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Monday, July 30, 2007

Who composed "Spider Pig"?...


Today Styopa left a comment regarding the version of the Spider Pig theme that I called "Tim Burton-esque" saying that it was composed by Danny Elfman (who wrote the Simpsons theme song, as well as the theme song for Desperate Housewives). But I looked up the credits and found that, while it is true that Elfman wrote the Simpsons theme song, Han Zimmer wrote the original soundtrack for the Simpsons movie, and that would inlcude the more layered version of the spider pig song.

He has had quite a successful career (see below) and now is working on the original soundtrack for the next Batman movie - The Dark Knight.

Hans Florian Zimmer (born September 12, 1957) is a German composer, best known for composing film scores.

Born in Frankfurt, Zimmer began his musical career playing keyboards and synthesizers with, among others, the bands Ultravox and The Buggles ("Video Killed the Radio Star"). In the 1980s, he started composing and producing soundtracks for movies. His breakthrough came in 1988, with the theme for Rain Man, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Since then, Zimmer has composed music for many major movies, such as Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Crimson Tide, The Rock, True Romance, Driving Miss Daisy, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Pearl Harbor, The Thin Red Line, The Last Samurai, Cool Runnings, Black Hawk Down, King Arthur and Batman Begins. In 1995, he received an Academy Award for Best Original Score for the animated movie The Lion King.

Awards and nominations:

Academy Awards

1989: Rain Man
1995: The Lion King (won)
1997: The Preacher's Wife
1998: As Good As It Gets
1999: The Prince of Egypt
1999: The Thin Red Line
2001: Gladiator

Grammy Awards

1991: Driving Miss Daisy
1995: The Lion King
1996: Crimson Tide (won)
2001: Gladiator
2007: The Da Vinci Code
2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Golden Globe Awards

1995: The Lion King (won)
1999: The Prince of Egypt
2001: Gladiator (won)
2002: Pearl Harbor
2003: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (nominated for best song)
2004: The Last Samurai
2005: Spanglish
2007: The Da Vinci Code

1 comment:

Save East Bethel said...

How profound is it that Oingo Boingo and the Buggles come together in 2007?