Danny Elfman & His Music

Danny Elfman is known for his dark scores, particularly those he has written for Tim Burton's films. He is one of Hollywood's most famous composers. He is also largely recognized for the music he has written for TV, especially his theme song for The Simpsons.


Born in Amarillo, Texas, on May 29, 1953, Elfman was the son of  Blossom Elfman. He spent his youth in Los Angeles and moved with his brother to France at the age of 18. He then became involved with a theatre group and received an introduction to musical orchestration. He and Richard started the musical troupe Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo, which would later become known as a cult group. After spending a few years in France, Elfman moved to Africa, where he stayed until a bout with malaria forced him to move back to the United States.

Elfman wrote his first score for his brother’s film, Forbidden Zone in 1980. A few years later, Elfman met Tim Burton, who was a fan of Oingo Boingo. Elfman's composed for Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985). The two would continue to work together on most of Burton’s subsequent films, and their collaborations would become known as one of the industry's most well known partnerships. It was for another of Burton's films, the 1988 Beetlejuice, that Elfman first became known by soundtrack fans in general; his quirky, frenetic score, combined with a number of Harry Belafonte songs, were an enormous success. Elfman earned additional praise and acknowledgment for his scores for a number of other Burton films, particularly Edward Scissorhands (1990), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). For the latter of these, Elfman also wrote the songs and provided the singing voice for the lead character, Jack Skellington. 

In addition to his work with Burton, Elfman has supplied the scores for a number of films that encompass every imaginable genre. Elfman has won over 30 awards for his music and his influences include: Bernard Herrman, Nino Rota, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Phillip Glass and Frank Zappa. Similar artists: Howard Shore, Creature Feature, Michael Nyman and Ennio Moricone. 

Source: Answers.com

Obviously we've heard the music in the Tim Burton films that we have seen. In addition to this, we've found tracks on Bee MP3 and listened to them. If we do want to use some of the music, I really hope that it isn't going to bring up a copyright problem ^^