Oscars Change "Original Song" Rules

In an effort to prevent a single musical from monopolizing the Original Song field at the Oscars, the Academy has changed the rules of the category. While movies can submit any number of songs they want, starting with the 2009 Oscars, only two songs can be nominated per film. The move comes after two consecutive years in which a musical received nods for three songs in the category, Enchanted in 2008 and Dreamgirls in 2007. In both cases, however, dominating with three nominated songs ultimately proved to a curse, as Once's "Falling Slowly" won this year's Oscar and Melissa Etheridge took the prize in 2007 for An Inconvenient Truth's "I Need To Wake Up." In addition, the Academy will allow DVDs of musical numbers to be sent to members of the voting committee who are unable to attend screenings. Had this new rule gone into effect last year, it's possible Eddie Vedder would have received a nomination for his Golden Globe-winning work on Into the Wild's soundtrack.

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Song Stories

“Weird”

Hanson | 1997

Accomplished tunesmith Desmond Child co-wrote "Weird" with the three brothers that make up Hanson. Credited for dozens of cuts, including songs by Kiss, Cher, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, Child told Rolling Stone that "Weird" holds a special place in his heart, "because it's about being different--and I grew up poor, I grew up being Latin, I grew up being gay, and now I'm fat!" The song was included on Hanson's 1997 album Middle of Nowhere, which sold more than ten million units.

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