Coachella Reveals Danny Elfman Is Covered In Tattoos And Ripped

I may simply have fallen victim to expectations, but if someone were to ask me to draw what I thought an Academy Award nominated film composer looked like, I have a general idea of the direction I would go in. I would probably draw a slight, bookish man, the type you might find browsing the wares of a shop full of antiques and curios. Round, owlish glasses would likely be perched on his nose, a balding pate of salt-and-pepper hair. A comfortably fitted sports jacket, in one of the intellectual fabrics, like a tweed or a worsted wool. All I’m saying is, in my mind’s eye, on a spectrum of Anthony Kiedis to Bob Balaban, they’d be heavily, heavily swung towards the Balaban side of things.

Even when I was told that Danny Elfman performed at Coachella, this broad image persisted. I would have expected that same nebbish fellow to be shrunk behind a large organ or piano, or conducting an orchestra with subtle flicks of a wand. What I definitely did not expect was for Danny Elfman to be absolutely, undeniably ripped and covered in tattoos, with an electric guitar slung over his shoulder. At first I figured the picture I was looking at was some reunion tour of a 90s grunge act, one of the few ones where the former frontman actually aged gracefully. I expected Philip Seymour Hoffman and I got redheaded Chris Cornell.

This is the (68 YEAR OLD) guy who composed the Simpsons theme song and did the score for Good Will Hunting? He looks like a guy that would walk out of your mom’s bedroom shirtless and ask what you were playing on your Super Nintendo. In my Elfman research, I did find out that he was a legitimate rockstar in the band Oingo Boingo, which makes a little more sense, but this is still throwing me for a loop. He looks like he’s about to sell me powdered green juice in an instagram reel effectively enough that I truly consider it.

To you, Danny Elfman, I give a resounding, echoing Hell Yeah. Among many other achievements, you’ve earned three things that I consider hugely impressive in this life: an Academy Awards nomination, abs, and a villain named after your band in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Top Image: The Kuhnster/Pixabay