Oingo Boingo After returning to Los Angeles 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. He also composed original pieces and 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 theaters, and later in
nightclubs throughout Los Angeles until Richard left in 1976 to pursue filmmaking. Before the release of
Forbidden Zone, Elfman took over the Mystic Knights as lead singer-songwriter in 1976. In 1979, he pared the group down to eight players to record and tour as a
ska-influenced
new wave band. That summer, the group's name would change to
Oingo Boingo. featuring the hit song "
Weird Science" from the movie of the same name. for which Elfman also composed the score. Elfman shifted the band to a more guitar-oriented rock sound in the late 1980s, which continued through their last album
Boingo in 1994. Citing permanent hearing damage from performing live and conflicts with his film-scoring career, On October 31, 2015, Elfman and Oingo Boingo guitarist
Steve Bartek performed the song "Dead Man's Party" with an orchestra as an encore to a live-to-film concert of
The Nightmare Before Christmas score at the
Hollywood Bowl. Elfman told the audience the performance was "20 years to the day" of Oingo Boingo's retirement.
Film scoring As fans of
Oingo Boingo,
Tim Burton and
Paul Reubens invited Elfman to write the
score for their first feature film ''
Pee-wee's Big Adventure'' in 1985. Elfman was initially apprehensive because of his lack of formal training and having never scored a
studio feature, but after Burton accepted his initial demo of the
title music, and with
orchestration assistance from
Oingo Boingo guitarist and arranger
Steve Bartek, Elfman completed the score to great effect, paying homage to influential film composers
Nino Rota and
Bernard Herrmann. Elfman described the first time he heard his music played by a full orchestra as one of the most thrilling experiences of his life. Following ''Pee Wee's Big Adventure
, Elfman scored a string of comedies in the late 1980s, including Back to School'' starring
Rodney Dangerfield, Burton's
Beetlejuice and the
Bill Murray film
Scrooged. Non-comedy work included the all-
synth score to
Emilio Estevez's
crime drama Wisdom and the
big band,
blues-infused music for
Martin Brest's
buddy cop action film
Midnight Run. In 1989, Elfman's influential,
Grammy-winning score for Burton's
Batman marked a major stylistic shift to dark, densely orchestrated music in the romantic idiom. scoring all but three of the director's major studio releases. Highlights include
Edward Scissorhands (1990),
Batman Returns (1992),
Sleepy Hollow (1999),
Big Fish (2003) and
Alice in Wonderland (2010). In 1993, Elfman wrote the score and ten songs for the Burton-produced
stop motion animated film
The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by
Henry Selick, and also provided the singing voice for main character
Jack Skellington, as well as the voices for secondary characters Barrel, the Clown with the Tear-Away Face and others. In 2005, he wrote the score and songs for Burton's
Corpse Bride and provided the voice of the character of Bonejangles, and provided the score, songs and Oompa-Loompa vocals for Burton's
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that same year. In addition to frequent collaborations with Burton, Raimi and
Gus Van Sant, Elfman has worked with directors such as
Brian De Palma,
Peter Jackson,
Joss Whedon,
Errol Morris,
Ang Lee,
Richard Donner,
Guillermo del Toro,
David O. Russell,
Taylor Hackford,
Jon Amiel,
Joe Johnston, and
Barry Sonnenfeld. His scores for Sonnenfeld's
Men in Black, Van Sant's
Good Will Hunting and
Milk, and Burton's
Big Fish all received
Academy Award nominations. and three
Fifty Shades films (2015–2018). In 1996, he scored the first film in the
Mission: Impossible series, adapting themes for the original television series by
Lalo Schifrin as well as composing his own. Elfman scored Raimi's
Spider-Man in 2002 and
Spider-Man 2 in 2004, themes and selections from which were used for Raimi's
Spider-Man 3, scored by
Christopher Young. Elfman's
Spider-Man theme was incorporated into the MCU film
Spider-Man: No Way Home composed by
Michael Giacchino. Elfman entered the
Marvel Cinematic Universe by providing additional music in 2015's
Avengers: Age of Ultron, receiving composer credit with
Brian Tyler. Elfman also scored MCU's
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022, utilizing Giacchino's theme to the original
Doctor Strange film, as well as themes from
WandaVision and
X-Men: The Animated Series, and music from
Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony and
Bach's
Toccata and Fugue. For several high-profile sequel and
reboot projects in the 2010s, Elfman incorporated established musical themes with his own original thematic material, including the
DC Extended Universe's
Justice League,
The Grinch, Dumbo and
Men in Black International. Elfman was featured in the 2016 documentary
Score, in which he appeared among over 50 film composers to discuss the craft of movie music and influential figures in the business. In 2025, he composed the music for
Luc Besson's big-budget French film
Dracula.
Concert music Elfman's first piece of original concert music,
Serenada Schizophrana, was commissioned by the
American Composers Orchestra, who premiered the piece on February 23, 2005, at
Carnegie Hall. Subsequent concert works include his first
Violin Concerto "Eleven Eleven", co-commissioned by the
Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Stanford Live at
Stanford University, and the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which premiered at
Smetana Hall in Prague on June 21, 2017, with Sandy Cameron on violin and
John Mauceri conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra; the
Piano Quartet, co-commissioned by the
Lied Center for Performing Arts,
University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and the
Berlin Philharmonic Piano Quartet, which premiered February 6, 2018, in
Lincoln, Nebraska; and the
Percussion Quartet, commissioned by
Third Coast Percussion and premiered at the
Philip Glass Days And Nights Festival in
Big Sur on October 10, 2019. 2022 saw the first performances of three concert works. Elfman's
Cello Concerto for
Gautier Capuçon was premiered by the
Vienna Symphony on March 18, with subsequent performances by the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in May and the
San Francisco Symphony US premiere in November. Elfman's
Percussion Concerto for
Colin Currie premiered on March 25 at London's
Royal Festival Hall with
London Philharmonic Orchestra, and was later performed at
Soka University of America in California, with
Pacific Symphony. His
Wunderkammer, a commission from the
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, toured the UK in summer 2022, culminating in a performance in London's
Royal Albert Hall as part of the
BBC Proms, with national radio and TV broadcasts. Elfman's
Suite for Chamber Orchestra was premiered on May 4, 2023, by
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at
St Mark's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. The
Suite was co-commissioned by the
Library of Congress, the Royalty Pool of
Andre Kostelanetz, the
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the
National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Subsequent performances of the
Suite include the New York premiere by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in July 2023 at
92NY's inaugural MidSummer Music Fest, the West Coast premiere by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in December 2023 at the
Alex Theatre in Glendale, California, and a performance by the Reno Chamber Orchestra in October 2024.
Stage music In 2008, Elfman accepted his first commission for the stage, composing the music for
Twyla Tharp's
Rabbit and Rogue ballet, co-commissioned by
American Ballet Theatre and Orange County Performing Arts Center and premiering on June 3, 2008, at the
Metropolitan Opera House,
Lincoln Center. Other works for stage include the music for
Cirque Du Soleil's
Iris in 2011, and incidental music for the
Broadway production of
Taylor Mac's
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus in 2019. '' live at the
Hollywood Bowl. In October 2013, Elfman returned to the stage for the first time since his band
Oingo Boingo disbanded to sing a handful of
The Nightmare Before Christmas songs as part of the concert ''Danny Elfman's Music from the Films of Tim Burton
, featuring suites of music from 15 Tim Burton films newly arranged by Elfman. The concert has since toured internationally and has played in Japan, Australia, Mexico and throughout Europe and the United States. Since 2015, Elfman has appeared regularly in a Hollywood Bowl Halloween concert featuring full orchestra performing the Nightmare Before Christmas'' score live to the film projection. In 2025, he reprised his singing role as Jack Skellington for the 10th anniversary of the live version, which starred
Janelle Monáe,
Keith David and
John Stamos. Elfman made his
Coachella debut on April 16, 2022, with
Danny Elfman: From Boingo to Batman
to Big Mess
to Beyond! The concert, postponed from Coachella 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featured Elfman's film and television music arranged for band, orchestra and choir, as well as songs from his solo album
Big Mess and new arrangements of songs from his
Oingo Boingo catalogue. Conducted by
Steve Bartek, and featuring Elfman (vocals, guitar, percussion),
Wes Borland (guitar),
Stu Brooks (bass),
Nili Brosh (guitar), and
Josh Freese (drums), the concert was expanded for two shows Halloween weekend 2022 at the
Hollywood Bowl.
Television and other projects In addition to his music for film, Elfman also penned themes for the television series
The Simpsons,
Tales from the Crypt,
The Flash and
Desperate Housewives, which won Elfman his first Emmy. He also adapted his original themes for the animated versions of
Batman and
Beetlejuice. Occasional forays into serial television include episodes of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents,
Amazing Stories and
Pee-wee's Playhouse, the
miniseries When We Rise co-composed with
Chris Bacon, and themes for the
Netflix series
Wednesday. He has composed music for animated shorts, including
Sally Cruikshank's
Face Like A Frog and Tim Burton's "Stainboy" internet series. Elfman provided background music for
Luigi Serafini's solo exhibition
il Teatro della Pittura at the Fondazione Mudima di Milano in
Milan, Italy in 1998 and for the
Tim Burton exhibition at
MoMA in 2009. In the 1990s, Elfman composed music for advertising campaigns for
Nike,
Nissan and
Lincoln-Mercury, and in 2002 wrote the music for
Honda's "Power of Dreams" advertising campaign, which was the first cinema commercial to be shot in the
IMAX format. In 2013 he composed the music and provided the English-language vocals for the
Hong Kong Disneyland attraction
Mystic Manor. On October 31, 2019, the
MasterClass online educational series released "Making Music out of Chaos," presenting 21 compositional and career lessons from Elfman's four decades of experience primarily in the
film industry. Elfman scored the 10-minute video "Joe Biden," which introduced
Joe Biden's acceptance of the presidential candidacy nomination at the
2020 Democratic National Convention. On November 16, 2021,
Disney Branded Television announced that Elfman would compose score and songs of the upcoming
Disney Television Animation and
20th Television Animation stop-motion animated comedy series
Rhona Who Lives by the River created by
Emily Kapnek, Elfman also serves as executive producer for the series. In June 2024, it was announced that Elfman would compose the music for the
Dark Universe section of
Universal Epic Universe. On January 18, 2025, Elfman made his first appearance on
Saturday Night Live, performing drums with
A$AP Rocky during the song "Punk Rocky". Bassist
Thundercat also performed. The appearance marked Elfman's SNL debut despite his decades-long career in music, as
Oingo Boingo had primarily been a West Coast act and never received an invitation to appear on the show.
Solo In October 2020, Elfman released the single, "
Happy," on
Anti- Records and
Epitaph Records. From January 2021 on the eleventh day of each month, he released five subsequent singles "Sorry", "Love in the Time of COVID", "Kick Me", "True", and a reworking of the
Oingo Boingo song "Insects" from the album
Nothing to Fear. This culminated with the release of the double album
Big Mess on June 11. Featuring 18 original songs, this was Elfman's first solo studio album since 1984's
So-Lo. On August 11, 2021, Elfman released a remix of "True" with lead vocals shared between Elfman and
Nine Inch Nails frontman
Trent Reznor. A year later, Elfman released
Bigger Messier, a compilation of 23 remixes of songs on the album
Big Mess by artists including Reznor,
Iggy Pop,
Blixa Bargeld,
Squarepusher,
Boy Harsher and more. A further solo album was announced by Elfman on his social media pages in 2025. ==Influences and style==