Danny Elfman saw his own struggles in Jack Skellington’s Nightmare Before Christmas

Elfman talked about being part of what is now a holiday classic and how it sort of reflected what he was going through. In his own words:

“Even though it’s entirely Tim’s story – and I had nothing to do with the story – I interpreted the character completely through my own life. So (the Jack Skellington story) was my story. I was a guy who was in a rock band. was my world. I was the king of that world, (but) I wanted out. I really wanted out, but I didn’t know how get out of it. I felt like I needed to evolve; I had done it. I felt “Trapped.” Everyone depended on me. I want to point this out because it was my story, but I never told Tim about it. “

He added that he “interpreted it strictly from my own point of view, because when he told me the story, it was like I was thinking, ‘Oh, do I understand.’ So when I was writing about Jack, Christmas Town and Halloween Town, I was really writing about me and my band – and my need to find another form of expression that I desperately needed.” It seems to have worked because the film was released in 1993, and in 1995 Elfman left Oingo Boingo after a farewell tour.