So Elfman's comments about how Batman's only ever had one theme have kind of rubbed me the wrong way a bit.
To be clear, I've always been a massive Elfman fan and his Batman scores have always been massively influential on me. It is certainly the most famous and iconic version of the Batman theme, and he basically set the template for modern Batman scores.
The thing is it's just patently false to see it's the only theme there's ever been. And I don't think it's the *best* theme either- that belongs to Shirley Walker's theme IMO. I mean from Shirley Walker to Elliot Goldenthal to Zimmer to Christopher Drake, to the Arkham games, to Junkie XL there have been a plethora of Batman themes and music.
He's probably right that to the casual filmgoer, his original theme is the most instantly recognizable, but the Batman and film score nerd in me took exception to him wording that in a way that casually disregarded decades worth of work that has gone into bringing the character to life long after he was done. And if "it's the only theme" was a euphemism for "the best theme", well then like I said....there are many Batman fans and film score enthusiasts that would argue Walker's theme surpassed his in terms of being a definitive Batman theme. I will concede that Zimmer purposely got around having to compete directly with Elfman's theme by giving Batman many different recurring motifs (all of which are very worthy additions to the musical canon), so I could see his argument if he's only comparing himself to Zimmer. But yeah, there's a 25 year history of Batman music since he stepped away. If we wanted to argue that each DC character should only have one theme like Bond, then why not bring back the 60s Batman theme? It's probably still the most iconic.
Anyway, still an Elfman fan, still interested in the JL score and still WILL get goosebumps hearing his theme again in a movie, even if the movie is a pile of garbage. Just had to get that off my chest.
