Danny Elfman is one of the most prominent composers of the last few decades. Over his stellar career, Elfman has received global recognition for composing and writing over 100 film scores and working with legendary directors such as Tim Burton, Gus van Sant, and Sam Raimi.
This recognition can be seen in the fact that Elfman has received 4 Oscar nominations, a Grammy, two Emmys, and even the Disney Legend award. Due to his prominence across film for the past several decades, Elfman has almost certainly written, not only movie scores but also soundtracks for our childhood. This article will rank the 10 best Danny Elfman themes.
Milk
Gus van Sant’s Milk follows the life of the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, Harvey Milk. The film was released to critical acclaim in 2008 and went on to be nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay.
This was the second time that Elfman has worked on a score for Gus van Sant, with the first movie being Good Will Hunting. This soundtrack, however, perfectly captures the life of Harvey Milk. It manages to express both the hope and bitter sadness of Milk’s story.
Corpse Bride
The Corpse Bride is the closest one could get to the typical Tim Burton movie. It is macabre and dark, while also funny, daring, and visually stunning. While this is true of the film, it is also true of Danny Elfman’s score.
The score captures the Victorian setting of the movie brilliantly, while the slow piano beats help to draw out a beautiful melody that fits the love story of the movie.
As the film follows the story of a young man who falls in love with a dead woman, Elfman’s romantic and gothic piano is perfect for this movie.
Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice marks another collaboration between Burton and Elfman. However, what marks Beetlejuice from the rest on this list is the incredible trifecta that made this movie great. Not only is this one of Tim Burton’s marvelous hybrids of the creepy and hilarious, but it also includes a fantastically insane performance from Michael Keaton and a masterful score from Elfman to match.
When speaking of Beetlejuice, Elfman famously said that this was only the 5th score he had ever written and was unaware of the ‘rules’. This ignorance of the rules was, perhaps, what helped make this theme so great.
Edward Scissorhands
Edward Scissorhands marked the first of several collaborations between Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, sewing the seeds for decades of movies between the two creatives. Edward Scissorhands was intended to be a modern fairy tale with gothic elements and, while this is clear from just looking at a movie poster, it is also clear from the score.
Danny Elfman’s score flits between the gothic and the fairytale, while creating mixes of the two genres at times.
Men In Black
The Men in Black theme by Danny Elfman perfectly captures the feel of the universe. Due to Danny Elfman’s experience working with Tim Burton, Elfman had more than enough experience in translating strange and baffling elements into a film score.
The Men in Black score went on to earn Danny Elfman his first Academy Award nomination, with Men in Black being nominated for Best Original Score.
Batman Returns
Batman Returns is, for many, even better than the original in the series. It is an incredibly dark movie that is framed against the backdrop of what is intended to be the happiest time of the year, Christmas. Further, the movie also introduced two new villains, Penguin and Catwoman, both of whom would become the focus of the movie, rather than Batman.
What makes this one of Elfman’s greatest works is how he keeps the tone and sounds of his first Batman movie, but expands upon them in an even darker way with this score. Birth of the Penguin, in particular, is masterful. It combines the gothic elements of the penguin with the heroic sounds of Batman in order to produce a perfect superhero score.
Spider-Man
Spider-Man was Elfman’s third foray into comic books, after Batman and Men in Black. Much like Batman was the start of a new trend of comic book movies in the 90s, Spider-man was the start of the modern comic book movie. While Elfman’s score for Batman was dark with Burton-esque elements and whacky for Men in Black, his Spider-Man score was entirely different.
Much like the character of Spider-Man, the theme has a slow and understated build-up before then climaxing into a heroic crescendo. In contrast to Batman, which was dark and gothic in tone, Spider-Man’s theme was bright and hopeful. In other words, if Batman’s theme was a dark alleyway on a rainy night, Spider-Man’s theme was skyscrapers on a sunny afternoon.
Batman
Danny Elfman’s score for Batman was iconic to a whole new level. The purpose of a score is to bring out the character and help pull the audience into the movie, and not only did the score perfectly capture the feel of the movie, as well as the feel of the character. Elfman masterfully brought out the dark elements of the character during the music, while also building up to an epic crescendo.
But the Batman theme also went on to inspire and spawn other themes, such as the Batman: The Animated series soundtrack which went on to become an iconic theme in its own right. This score was seminal and certainly deserves to receive a high place on this list.
Nightmare Before Christmas
Is it a Christmas movie? Is it a Halloween movie? Regardless of the theme, it is one of Tim Burton’s and Danny Elfman’s best collaborations. This movie also marked Danny Elfman’s largest involvement in a film. During the production of the movie, Elfman wrote the score, the songs, and also provided the singing voice for Jack Skellington.
Nightmare Before Christmas is, perhaps, the greatest large scale Elfman work. Elfman captures the mind of Burton perfectly in most of their collaborations, but Nightmare Before Christmas is the clearest example of this to date.
The Simpsons
Nothing else could have come close to first place. The Simpsons has one of the most iconic themes of all time and it is certainly deserving of first place on this list. Even if you have never seen an episode of the Simpsons, you will recognize the opening beats of the Simpson’s theme; Elfman has truly created something that will last forever with this theme.
To compose the theme song for one of the longest-running sitcoms of all time is certainly a career-high and, while it may not have as much complexity as some of the other themes on this list, it is certainly more iconic.
