Image: https://www.economist.com/culture/2022/08/15/danny-elfman-goes-back-to-his-roots
Daniel Robert Elfman, born 1953 is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the leader of new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to around 100 movies, including Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Darkman, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man 1 and 2, Doctor Strange, Good Will Hunting, Milk, all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and all the themes for Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons. After finishing high school early with plans to travel the world, Elfman followed his brother Richard to France, where he performed violin with an avant-garde musical theater group. He then embarked on a ten-month journey through Africa, busking and collecting a range of West African percussion instruments. After returning to LA from Africa in the early 1970s, Elfman was asked by his brother Richard to serve as musical director of his street theatre performance art troupe The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Elfman was tasked with adapting and arranging 1920s and 30s jazz and big band music by artists such as Cab Calloway for the ensemble, which consisted of up to 15 performers playing upwards of 30 instruments. He also helped build instruments unique for the group, including an aluminum gamelan, the ‘Schlitz celeste’ made from tuned beer cans, and a “junkyard orchestra” built from car parts and trash cans. The Mystic Knights performed on the street and in nightclubs throughout LA until Dannys brother, Richard left in 1979. Elfman took over the Mystic Knights as lead singer-songwriter in 1979. He pared the group down to eight players to record and tour as a ska-influenced new wave band under the name Oingo Boingo. Their biggest success among eight studio albums was 1985’s Dead Man’s Party. As a teenager, Elfman dated his classmate Kim Gordon, who would later become one of the members of the rock band Sonic Youth. In 2003, he married actress Bridget Fonda. The things I find most impressive about Danny Elfman are how much his already wide sonic palette continues to grow, and that its still happening at 70 years old, and the incredible shape he seems to be in. From 30’s swing to heavy prog rock, this is Danny Elfman.
Amazing theatrical rendition of Minnie The Moocher | 1977 (click Watch on YouTube)
Even before ditching the Mystic Knights part of their name, the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo began gradually moving away from their theatrical roots towards a new sound based on elements of ska and new wave
Probably the highest quality live recording of Oingo Boingo in 1985.
Here the crazy part. He’s back, and playing live after 30 years away! This show was October 2022, so that ripped dude covered in tattoos is almost 70 years old!
After 30 years away we can see he has re-emerged in finer form than anyone could imagine. Describing 2021’s ‘Big Mess’, a certain punk legend put it this way: “It’s so compositionally overwhelming and assaultive,” said Henry Rollins who recently played selections from Big Mess on his weekly KCRW radio show. “The lyrics are so smart and bristling. It’s like he’s taken all the skills he’s honed over the decades and weaponized them.” This is the vast musical landscape he not so much travels, but creates in his journey through life.