The biggest Bruce Springsteen controversy of the season has nothing to do with Walmart. Springsteen fans are shocked that his stunning song "The Wrestler" (from the film of the same name) didn't get an Oscar nod — despite the fact that he won a Golden Globe for the tune. Instead of selecting five nominees (as in most other categories), the Academy chose only three: Peter Gabriel's "Down to Earth" from WALL-E and two from Slumdog Millionaire.

"The Wrestler" may have been a victim of the Oscars' complex nominating rules. The Academy's music branch watched all 49 eligible songs in a clip reel provided for them. Then they rated the tunes on a scale of 6.25 to 10 — and only the movies with averages of 8.25 or better made the cut. That system seems to give an edge to certain films. "A song that has a performance aspect is going to do better than one that doesn't," says Oscar nominee Danny Elfman's agent, Richard Kraft. "It's hard to compete with the music video at the end of Slumdog, while in 'The Wrestler,' you've got the names of key grips scrolling by."

This story is from the February 19, 2009 issue of Rolling Stone.

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Song Stories