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

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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