The American composer, singer, and songwriter Danny Elfman (known from the new wave band Oingo Boingo and for his various film scores) has joined forces with Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor. The result is the duet “True” (out via Epitaph Records) for which you can see the video below.

The video was directed by Aron Johnson and produced by Human Person. Additional video footage was done by Melisa McGregor. As far as the song goes, it was mixed by Alan Moulder including guitars by Danny Elfman, drums by Josh Freese and bass by Stu Brooks. The whole was mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.

Check out the video for the duet “True” below.

Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, including the scores for 16 Burton-directed films including “Batman”, “Edward Scissorhands”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Alice in Wonderland”, and “Dumbo”. He also worked on Raimi’s “Spider-Man”, “Spider-Man 2”, “Oz the Great and Powerful” and “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”.

As far as his work for Van Sant is concerned he wrote music for “Good Will Hunting” and “Milk”. Other work includes music for all of the “Men in Black” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” franchise films, the songs and score for Henry Selick’s animated musical “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, and the themes for the television series “Desperate Housewives” and “The Simpsons”.

About Oingo Boingo

Oingo Boingo was an American new wave band, formed by songwriter Danny Elfman in 1979. The band emerged from a surrealist musical theatre troupe, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, that Elfman had led and written material for in the years previous.

Oingo Boingo were known for their experimental music, which can be described as mixing rock, ska, pop, and world music. The band’s body of work spanned 17 years, with various genre and line-up changes. Their best-known songs include “Only a Lad”, “Dead Man’s Party” and “Weird Science”.

As a rock band, Oingo Boingo started as a ska and punk-influenced new wave octet. During the mid-1980s, the band changed line-ups and adopted a more pop oriented style, until a significant genre change to alternative rock in 1994. At that point, the name was shortened to simply Boingo and the keyboardist and horn section were dropped. The band retired after a farewell concert on Halloween 1995, for which they reverted to the name Oingo Boingo and readopted the horn section.

Here are a few songs.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Simpsons’ episode “Panic on the Streets of Springfield” is not really welcomed by Morrissey’s manager. In the episode, with a title referring to The Smiths 1986 single, you see Morrissey satirized as an imaginary depressed friend of Lisa Simpson. Named Quilloughby, the character is the lead singer from a fictional band called the Snuffs. The character was voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Morrissey had an update posted on his Facebook by Peter Katsis, his American manager. It’s not the first time Katsis (of Deckstar Management) takes to the public forum to complain about a press article (see this article against The Independent) or in this case a TV-show.

Before the episode, show writer Tim Long said that Morrissey, Cure singer Robert Smith and Joy Division’s Ian Curtis were among the character’s inspirations.

Here’s the full post:

“Surprising what a “turn for the worst” the writing for The Simpson’s tv show has taken in recent years.
Sadly, The Simpson’s show started out creating great insight into the modern cultural experience, but has since degenerated to trying to capitalize on cheap controversy and expounding on vicious rumors.
Poking fun at subjects is one thing. Other shows like SNL still do a great job at finding ways to inspire great satire.
But when a show stoops so low to use harshly hateful tactics like showing the Morrissey character with his belly hanging out of his shirt (when he has never looked like that at any point in his career) makes you wonder who the real hurtful, racist group is here.
Even worse – calling the Morrissey character out for being a racist, without pointing out any specific instances, offers nothing. It only serves to insult the artist.
They should take that mirror and hold it up to themselves.
Simpson’s actor Hank Azaria’s recent apology to the whole country of India for his role in upholding “structural racism” says it all.
Unlike the character in the Simpson’s “Panic” episode…….
Morrissey has never made a “cash grab”, hasn’t sued any people for their attacks, has never stopped performing great shows, and is still a serious vegan and strong supporter for animal rights.
By suggesting all of the above in this episode…the Simpson’s hypocritical approach to their storyline says it all.
Truly they are the only ones who have stopped creating, and have instead turned unapologetically hurtful and racist.
Not surprising…… that The Simpsons viewership ratings have gone down so badly over recent years. – Peter Katsis”

Viewership ratings have indeed gone down

Katsis’ comment as if the Simpsons viewership ratings have gone down, is actually pretty correct. A few weeks ago Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, has spoken out in defense of the long-running cartoon’s lower rated recent seasons.

The series, which was recently renewed for two years, has long faced accusations from fans and critics that the quality has dipped from its seminal heyday.

Asked about the series’ decline in viewership ratings from its earlier seasons’ peak, Groening said: “I don’t think about that stuff at all. (…) If big numbers come with it, that’s great, if they don’t, well, let’s keep that a secret.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Former Nine Inch Nails keyboardist James Woolley passed away this weekend at the age of 50. Woolley was part of the live incarnation of Nine Inch Nails for the 1991 Lollapalooza Tour and also joined in at the first part of the 1994 Self Destruct Tour. You might remember him from his appearance in the “Wish” and the “March of the Pigs” videos.

Previous to NIN, Woolley was a major collaborator along with former NIN drummer Chris Vrenna to the Chicago based band Die Warzau. In 1994, just before NIN hit the road, Woolley contributed heavily to Sister Machine Gun’s album “Torture Technique”.

After he left Nine Inch Nails he made contributions to Die Warzau albums again, particularly 2005’s “Convenience” album. He also briefly played in Rob Halford’s band Two, produced music for a wide array of groups, worked on sound design for The Simpsons (those fart sounds are authentic), and worked on his own tunes for his band VOID which was led by Woolley and features players Jon Roberts, Mark Pearlman, and DJ Aaron Chase.

James Woolley can be seen on the left in the above picture.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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