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Dawn of the Bat: The Music of

�lfJU�ill� aunched after over a decade of off-again,on-again development, . Tim Burton's Batma11 made over $42 million on its � director opening weekend in June of 1989,grossed over $250 million before the end of the year,and launched a renaissance of costumed superhero movies that continues to this day. Bunon made an even more idiosyncratic sequel,Bat111a11 Returns, before retiring to a consultant rul.: a,Joel Schumacher took over the franchise for

Batman forever and Batman & Robin. Eventually,the series was revived by Christopher Nolan as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but while those films are heralded as more realistic,they actually mark something of a return to Tim Bunon's vision of the character as a psychologically troubled outsider hiding behind an outsized,protective costume. Without Bunon's Batman, the league of superheroes that have exploded onto movie screens since 1989 might never have had its day. When Batma11 was entering post-production in 1989,there was still no blueprint for what music for a �comic book superhero movie" should be. And despite the brash and wildly stylized music he'd brought to Bunon's previous comedies,Pee-weeS Big Adventure (1985) and Bretl9i11i:e (1988),it was unclear how composer {and former Oingo·Boingo frontman) Danny Elfman would adapt his style to a big-budget, epic and darkly seriom superhero film. The stakes were enonnously high and the project was complicated by an ambitious plan to have several high·profile rock anises contribute to the film's music,with Michael Jackson writing a Batman theme. George Michael producing a theme for Vicki Vale and Prince writing music for the Joker. AA-er visiting the film's set in London, Elfman conjured up his Batman theme on the Aight back,memorizing it on his tape recorder in the aircrafr's restroom. Back in Los Angeles,Elfman scaned the task of tackling such a large score working in dose collaboration with Bunon. When he returned to record the score with the Sinfonia of London,it was under the auspices of most of the movie's high-powered producers wondering what Elfman was going to deliver. The first piece performed was the main title.

What Elfman produced was remarkable: the dark underbelly of superheroism,as epic and thundering as John Williams' 1978 Superman score, yet full of foreboding,bristling with kinetic energy and violence,colored by shadings of both Bernard Herrmann's ponentous,crushing orchestral chords (including a pipe organ right out ofJoumiy to the Center rfthe Earth) and Carl Orff. His five-note theme for Batman worked equally well as ominous,brooding atmosphere,as a Wagnerian anthem,and as a percussive, kinetic motif punctuating every surprise appearance and unexpected punch thrown by the Caped Crusader. Elfman's percussive,agitated music for Gotham City's gangland violence echoed the character of 1940s horror film music at times,while his offbeat, darkly comic sensibility perfectly matched the garish makeup and unpredictable performance of Jack Nicholson's villainous Joker. Finally,the score's manic enerb'Y and unpredictable

bursts of orchestration added a subversive �cartoon� aspect that subtly suggests the Batman character's roots in comic books and Satu�ay morning animation. With MichaelJackson dropping out of his involvement in the film early on, the roster of contributing SOfib'\\'ricers for the movie was reduced to one heavyweight: Prince,who wrote nine songs for tht film,rwo of which would be played as source cues in scenes with the Joker and one,�scandalous; which would have a backing instrumental motif adapted by Elfman as a love theme for Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale. Any plans to dominate the movie with songs were quickly dispensed with when the power of Elfman's score became evident. Still,promotion for the Batman movie hyped the contribution of Prince,and an album of Prince's nine songs became the defacto soundtrack album for the movie until Elfman's score was released by Warner Bros. Records six weeks later-and at least one major newspaper

another throbbing treatment of theBatm;in theme. Shakrs hiu befurt bubbling.rubbery pcrcuuion andhorrificbrass stings heraldBatman'sassaul1onthe criminals-sraccam piano,snare drums and skittering figum; on strings and brass accompanythe struggle, adding a crazcd,nigh1marishfccl to the action.AsBatman disappcars imothc night, Elfman adds a pounding hcanbeat of drums and a final,spine-tingling moment of supcmatunldread. 3 JACK VS. ECKHARDT Pre-joke crime �Jack Napier (Jack NicholsonJwnfronu dirty cop U. Edchanlt(William Hootkins)in an alley.Mallet pcrrussion,brushaon5nm: drum, idos. lnsidc,crime boss Uri Gri.w,m (J;,ck Pabnce) setS up the unsu5pccting Napier for making time with Grissom's moll,Alicia (JerryHall). Elfman scores the scene( beginning as Napicrdemomtntes a'"Card Snap")with doses of noir mysteryar>d a bluesy saxophone treatment of Alicia's winking acknowlcdgemem of Napier as she enterS the office. The underlying menace ofGrissom's discu§Sion with Napier teceivcs a pu[§Cof pcn:u"ion,suspcr>dcdcymb.alrollcd on tlmpani andglistcning,tremolostrings. 5 BATZONE/AXlS SET-UP AAerBruccWaync(Michacl Kcaton)mtttSmucknking reporter Alex.ander Knox (RobertWuhl)andVickiValc (KimBasinger)at a panya1 WayneManor, he rnncats intohis inner sanctumlo obscrveth.:mthrough5py cameras. Homs and a pul§C of strings unden;cotethe 5urveillancc beforcstrings throb undemeach a low-key

treatment of the &1man theme as Wayne switches his anention to a camerJ vi= of Commissioner Gordon (Pat Hingle) discussing Eckhardt'sinvolvemem innefuriousacrivity atAxisChemicals.Latcr,Eckhardtoversces the "Axis Setup:' ordering fellow cops to shoot JackNapier on sight.Pluckcdstrings and an agitated,pulsing rhythm from violin and ,·iola add an urgem fed toNapier's operation inside the chemical plant as he discovers the safehis menarc cracking isempty. 6 JOTOUTAsNapier's men crack a company safe only to find it empty.Napier announces,"\Ve\·ebeen rancOfes,j.uz-stylepluckcd�. cymbal hissesand rattlingperrussionarejoined by coiling,nm-e--wracking stringsas theJokcr threa1cnsGrissom----butwhcnthe villainopcns fireandshoocshiscx· b osstodeath,Elfman launches his full-blown "circus waltz" while the Jokcr,.imps it up withthc gun.Acrosstown a slceplessBruccWaynew.itchesoverVicki (•&ddyByc"),andElfman'sromantic strings-­ and-piano tn'annem oftheBarman theme suggeststhc hcro'sloncliness andthehopc that his rebtionship withVickimightbring it to an end.But thefinil,darka phr.ising-pbycd asVicki awakes to seeWayne hanging,bat-like, from ;in cxcrci�bar-indiaites the couple has a longwayto go.Forebodingb�underscores a transition to thejokcr,who'sukcnuvcr Grissom's officc,andElfman underscoresthe

villain'smusings witha chimingmusicbox trcaunem ofthecircuswaltz. theme. 9 ROASTED DUDE After executing a riv;1l crimeboss(via a high-poweredjoybuzzer) during a mtttingofgangsters,theJokcrairries on a onMidedoonvcrsation withthe charrcd corpsc.Pulsing,ultra-lowpercussion,gro:ining notesfmm comrabassoon andthe ceriesound ofwaterphoneemphasiz.ethcJokcr'smcn;icing imanity. JO VICKI SPIES {FlOWERS) "VickiSpies"on Bruce Wayne,following 1he millionaire to an empty stretch ofdowntown sidewalk-where Wayne gently places two roses. Woodwinds. strings,piano andbras.screatean unccnain atmosphere asVicki followsWayne,but the romantic trcatment oftheBatman theme-

memorial,Elfman plays dark,mdodramatk chords,reinforcing theimponanceofthis ritual to the legacy ofBatman. 11 CLOWN ATTACK At a press conference outsidecity h,11!,agang ofl11'Cnacingmimes converges onganglandlcaders announcing they'rctaking overBossGrissom'sbusinesses. St;icai1o low-cnd piano,1nd skincringstrings undcrscore themimesumil theJokcrhim�lf appears and tosses a poisonedquillintothe faceofa gangster.Hcavy snares;iccdcrateas theJokcr windsup-whik1hcresultingchaos

isscored withbroad,swe-cpingorchestral chords(rcrorded in a �paratctakc-and muchofit drownedoutby machincgunfirt in 1hc6lm}. 12 PHOTOS/BEAUTIFUL DREAMER Wayne andAlfredbrielly diS01ssVickib u the HollywoodBook and PosterCompany.

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Orchestration.s hy SrnlEBARTEl(

Music Editors BOB�MI AND ROBINClARK E

AlbumRemix SHAWNMIIRPHT lkcorded at CTSSmdios,England Sound Engi neers "YOUNG"JONAlllANMORTON ANOSTMPRIC E

Executive inCharge ofAlbumProducti ons for WarnerBros.Inc. GARY LEM EL MusicSup,:rvisor MICHAEL DILB ECK

Special Thanks from the Composcr toJonl'l:ten,Chri, Kenny,JoBurns.R.aylo•,ejoy,

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MikeTownscnd,Jod Franklin, EbineSkolnick,Collccn lanigan•Ambrosc,linda Davi s and ... ofcourse, T imBurton.

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altogether.�The Initial Batman 2 r ft by Sam Hamm, screenwriter of the original film, had been a direct continuation. bringing back Vicki Vak and Aeshlng out the backstory of the Wayne murders. This approach wascventua!ly dropped andHl'athers scribe Danit:! Waters was brought on to take the screenplay in a different direnion. Filming would take

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Dark Knight Redux: The Music of

BATMAN RETURNS

cspite the triumph ofl989's Batman, director Tim Burton 00 • nitially showed little interest in returning for the inevitable . follow-up. Only when eager Warner B ros. executives offered increased creative control did h e begin to reconsider. He was determined, however, not to repeat himself. �1 tried not to think of it as a sequel; he explaim:d in interviews with [ntertai11me11t Weekly an d Empire. "I wanted to treat this like it was another B atman movie

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t:��:s���1: :��:�:}r 'i:��� ::� Universal inCalifornia . There, Burton and production designer .,< ., �; ''...� .. Bo Welch ahandoned Anton Fum's . . \. comparatively realisticGothamCity !l'L ........,___. '_ -. �\ _ - · 1: ·.I'\. � , ·. sets in favor of a wild confabulation � -; \'� \ ofperiod decay, fascist oppression, �� _:, and storybook fantasy. Within this 1 ,::._) transformed and corrupted snow ).globe of a landscape, Burton 's brooding, tormented characters would play out a decidedly darker and more persona l drama . Batman Rctums premiered in June of1992 as the fifth-released

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