Danny Elfman and Trent Reznor Collaborate on New(ish) Track, “True”

Today in news sure to delight other people with my very, very specific set of interests…

Oingo Boingo frontman-turned-Oscar-nominated composer, Danny Elfman, has teamed up with Nine Inch Nails frontman-turned-Oscar winning composer, Trent Reznor, for a reimagined version of the song “True.” The original version appeared on Elfman’s Big Mess, which was released in June on Epitaph.

The press release announcing the collaboration doesn’t make it clear what, if anything, Reznor contributed to the new “True” beyond his distinctive vocals. But this version of “True” really sounds like a Nine Inch Nails cover; if Reznor didn’t write/record all the new industrial stuff, then Elfman did a bang-up job mimicking NIN’s general vibe. Which is entirely possible! Elfman is clearly a Nine Inch Nails admirer — Big Mess features both longtime NIN guitarist Robin Finck and former NIN drummer Josh Freese.

(As ‘Axl Rosenberg,’ I’m also legally/morally obligated to mention that Finck and Freese played together in Guns N’ Roses for a time. Freese actually wrote the title track for Chinese Democracy. But I digress.)

Regardless of who did what on this iteration of the track — I thought the original “True” was a good song, and I like this version a whole lot more. I don’t know how Danny Elfman fans will feel about it, but Reznor fans are definitely gonna love it.

Says Elfman of the team-up:

“This is the first duet/collaboration I’ve ever done in my life, so to do it with Trent was a real surprise and a treat. He’s always been a big inspiration to me, not to mention he has one of my all-time favorite singing voices.”

Check out “True” via the below music video. The clip was directed by Aron Johnson, and is itself a remix of the original, Sarah Sitkin-directed “True” video, to which Johnson contributed visual effects. That first video is down below, too.