Dingoes Ate My Baby were a rock band, fronted by Devon with vocals, and Oz, who played lead guitar. They played on various occasions at venues including the Bronze (Inca Mummy Girl, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and Doppelgängland) and Buffy’s house (Dead Man’s Party - where they played ‘Never Mind’, ‘Sway’ and ‘Pain’). The band were mentioned in the unaired pilot, when Xander said, “They don’t know any actual chords yet, but they have really big amps”.
In Earshot, Freddy Iverson writes a bad review of the band in the school paper (”Dingoes Ate My Baby play their instruments as if they have plump polish sausages taped to their fingers”) but Oz thought it was fair. Cordelia briefly dated Devon (Inca Mummy Girl).
The band’s name comes from a famous Australian outback incident, in which Lindy Chamberlain was accused of killing her baby, which had actually been taken by dingoes. The Dingoes’ music was provided by real-life band Four Star Mary, with whom James Marsters has occasionally performed. Four Star Mary themselves appeared in the season four finale Restless.
The Four Star Mary song “Pain” became one of the signature tunes for Dingoes Ate My Baby. It was heard in Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (performed in the Bronze), Dead Man’s Party (performed at Buffy’s house) and Living Conditions - on the stereo in the dorm when Willow moves in suggesting that the Dingoes had recorded a CD.