When the calendar changed to a new decade in 1970 there was a changing of the guard underway in the world of films. A younger generation was taking over and audiences were responding to their celluloid messages of sex, drugs and rock n roll. The smashing success of Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider” had opened a lot of eyes with its hippie lead characters smoking marijuana and selling drugs to make ends meet. From the opening credit shot of Hopper and Peter Fonda riding down the highway on their motorcycles to the tune of Steppenwolf’s “Born to be Wild,” movies and movie music were about to change forever.
Audiences were used to rock music on movie soundtracks by this time as “Blackboard Jungle” had premiered in 1955 with Bill Haley and the Comets warbling “Rock Around the Clock” over the opening credits. The times were indeed beginning to change as songs with lyrics outside of the grand musicals became more and more popular.
By the 60’s James Bond fans made sure the opening song became as important an element to the film as the arch villain and the girls. The Graduate” came to theaters in 1967 with wall-to-wall music by Simon and Garfunkle.
One thing that wasn’t yet ready to change was the music branch of the Motion Picture Academy. It was evident well into the early 80’s that the “old guard” still had some control which resulted in many songs that are still popular today being overlooked for Academy Award nominations in place of little known songs from little seen movies. This branch liked taking care of their own and many composers including Marvin Hamlisch, Henry Mancini, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and the Sherman Brothers usually made the nomination list even if their songs weren’t quite up to nomination standards. Back in the day if you wrote a song for a children’s movie be it from Walt Disney or not, or for a romantic “the way they used to make them” movie you were almost certain to make the cut of five. If you had a popular song that played on the radio and teenagers loved it was brushed aside perhaps because the Academy believed the radio recognition was enough.
Of course there were a few exceptions here and there but here is case in point: Not a single song from a James Bond movie was nominated for Best Song until 1973 meaning none of the classic songs from the Sean Connery films were ever recognized.
Here is a look at some of the music branch’s biggest gaffes when it came to Best Song nominations in the 70’s and 80’s. All of these songs were popular in the day and most of them are still known now.
1970 – The Beatles made five movies and were never nominated for any of their songs. Their final film, “Let It Be,” spawned two big hits, the title song and “The Long and Winding Road” but both were overlooked. “Suicide is Painless” from “MASH” is one of the most recognizable theme songs due to the popularity of the television show but the song, with lyrics, was not nominated perhaps because the downbeat lyrics were a turnoff to the crusty music branch. While those songs didn’t make it songs such as “Pieces of Dreams” from a film of the same name and “Til Love Touches Your Life” from a stinker called “Madron” were nominated. Even the winning song that year, “For All We Know” from the movie “Lovers and Other Strangers” would certainly have missed the nomination cut in many other years.
1971 – This was the first year the music academy showed signs of being hip by nominating Isaac Hayes’ “Theme From Shaft” and eventually honoring the song with the Oscar. But the Academy still showed signs of stubbornness for bypassing both “Brown Sugar” and “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones from the film “Gimme Shelter,” which attracted controversy when a fan was killed by a member of Hells Angels during the concert at Altamont. There was further controversy when the killing was shown in the movie. Apparently the academy was not prepared to associate themselves with the controversy thus overlooking two classic songs. Interestingly the song “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” was also overlooked despite the Academy’s penchant for recognizing songs from family films. Two songs that did get nominated were “All His Children” from a weak Paul Newman movie called “Sometimes A Great Notion” and “Life Is What You Make It” from the movie “Kotch” which happened to be composed by Marvin Hamlisch.
1972 – One of the most popular movie musicals in many years, “Cabaret,” received 10 nominations yet none of its songs were nominated including “Money,” which was the most popular song in the film. Also overlooked was one of the most popular songs of the year from Curtis Mayfield called “Superfly” from the movie of the same name. The film was about a successful drug dealer so you can imagine the Academy wanted no part of it. Two songs that did make the nomination list were “Come Follow, Follow Me” from a long forgotten family movie called “The Little Ark” and, even more surprisingly, “Strange Are The Ways of Love” from a low budget, B movie made for drive-ins called “The Stepmother.
1973 – This year marked the first year a James Bond theme was nominated as “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and Wings made the cut. One song that didn’t was “Knockin on Heavens Door” by Bob Dylan from Sam Peckinpah’s ultra violent western “Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid.” Peckinpah’s alienation from the Hollywood community may have played a part. Walt Disney’s first animated movie in six years, “Robin Hood,” provided a less then memorable tune called “Love” that, not surprisingly, was nominated instead.
1976 – This year resulted in nominations for two of the worst songs ever to be recognized in Academy Award history. “Ave Santani” from “The Omen” was nothing more then devil worship chants and the announcement of its nomination led to open snickers from the press. “A World That Never Was” comes from a film called “Half A House” which was so bad it was barely released theatrically. Yet another hugely popular song that missed the cut for the above classics was the title song from “Car Wash.” Another popular song from the same movie was “I Want To Get Next To You” sung by Rolls Royce, who also did the title song. The songs from “Car Wash” were so well liked at the Cannes Film Festival that year that the judges created a new category for just that year to honor them.
1977 – This year proved once and for all that the music branch of the Academy either wasn’t with the music scene or had a few loose screws. The most popular album of all time (up to that point) was the soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” with more number one hits then some singers/groups have in a career. When you look at the list of songs one wonders how the Best Song category wasn’t filled with just songs from this movie. “If I Can’t Have You,” “More Than A Woman,” “Night Fever,” “Staying Alive” all soared to the top of the record chart but, yes you guessed it, not a single one was nominated. Whitney Houston had a huge hit with “The Greatest Love of All” years later but in 1977 the song was created for the Muhammad Ali vehicle “The Greatest.” It, too, was not nominated. Interestingly Walt Disney released two animated (one partially) movies, “The Rescuers” and “Pete’s Dragon” and each had a song nominated. “Someone’s Waiting For You” from the former and “Candle On The Water” from the latter. A live action musical version of Cinderella called “The Slipper And The Rose” also produced a nominated song called “He Danced With Me/She Danced With Me – The Slipper And The Rose Waltz.” Now there’s a tune I’m sure you’ve heard much more then any of those silly Bee Gees tunes.
1978 – This was a good year for movie songs. Four of the songs nominated legitimately deserved to be there so it’s hard to argue the exclusions but the one song that somehow made it was “When You’re Loved” from “The Magic of Lassie.” When you look at the list and see this song included with “Hopelessly Devoted To You” from “Grease,” “Last Dance” (the eventual winner) from “Thank God It’s Friday,” “The Last Time I Felt Like This” from “Same Time Next Year,” and “Ready To Take A Chance Again” from “Foul Play” one wonders just how legitimate the selection process is. Two other songs from “Grease” that didn’t get nominated but could have were the title song and “You’re The One I Want.” With all respect to Lassie fans certainly these two are much better known then her song was.
1980 – Once again the Academy showed they weren’t too hip to popular music. True the title songs from “9 To 5” and “Fame” plus Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again” from “Honeysuckle Rose” were nominated but where was Blondie’s “Call Me” from “American Gigolo” or two songs from “Urban Cowboy” – “Lookin For Love” and “(Love) Look What You’ve Done For Me?” Kenny Loggins’ “I’m Alright” from “Caddyshack” was a hugely popular song in a hugely popular movie. People Alone” from a romantic tearjerker called “The Competition” was nominated over those songs and since the Academy chose to pick two songs from “Fame” they could have nominated the very catchy “Hot Lunch Jam” over “Out Here On My Own.
1982 – The Academy just would not let the record charts or popular rock musicians completely rule the category. Chart toppers “Eye Of The Tiger” from “Rocky III,” “It Might Be You” from “Tootsie,” and (eventual winner) “Up Where We Belong” from “An Officer And A Gentleman” were all nominated but David Bowie’s “Theme From ‘Cat People'” and Jackson Browne’s “Somebody’s Baby” from “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” were passed over, replaced by “How Do You Keep The Music Playing” from the Burt Reynolds flop “Best Friends” and “If We Were In Love” from the biggest bomb of that year, “Yes, Giorgio” starring Luciano Pavarotti who was so embarrassed by the film’s outcome and disastrous showing at the box office that he politely declined the Academy’s offer to sing the song at the ceremony.
1985 – Another good year for songs yet two less deserving songs somehow snuck in over more popular fare as Madonna’s “Crazy For You” from “Vision Quest,” “Don’t You Forget About Me” from “The Breakfast Club,” “Into The Groove,” another Madonna hit from “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “St. Elmo’s Fire” from the film of the same name, Duran Duran’s “A View To A Kill” from the James Bond film of the same name and Tina Turner’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero” from “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” The two that made it were “(Sister) Miss Celie’s Blues” which obviously rode the wave of nominations for “The Color Purple” and “Surprise, Surprise” from the flop film version of the stage play “A Chorus Line.
1988 – Lastly was this very odd year. Only three songs were nominated due to the low amount of songs submitted for consideration. Yet even with so few to choose from the Academy still overlooked the first Beach Boys hit in 20 years, “Kokomo” from “Cocktail” and instead chose “Calling You” from an obscure movie called “Bagdad Café.”
The Academy seems to have gotten itself together since the 90’s possibly due to another changing of the guard. How else to explain Eminem’s win for “Lose Yourself” from his film “8 Mile” or Three 6 Mafia’s win last year for “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp” from “Hustle and Flow?” Can you imagine if those songs had been released 30 years ago? I can’t wait to see what happens 30 years from now.
