From rock star to Hollywood icon. This time on frametrax, we’ll listen to the sometimes controversial, often parodied, and always entertaining, Danny Elfman.

He came to prominence as the lead singer and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.

Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to nearly 20 Burton projects, including Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and Wednesday, as well as scoring Raimi’s Darkman, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Van Sant’s Academy Award-winning films Good Will Hunting and Milk. He wrote music for all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for Henry Selick’s animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the themes for the popular television series Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons.

Among his honors are four Oscar nominations, three Emmy Awards, a Grammy, seven Saturn Awards for Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award, the 2015 Disney Legend Award,the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017, and the Society of Composers & Lyricists Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

Early life

Track Listings

The Breakfast Machine

Charge of the Batmobile

Midnight Run

Amazing Stories: Family Dog

MIB

Batman Returns

The Simpsons

Beetlejuice

Flying Scarlett

Edward Scissorhands

Music Box Suite

Epic

What’s This?

Batman Theme