Danny Elfman was one of the surprises at Coachella 2022 with a setlist mixing his old band Oingo Boingo and this soundtrack work into one setlist.
Elfman composed the theme foo The Simpsons and that was in the show as well.
“That was a rarity, Danny tells Noise11.com. “I’ve done like, 105, 110 film scores, and most of them are really, really hard work. But there are a few moments here and there where something just goes ‘bang’, like that and The Simpsons was one of them”.
Elfman had a meeting with the creator of The Simpsons in 1989 when the show was still in development. “I went and met with Matt Groening, the creator, and they showed me a bit of it. I said ‘no-one is going to see this thing. It’s just for fun’. I told Matt ‘if you want something really crazy retro I’m the guy. If you want something contemporary I just don’t fell it”.
The inspiration for the theme was “prehistoric”. Danny summonised The Flintstones as his starting point. “There was something that reminded me of an old Hanna-Barbera Flintstones,” Danny says. “Maybe because Homer was driving the car and the beginning of The Flintstones was also driving a car, crazy. I thought it should just be crazy retro. I thought it will air three times and get forgotten. I wrote it in the car on the way home from that meeting. By the time I got home it was done”.
Everything happened that night. “I ran downstairs, I took a 4-track tape player, I made a demo and it was done. It took me a couple of hours, three, four hours, I don’t remember. The next day I sent Matt the demo and he called me back and he just said ‘Yeah’. That’s it. I have never done anything that went that easy”.
Nothing quite like The Simpsons Theme being performed live at Coachella by Danny Elfman !! pic.twitter.com/tZcmW7qr0k
— Dan Leach (@DanLeach971) April 17, 2022
Yesssssss The Pee Wee Theme!!! pic.twitter.com/XgRyRN01QD
— Dan Leach (@DanLeach971) April 17, 2022
Danny Elfman Coachella Setlist
Sorry
Insects
Spider-Man Main Title
Nothing to Fear (But Fear Itself)
Just Another Day
Jack’s Lament / This Is Halloween / What’s This? (From The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Breakfast Machine (From Pee-wee’s Big Adventure)
Kick Me
Insanity
The Batman Theme
True
The Simpsons Main Title Theme
Only a Lad
Love in the Time of COVID
Ice Dance / The Grand Finale (From Edward Scissorhands)
Dead Man’s Party
Alice’s Theme (From Alice in Wonderland)
Happy
Who Do You Want to Be
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