In a lot of ways, Oingo Boingo epitomized the stereotypical New Wave sound for Southern California, favoring the jagged rhythms and stilted, hiccuping vocals that typified that music for most casuals. Singer Danny Elfman’s bright red hair, eye makeup, and demented grin served as a perfect visual for the sound, and their zany name sealed their image. But Oingo Boingo’s horn-heavy large band approach to that sound reflected their origins as a performance-arty lounge act, and a deeply weird one, at that—witness their 1976 Gong Show appearance if you need convincing.
 

 
And if they were going to be New Wave standard bearers, it more or less behooved them to join in that wonderful tradition—arguably kicked off by DEVO’s cover of ‘Satisfaction,’ though one could make a case for the Sex Pistols’ version of “Stepping Stone” as the Ur-example—of crafting a spiky remake of a beloved song from the classic rock canon. So as the Slits did “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” Flying Lizards indelibly warped “Money,” and Magazine made a twisted, menacing version of Sly Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” Oingo Boingo’s debut album Only A Lad sported a cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me.” As George Gimar’s eternally useful Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotter’s Guide to Underground Rock, 1970-1982 notes:

There’s also a frenetic version of the Kinks’ song “You Really Got Me.” Danny Elfamn’s vocals sound very influenced by XTC’s Andy Partridge. They both have the same impassioned, at times hiccoughpy sound. Oingo Boingo are set apart by their big brass section and grandiose arrangements.

 
Here’s the album version, followed by some great audience-cam footage of a live performance from 1985. The live version’s sound isn’t the best, but it adequately captures an organic take on the song that makes the LP version feel a bit contrived and overwrought, in hindsight.
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo on ‘The Gong Show,’ 1976
‘Satisfaction’ shootout: DEVO VS the Residents VS the Rolling Stones (spoiler: the Stones don’t win)