Only a Lad is the debut studio album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1981 by A&M Records, following their self-titled EP. The album's musical arrangements, by vocalist Danny Elfman and guitarist Steve Bartek, completed the group's evolution into a new wave rock band. Only a Lad features complex and frequently changing time signatures and keys, often incorporating harmonies borrowed from jazz and 20th-century classical music. Lyrics Elfman claimed that many of the songs were inspired by newspaper articles he had read at the time and were "written as in-your-face facetious jabs". "Little Girls" courted controversy for its theme of underage relationships. At the time of release, Elfman described the song as being "about a character who has certain unacceptable inclinations" and later commented, "Out here in Hollywood, you see so much of that; the older guy's in the car with some young girl who essentially asks no questions." The music video features Elfman dancing inside a surreal, empty suburban house, joined by little people and teenage girls. The band members are later seen staring complacently in shop windows and drinking tea while Elfman's character walks down a street with an apparently underage girl. The video, directed by Elfman's brother Richard Elfman, was purportedly banned in Canada. The most explicitly political track, "Capitalism", takes aim at "middle class socialist brat" protestors who "whine about the revolution" while themselves appeari