danny elfman
Watch Danny Elfman Play the Hits at Coachella
Danny Elfman brought all the hits during his set at Coachella last night. In addition to tracks off his latest solo album Big Mess (his first in 37 years), Elfman also played a handful of Oingo Boingo songs, as well as some of his biggest scores. The composer treated fans to a Nightmare Before Christmas medley of “Jack’s Lament / This Is Halloween / What’s This?” He also performed “Breakfast Machine” from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and “Ice Dance / The Grand Finale” from Edward Scissorhands, as well as two of his most iconic themes: The Simpsons and Batman. Watch footage from his performance and see Elfman’s full Coachella set list below. WHO THOUGHT THE SIMPSONS THEME AT COACHELLA WAS A JOKE??? NEVER UNDERESTIMATE DANNY ELFMAN#coachella pic.twitter.com...
Hear Trent Reznor on Danny Elfman’s New Song ‘Native Intelligence’
Following their first collaboration, “True,” last year, Danny Elfman tapped Trent Reznor to perform lead vocals on”Native Intelligence.” The track is off Elfman’s latest double album, Big Mess. [embedded content][embedded content] “Native Intelligence” blends both Reznor and Elfman’s vocal styles with its orchestral arrangements and striking instrumentation. They had previously remixed “True” in August 2021. Elfman’s Big Mess released last June, and he has already shared its brand new collector’s edition box set. Along with Reznor, Elfman recruited vocalists Rebekah Del Rio, FEVER333, and Blixa Bargeld for the never-before-released tracks in the box set. The Oscar-nominated-composer is slated to perform at this year’s Coachella, where he is debuting Danny Elfman: From B...
Watch Billie Eilish Perform as Sally During Nightmare Before Christmas Live-to-Film Concert
Last night, Danny Elfman hosted his annual Nightmare Before Christmas live-to-film concert for the first time in three years, and this edition featured a very special guest: Billie Eilish performing as everyone’s favorite stitched up ragdoll, Sally. Dressed the part, Eilish sang the haunting track “Sally’s Song” before coming back out to perform the duet “Simply Meant To Be” with Elfman, who plays Jack Skellington in the film. Watch both performances below. [embedded content][embedded content] [embedded content][embedded content] Eilish’s involvement was announced earlier this month by Elfman. “Weird Al” Yankovic also joined this year’s cast as Lock, and Ken Page reprised his role as Oogie Boogie. The event sees cast members perform numbers from the movie in real time as the film plays beh...
Danny Elfman Teams With Trent Reznor for New Version of ‘True’
In a pairing that makes all too much sense, Danny Elfman enlisted Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor for a remix of “True,” which is off of Hail, the composer’s first proper solo album in 37 years. “This is the first duet/collaboration I’ve ever done in my life, so to do it with Trent was a real surprise and a treat,” Elfman said in a statement of the pairing. “He’s always been a big inspiration to me, not to mention he has one of my all-time favorite singing voices.” Watch the video, which is directed by Aron Johnson below. [embedded content] Before the album’s June release, we spoke with Elfman, who said of the album, “[Big Mess] was me writing out of necessity, as opposed to writing out of obligation — obligation meaning ‘Oh my God, we have another album due this year. Let’s get some songs.&...
Danny Elfman Is a Big Mess
Within seconds of joining a Zoom interview, Danny Elfman is already running at speeds that would make the White Rabbit feel like the calmest being in Wonderland. “That’s where my name came from, I’m pretty sure,” the composer hurriedly explains. “Elfman means ‘11th man’ in German, and in the Jewish religion, all ceremonies start with 10. The 10th man into the ceremony is called the minyan, and when the 10th man arrives, everything begins. My ancestor was always late. He was always the 11th man. The one who comes in and says ‘I’m here! I’m here!’ and they’re already going, like ‘Yeah, yeah, sit down. You’re late.’ Well, this is my own personal theory at least. I have absolutely nothing to back it up with, but it just makes sense. Where else does ‘11th man’ come from? Especially with the sig...
Danny Elfman Announces First New Album in 37 Years, Unveils New Video ‘True’
Danny Elfman takes us into a beachside, polycephaly-laden nightmare on his new music video for “True.” The distortion-heavy song is the first surrealistic glimpse at the Grammy and Emmy-winning composer’s first new solo album in nearly 40 years, Big Mess, out on Epitaph, on June 11, 2021. “I hadn’t really sung anything as myself in 25 years and to my surprise, I found that I could do things now that I couldn’t have done when I was younger,” Elfman said in a statement. “It was like discovering I had a whole new voice.” Elfman had originally planned to release new solo work in 2020: a career-spanning live set at Coachella blending his film composition work and some Oingo Boingo classics with a “chamber-punk” treatment written for the live performance. When that didn’t happen and the world we...
Danny Elfman Releases Remix of ‘Kick Me’ With Death Grips Drummer
Legendary composer and Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman seems to have diverted from his plan to release a new track on the 11th of every month in 2021. Unless you don’t count remixes. Or unless he meant that he would release a new song every 11th while also surprising people with the occasional track between them. Regardless of how he intends to proceed with his monthly plan, Elfman just dropped a remix of “Kick Me” (originally released on March 11) created with Death Grips drummer Zach Hill. “I was a big fan of Death Grips and Zach Hill’s work, and so appreciative to have him jump in with his creative energy,” Elfman said in a statement. Check out the new remix below. [embedded content] Before the two versions of “Kick Me,” Elfman was busy working on brand new tracks like “Sorry” and “H...
Danny Elfman Says ‘Kick Me I’m a Celebrity’ in Latest Video
Composer/singer Danny Elfman released “Kick Me” today, a swift and pummeling new track with lyrics that simultaneously dismiss and seek approval from their audience. It’s entry number three in the artist’s plan to rolling out new singles throughout 2021 on the 11th day of each month The song’s new video features Elfman — utilizing inverted photography in many amorphous shapes and colors — delivering the track’s frenzied lyrics directly into the camera. <!– // Brid Player Singles. var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ “div”: “Brid_10143537”, “obj”: {“id”:”25115″,”width”:”480″,”height”:”270″,”playlist”:”10315″,”inviewBottomOffset”:”105px&...
Danny Elfman Releases New Song and Video, ‘Love in the Time of COVID’
If you’re at the stage in your life where you’re realizing that Danny Elfman has scored all of your favorite movies and you’re starting to discover his other music, then we have some great news for you. No, Oingo Boingo isn’t reuniting, but Elfman himself just released the follow-up to last year’s “Happy.” “Love in the Time of COVID” is Elfman’s take on the struggles and monotony of the current pandemic, and it comes with a surreal (but all too relatable) video that displays pretty much the exact level of weirdness one would expect from the famous composer. “There’s certainly nothing light-hearted or funny about COVID, but I can still poke a little fun at the crazy way social isolation has changed our lives in every way shape and form, and that’s what ‘Love in the Time of COVID’ is about,”...
Danny Elfman Releases Prog Rock-Influenced Single ‘Sorry’
Just before Halloween, Danny Elfman released his first solo single in 36 years, an “absurd anti-pop song” called “Happy.” Today, the famed composer/musician is giving us another taste of new material with “Sorry.” The anger-fueled track pulls from industrial and prog-rock influences to create an uneasy atmosphere that’s made even more unnerving with a jarring video animated by Jesse Kanda (Arca, FKA Twigs, Bjork). The intricate visuals were originally created for Elfman’s Coachella 2020 performance, which was postponed. “‘Sorry’ was the first song I’ve written for myself in a long time,” Elfman explained in a statement.“It began as an obsessive choral-chant instrumental work, which at the time I called ‘alien orchestral chamber punk’ and evolved slowly into a song. I was surprise...
Dethklok, Protest the Hero Members Cover Oingo Boingo in Time for Halloween
Two Minutes to Late Night continues to celebrate Halloween with an Iron Maiden-ized version of the mosh-worthy tune “Dead Man’s Party” originally done by Los Angeles-based new wave legends Oingo Boingo. Dethklok guitarist Nili Brosh — who also tours with Oingo Boingo leader Danny Elfman — plays on the tune while wearing a Nightmare Before Christmas facemask, a nod to Elfman’s soundtrack work on the film. Other musicians include Protest the Hero drummer Michael Ieradi and vocalist Rody Walker, along with bassist Pete Green of Giraffe Tongue Orchestra and Dethklok. Dethklok was created for the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, which is now canceled, but the band lives on. For October, Two Minutes to Late Night, which features punk and metal musicians jamming remotely on...
The 25 Best Soundtrack Albums of the 1990s
In the 1980s, music and film collided for cross-promotional blockbusters both transcendent (Purple Rain) and transcendently cheesy (Footloose). In the ‘90s, soundtracks continued to sell in the millions, capturing cultural moments like the Seattle grunge of Singles or the Britpop and electronica of Trainspotting. Auteurs like Quentin Tarantino and Wes Anderson reached deep into their record collections to set the mood while movies like Above the Rim and Menace II Society pioneered the concept of soundtracks as hip-hop mixtapes. A great soundtrack can propel an unsuccessful single, like Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose,” to the top of the charts, or revive a decades-old hit, like Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It can also push a cult singer-songwriter like Elliott Smith or Aimee Mann to an Oscar perf...
