It seems like everyone from Tina Turner to the parking attendent [sic] at the Greek Theatre has a song in a movie these days. Film producers pursue hit songs the way Tom chases Jerry or Wile E. Coyote goes after the Roadrunner. The result is that there are far too many scores overflowing with misplaced, unnecessary songs. I've griped enough about the trend before, though. There are clearly many, many positive aspects which deserve equal time. Above and beyond its extraordinary commercial and promotional benefits, the trend has opened up the once-exclusive film music club to a new breed of composer. These are writers and performers who, while best known in rock circles, still have a great deal to offer in other genres, and not only as songwriters. Some have shown a definite flair for orchestral scoring as well.

One particularly notable example right now is Oingo Boingo's leader/vocalist Danny Elfman. With the concurrent release of Weird Science and Pee Wee's Big Adventure (PWBA from here on), Elfman's ability to master both the songwriting and the scoring demands of composing for film are clearly evident. "I've always loved film," he remarked recently. "Even before music, I felt I wanted to work in film in some capacity." As his career with the band took off, he did have the opportunity to contribute cuts for several youth-oriented films such as Bachelor Party. Yet, his desire to tackle complete scoring wasn't satisfied until he composed the music for his brother's "bizarre, underground musical fantasy cult" film, Forbidden Zone.

It was the eclectic score he wrote for that film which eventually enticed the interest of PWBA's director, Tim Burton. When the two met, however, "I would have been almost relieved not to get the job," Elfman recalled. "I kept thinking, 'why me?' " When the singer disclosed his love for film composers Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann, whose styles were exactly what Burton was looking for, the job was Elfman's though. Working closely with Oingo Boingo's Steve Bartek, Elfman found himself with a huge challenge; to compose over 50 minutes of music for the film in less than a month. On top of that, he discovered the torture of timing comedy music, particularly in PWBA, which required occasional "Mickey Mouse" scoring.

"The first two weeks were hell," Elfman commented. "I had to really learn a great deal about writing for film. It got easier, though. The project was a lot like a school in film composition. By the time I was done, I felt ready to take on any kind of score. I've already had several offers to score other films since the release of Pee Wee. What a break. I was very lucky that I had this chance. I'm addicted now." A deal is in the works regarding the release of the PWBA soundtrack. Meanwhile, MCA has released the title song to Weird Science, which Elfman wrote and Oingo Boingo recorded. "This song was written for the film specifically," Elfman said. "I've been a party to the trend of using unrelated songs in a film, but now I'm at a point where I'll only write a song if I feel the film calls for one." Oingo Boingo is currently in the studio recording its first MCA album, tentatively titled "Dead Man's Party."