Oingo Boingo: Danny Elfman

The artistic genius, the driving force, the hub of Oingo Boingo is unquestionably Danny Elfman.  Others made key contributions to the sound of the band, but there would be no oingo in the boingo with Elfman. He put out a solo album which for all intents and purposes is another Oingo Boingo album.

The fact that the theater troupe transformed into the rock band and then ended before it faded away is all due to Elfman. Maybe a little bit to Tim Burton who hired him to score Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and then went on to work with him on most of Burton’s movies.  Success as a soundtrack composer certainly contributed to Elfman closing the chapter on Oingo Boingo and pop music.  Elfman has since contributed to a number of movie and television soundtracks — some of which is collected on Music for a Darkened Theatre, Vol. 1.

Here’s an interview around the release of Sam Raimi’s Darkman right where Elfman was making the transition from Oingo Boingo to composer.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but he’s been nominated and won a number of awards for his work scoring projects: 4 Oscar nominations; 1 Annie win; 1 Emmy win and another nomination; 1 Grammy and 10 other nominations.  It’s almost to the point where he will almost certainly be remembered first and foremost for his move and television scoring and his pop career will come second.

He did do a bunch of interviews when a 25 year anniversary of Oingo Boingo collection came out.

I don’t know much about his private life.  Obviously his brother Richard Elfman was an early collaborator.  He is the uncle of actor Bodhi Elfman, who is married to actress Jenna Elfman.  He has been married to Bridget Fonda since 2003.