{{Use mdy dates, date=April 2025 Bingo Durango was an eighties alternative pop/rock group that drew heavily on the sound of sixties

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

. The band's releases were characterized by layered arrangements, dreamy melodies, and the fluid guitar of Scott Mather.

Origins

Bingo Durango crystallized around a guitar driven, New York quintet in the mid-eighties. The band came to the attention of ex-

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

bassist and Smiths’ producer John Porter. An LP's worth of tracks mixed at

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

's Matrix Studios with the assistance of

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

producer

Kenney Jones Kenneth Thomas Jones (born 16 September 1948) is an English drummer best known for his work in the groups Small Faces, Faces and the Who. Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces/Faces. Biograp ...

, were later deemed unsuitable for release. Instead, the band retired to a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

studio with engineer Gene Bodio to record the four-song EP ''Bingo Durango''. Courted by a number of American labels, Bingo Durango suffered the death of drummer Allan Shutter in a tragic accident.

Second incarnation

The untimely death of Shutter sent the band into a tailspin only partially rectified by subsequent ''Live'' fanclub release and 1990's ''Bingo Durango'', a collection of trenchant

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a subgenre of rock music and form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, ...

that showcased a debt to

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

and

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing ...

. The later band would prove of increasing importance to the Bingo Durango discography. Signed by Germany's Jarmusic, the home of such psychedelic performers as Martin Newell and future Broadway icon

David Yazbek David Norman Yazbek (born 1961) is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''The Full Monty'' (2000), '' Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'' (2004), '' Women on the Verge of a Nervous B ...

, the band released the assured ''Fool Romeo''. Housed in a collectible tin box, the EP showed Bingo Durango moving in a more experimental direction. Two of the EP's four tracks were mixed by Steve Eigner, best known for his association with

boy band A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...

98 Degrees 98 Degrees (stylized as 98°) is an American vocal group consisting of brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Jeff Timmons, and Justin Jeffre. Their first Christmas album '' This Christmas'' has sold over two million copies and is widely recognized ...

and

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winning R&B/

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

artists

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...

and

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

. The band's 2000 swansong, ''Coming Down'', included contributions from

guitarist/keyboardist Dave Gregory and cover art by American painter Greg Spalenka, who had also created the gatefold sleeve for the band's self-titled 1990 release. Spalenka would gain subsequent acclaim for his conceptual art work on such feature films as '' The Ant Bully'', '' The Golden Compass'', and '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader''. American pop rock music groups