Ongoing History Daily: Composing music for film and television

Musicians gotta make music, so between album and touring cycles, many of them find jobs composing music for film and television. Danny Elfman is one of the most successful. After years in the band Oingo Boing, he got into scoring. His biggest hit? The theme from The Simpsons. I can’t even begin to imagine how much money he’s made from that. Trent Reznor is no slouch, either, having won Emmys, Grammys, and Oscars for his soundtrack work with Atticus Ross. Roddy Bottum of Faith No More has written music for more than half a dozen films. Same with his bandmate Mike Patton. Same with Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. He’s been nominated for one Academy Award, too. And the same with his bandmate Thom Yorke. Other music-for-film composers include David Bowie, David Byrne, Stewart Copeland of The Police, Peter Gabriel, and Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

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