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A story:
In Berlin at Easter, on the tour bus, a group of people started talking about films, someone mentioned music. And the most infuriating thing I ever heard followed: One of them said “So, does John Williams write the music for every film, except sometimes when Hans Zimmer writes it?”
The ignorance! I know that film music is an esoteric thing and it’s not really in the general public’s sphere of interest, but for people to think that two men (the only two film composers they’ve heard of) wrote the music for every film ever made is just thick!So I was wondering, does anyone have any stories like that? Has anyone tried to start taking about Elfman or anyone else with friends and got blank faces? But when someone else mentions John Williams, a host of poorly renditioned Star Wars/Indiana Jones themes are shouted at you.
Everyone I know, knows who Danny Elfman is because I mention him all the time. So I’ve succeeded in getting his name out in the West Chester area outside Philadelphia… although it was to the point where someone made a poster saying “Danny Elfman Sucks!” as a joke. I didn’t mind because I knew he was just jealous. And on a side note, Danny’s 2nd cousin Donald Elfman work at my company for a while – he has been a jazz musician and producer for such labels as Telarc and Nonesuch.
Most people only become aware of a composer if the music is VERY popular, like John Williams with Star Wars. Remember when The Phantom Menace was released in 1999 and FOX made a music video of Duel of the Fates that MTV actually aired?! I’m surprised your friends aren’t aware of Danny Elfman since Nightmare Before Christmas is like a holiday tradition these days. Then again…maybe that’s just in the United States.
They know about Danny because I talk about him all the time. Plus I always see any movie Danny scores so when there’s credits they always see his name.
All of my friends only know who Danny Elfman is because of me. I talk about him and listen to his scores (and Boingo of course) all the time, to the point where my friends get sick of it. But, hey, what do I care? I’m happy.
Oh yeah now my family and any friends I like well enough to grace with the knowledge of all that is Elfman are sick and tired of hearing about him! I’m trying to see Elfman-scored things I haven’t seen yet (I can’t really listen to the scores first), and I always get scorn when his name comes up in the titles, they think that’s the only reason I’m watching it. (Whick it isn’t, by the way, it’s just one of many reasons).
Of course lots of people know the Nightmare Before Christmas, but none of them know who wrote the music. There’s just a barrier, so many peope just refuse to hear music in films.
Often i’ll start taking about Danny and eventually I give up listing films I think they’ll recognise and just say “The Simpsons” and walk away. I hate having to boil him down to a theme tune. And judging by his face at comicon when he has it shouted at him, he hates it to.Let’s face it, it’s one particular interest we all have (film music and/or Danny Elfman).
Most people listen to music to have noise going on in the back, to break the silence, to dance, to “think of something else” or relax. They express themselves using music, not through music.
Of course, people expressing themselves through music do exist (and beside, teenagers and musicians as well
!) but they are few, considering the “other kind” I evoked above. In addition, I’m sure the percentage of that people listening and connecting to film music is rather weak. I mean, this board is dedicated to one of major film music composer in the world, a name that a lot of persons who are interested in cinema know; Danny Elfman is to be considered a superstar in his field. Yet, how many members are really active here ? A dozen, maybe slightly more. That’s not much at all.I gave up a while ago, I had to admit that most people are not interested in a music that they barely notice the existence. Old habits die hard and although most of my friends and family is now aware of Danny Elfman or film music in general, I know it will never go further than that. No “conversion” planned or possible I’m afraid.
I always think of a Danny’s quote from a video I can’t seem to find. It was something like this (and I’m sure it’s pretty accurate, it use to open my Danny Elfman tapes back in those silly pre-mp3 years) :
“Hi, I’m Danny Elfman and I’m talking to all you film nerds…I assume that’s what you are if you’re listening to this…and I’m not saying that the bad way because that’s who I was and probably still I am”.Well, most of my friends didn’t know his name, but with my help, they realized that they LOVED his work without having even noticed that it was all the same composer. I mean, everybody has heard The Simpsons, Batman, Nightmare, Desperate, Dead Man’s Party or Weird Science… But they don’t know who’s the genius that created all these.
Then, since I’ve been playing a lot of his works in my concerts, and even played a tribute to Elfman concert, most of them started to know and listen to his works. Actually, at least 20 of my friends are really into his music now… I live in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is quite hard to find Oingo Boingo cd’s around here. But one store started importing all their albums, because more and more people would ask for it. I was really glad
Actually, I’m impressed that they even KNEW the names ‘John Williams’ and ‘Hans Zimmer’. Most regular folks don’t.
they realized that they LOVED his work without having even noticed that it was all the same composer
Based on my experience, people are aware of Danny Elfman because of sites like iTunes and those for ringtone downloads. The Simpsons and Nightmare Before Christmas are VERY popular. Who doesn’t have those on their iPod? October is around the corner. Everyone is gonna be listening to Nightmare Before Christmas soon. There’s a reason why Disney re-released the album and even bothered to hire famous singers to do cover versions. They know there’s a big audience out there.
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