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The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Danny Elfman | The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

The Magnificent Others with Billy Corgan

Billy Corgan

Music, Arts, Performing Arts

4.6 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 70 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode Billy Corgan sits down with musical visionary Danny Elfman. Together they trace his journey from the underground theatrics of the Mystic Knights to fronting Oingo Boingo, and on to scoring over 100 iconic films including Batman, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Danny opens up about his unconventional path into composing, the challenges of being underestimated in both rock and classical circles, working with Tim Burton, and why he thrives on creative resistance. In the end, it’s a conversation about art, identity, and what it means to finally feel seen on your own terms. Subscribe to the Magnificent Others YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BillyCorganTMO?sub_confirmation=1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It was kind of nobody knew what to do, and that score stood out.

0:03.0

I was offered every quirky comedy made in Hollywood.

0:06.0

Yeah.

0:07.0

For the next five years, it was like, oh my God, I'm the comedy guy.

0:11.0

They were getting the vibe of what you were putting out.

0:14.0

That is so cool.

0:15.0

Hearing that nothing makes me happier in my life.

0:19.0

I knew when I was writing it, my 10-year-old daughter was hearing every song and approving it as I did it.

0:25.6

You've been right more than you've been wrong.

0:27.6

There's something sort of beautiful about that.

0:29.6

You're gonna make me cry.

0:31.6

But why?

0:32.6

Because...

0:38.6

So here we are.

0:41.3

It's my dear pal, Danny Elfman.

0:42.5

Danny, thank you so much.

0:43.8

Oh, thanks for having me.

0:45.0

Boingo.

1:11.4

More than 100 films, notably Milk, Goodwill Hunting, Big Fish, Men in Black, Dr. Strange, Dumbo, the Grinch, Oz, the Great and Powerful, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Spider-Man, Mars, Attacks, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Batman, and Batman Returns, Edward Cisorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, of course, the original Beetlejuice, and the new Beetlejuice, which is called Beetlejuice? I think so. Yeah. That's a lot. It's been, yeah.

1:13.9

Tell me about it.

1:15.9

So.

1:17.1

And I also, in that time, created four scripts and three musicals.

...

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