gormley]] – backup vocals ("Dead or Alive", "No Spill Blood")

'''Technical'''
* [[Robert Margouleff]] – producer
* Howard Siegel – engineer
* Steve MacMillian – assistant engineer extraordinaire
* [[Stephen Marcussen]] – mastering
* Steve Bartek – horn arrangements
* Darron Cray – studio assistance
* Laura Engel – production manager
* Lynn Robb – art direction
* [[Lane Smith (illustrator)|Lane Smith]] – front cover illustration
* [[Georganne Deen]] – back cover illustration
* [[Francis Delia]] – inner sleeve photography
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Boingo}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1983 albums]]
[[Category:Oingo Boingo albums]]
[[Category:A&M Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Robert Margouleff]]