Taking Sides: Danny Elfman Vs. Mark Mothersbaugh

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both frontmen of quirky synth-pop bands who went on to score big scoring for movies and TV.

Elfman's Batman & Simpsons themes alone are enough to secure his place in history, nevermind the countless other biggies. Mothersbaugh hasn't quite blown up as big in Hollywood (yet), but I'm sufficiently impressed by the fact that those dreamy Wes Anderson scores, loopy keyboard patterns on sharper Devo trax, AND the Rugrats theme all came from the same mind. so i'm on the fence. FITE!

― al, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Q: are we not men? A: we are new answers!

― al, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Gerald Casale - highly creative (you'd expect any less?) Los Angeles area food critic.

― http://gygax.pitas.com, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mothersbaugh fer sure. In addition to Devo being a much better band, Mothersbaugh continues to be more respectable.

― tyler, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, Elfman's certainly won bigger accounts in the scoring department and done remarkably well for himself, but I will *ALWAYS* prefer Mothersbaugh.

Devo were so much more than simply a 'quirky synth-pop' band, although the same cannot be said for Oingo Boingo.

Didn't know that about Jerry being a restaurant critic.

― Alex in NYC, Thursday, 16 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've only heard one soundtrack by Mothersbaugh, and that was "Rushmore", which was great. However, I've heard not less than 5 classic soundtracks by Elfman, so he gets the nod at this point, for me.

― dleone, Friday, 17 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"the breakfast machine" in pee-wee's big adventure; for this alone elfman scores a ko.

― dyson, Friday, 17 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I say put them in Thunderdome and let them hash it out like angry neanderthals

― Lord Custos 2.0 beta, Friday, 17 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Has anyone ever seen them together? Maybe they're the same person?

― Steve K, Friday, 17 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, whenever they colloborate they go under the moniker "They Might Be Giants"

― Lord Custos 2.0 beta, Friday, 17 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

REVIVE!

Elfman for me, just barely.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Friday, 12 August 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

Mothersbaugh's scores are definitely more listenable as stand-alone music. Elfman is effective, or perhaps was--his sounds have (perhaps not his fault) almost become a filmic cliche indicating "quirkiness" (following the devolution of Tim Burton, the Coens, et al.)

Mothersbaugh and Yann Tiersen both have less quirk and more whimsy, touches of a High Life/romantic pastorialism and fun.

― I.M. (I.M.), Friday, 12 August 2005 01:53 (twenty years ago)

mothersbaugh kick's elfman's ass, sorry!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 12 August 2005 01:58 (twenty years ago)

Mothersbaugh has done an insane amount of work according to IMDB.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Friday, 12 August 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

I just saw the movie "Millions" last week and was amazed at how Elfman-like the score, by one John Murphy, was. Made me realize how instantly recognizable his best work has become and how we're starting to see scores that are clearly inspired by him. Of course, he's had more exposure, bigger movies etc but all those scores and themes, despite being very different - Batman, Simpsons, Edward Scissorhands, Men In Black etc - are also distinctly Elfman.

Mark Mothersbaugh's work is great and just whimsical enough without being annoying (like Jon Brion can sometimes be) but he hasn't yet developed a suitably identifiable personality when it comes to scoring different movies and TV shows.

So right now, Elfman for me.

BUT, Devo >>>>>>>>> Oingo Boingo.

― Roz (Roz), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Devo is always going to win this one.. although I do proudly own the Antics In The Forbidden Zone soundtrack (and movie) as done by The Mystics Knights Of The Oingo Boingo... which is a pretty fun listen.

― donut ferry (donut), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:14 (twenty years ago)

Also Bill Nelson's Red Noise >>>>>>>>>>> Oingo Boingo, while we're at it.

"Don't... touch.. me.... I'm ELECTRIC!"

― donut ferry (donut), Friday, 12 August 2005 08:15 (twenty years ago)

seven years pass...

I notice that Mark Motherbaugh does nothing at all in this song other than jumping jacks and the machine gun sound effect at around 1:35 that isn't in the recorded version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Owtc4bJuaY

― everything, Friday, 24 May 2013 08:18 (twelve years ago)

As a film composer, Elfman by a mile. Like most film composers he's hit and miss, but his best work is evenly scattered across his whole composing career. 1999 was probably his annus mirabilis (Sleepy Hollow, A Simple Plan, Instinct, all amazing).

(As always, the above consitutes no comment on the films themselves; if anything, Tim Burton is only of use to me at this point as someone who commisions new Elfman scores).

Devo over Boingo, of course.

― 2 huxtables and a sousaphone (Jon Lewis), Friday, 24 May 2013 14:45 (twelve years ago)

haha wow one of the first threads i ever started

― my mans ray manzarek (some dude), Friday, 24 May 2013 15:25 (twelve years ago)

actually now that i look it was in fact my 2nd thread ever

― my mans ray manzarek (some dude), Friday, 24 May 2013 15:26 (twelve years ago)

seven years pass...

Mark Mothersbaugh survived COVID after spending 10 days on a ventilator. He sat down with me last week to tell the story. (thread) https://t.co/k612qEyKWW
— Яandall 🎧 Яoberts (@LilEdit) August 31, 2020

― Give me a Chad Smith-type feel (map), Monday, 31 August 2020 18:57 (five years ago)

Wow.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 August 2020 19:06 (five years ago)

what are the odds of coming off it after 10 days? that's nuts.

― frogbs, Monday, 31 August 2020 19:09 (five years ago)

Yeah, last I heard ventilators were the potentially more harm than good absolute last resort.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 31 August 2020 19:38 (five years ago)

America 2020: Devolution in action.

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Monday, 31 August 2020 19:46 (five years ago)

glad he made it, a true master

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 31 August 2020 20:08 (five years ago)

The possibility of crazy-ass delusions is news to me. Very harrowing stuff. I actually know two people who were on ventilators - they got sick at the start of the U.S. outbreaks - and I can't recall if it was ten days, but they were definitely on a ventilator for at least a full week. I really didn't know if they were going to make it, but they did. Still a very slow recovery, and a lot of survivors can still have long-term health issues.

― birdistheword, Monday, 31 August 2020 21:41 (five years ago)

damn.

'ICU delirium' is a thing, COVID or not.

― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Monday, 31 August 2020 21:48 (five years ago)

yeah that's one of those weird side effects that I find fascinating, apparently some nurses use the term "covid brain" to describe the patients who have just lost touch with reality and seem to not care if they live or die

― frogbs, Monday, 31 August 2020 21:50 (five years ago)

Glad that he's ok. Hope that he is able to turn his delirium AR live show into reality

― Vinnie, Tuesday, 1 September 2020 02:36 (five years ago)

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