Acme Soundtracks' office was across the street from the Hollywood punk club The Masque and Ridgway was soon drawn into the emerging punk/new wave scene.

[2] In 1977, with the addition of Skulls members Bruce Moreland (Marc Moreland's brother) as bassist and Chas T. Gray as keyboardist, along with Joe Nanini, who had been the drummer for the Bags, the Eyes, and Black Randy and the Metrosquad, the first lineup of the band was born,[3] named Wall of Voodoo before their first show in reference to a comment made by Joe Berardi, a friend of Ridgway's and member of the Fibonaccis.

[1] Much of the material from this record would feature in live shows over the next few years, such as "Red Light", "Animal Day" and fan favorite "Back in Flesh".

[3] That same year, Wall of Voodoo opened for the Residents on the cult band's inaugural tour, "the Mole Show," at Perkins Palace in Pasadena, Halloween 1982, and for Devo's ill-fated televised 3-DEVO Concert in October.

Wall of Voodoo opened for Oingo Boingo on their Nothing to Fear tour at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara in March 1983.

He appeared as a guest vocalist on a track on the Rumble Fish score and released his critically acclaimed debut solo album The Big Heat, which included the single "Camouflage", a top ten hit across Europe, in 1986.

Soon after, Andy Prieboy, formerly of the San Francisco new wave band Eye Protection, joined as singer and Ned Leukhardt was added as drummer.

[8] On July 18, 2006 a Stan Ridgway-fronted Wall of Voodoo performed at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Orange County as an opening band for Cyndi Lauper.

[10][11] On October 2, 2012, Raven issued a companion two-disc set containing all three albums from the Andy Prieboy era (Seven Days in Sammystown, Happy Planet and Ugly Americans in Australia), all remastered, including three bonus tracks.

"[13] In late 2023 Andy Prieboy and Chas T. Gray launched a website under the name "Wall of Voodoo 2", announcing the upcoming release of recently rediscovered and previously unreleased recordings.

According to Popdose, the band's sound was shaped by merging Stan Ridgway's "love of bebop and country music" with Marc Moreland's "affection for electronic pioneers such as Kraftwerk".

[16] According to AllMusic biographer Jason Ankeny, the band's lyrics were "cinematic narratives -- heavily influenced by Westerns and film noir".

[17] Ridgway's vocal style has been described as having a "droll, narcoleptic manner" and the band's music as "atonal, electronically based".

"[19] Record Collector magazine described Wall of Voodoo as combining "western Americana motifs with angular art-rock to delicious effect.