Best dialed in songwriting goes to......

Okay, so I have to admit, this is my second crack at this blog post. I was working very enthusiastically during breaks of invigilating exams today at work, saving all the while. What I learned though is this: don't work on our blog on an iPad. It will save one time, and completely wipe out your work the next. Oh well, live and learn.

But I digress, onto the hot topic of today; the Oscar nominations! In particular, the nominations for best original song. Here is the mystifying part, only tow songs have been nominated.  Two songs! From all of the movies released in 2011, only two have cut the mustard. Please welcome the contestants:

"Man or Muppet" - from the Muppet movie by Bret McKenzie

Or

"Real in Rio" - from Rio by Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown, and Siedah Garrett

There is a process to how the academy chooses the eligible entries. To boil it down, there is a set criteria of the type of song  that can be eligible (must be featured in the movie, not just in the credits, and be written specifically for the film),  then they view just the portions of the film with those songs, and then give them a rating out of 10. Who knows what the rating is based on, but they then only consider songs who have scored an average of 8.25 or higher for nominations. A more detailed account of this information can be found at Alan Cross's entry by clicking here.

All that considered, really only two songs? So many different questions come to mind.  Is the talent this year just that sub par? Or, are the academy out to lunch. It would be easy to judge and quickly pounce on the academy, even though I think they do seem out to lunch, but I think that some of fault rests with the artists. When you think about it, when was the last time a song from a movie was on heavy rotation on your iPod? Unless you listen to a lot of Disney music, movie songs are probably not on the top of anyone's list.  Now I am sure there are some fairly large confines in which an artist has to work within to write a song for a film, but it seems to me that most artists are just dialling it in and saving the good material for their own work. I can't really argue with that, but then what is the point of congratulating mediocrity? If we all know that sub par work and artistry are what is going to be put forth for a movie song, then just don't even acknowledge it. What other industry in the world other than the film industry can someone give bland performances and be congratulated for it regularly?  Really, when a song like "Blame Canada", although funny, can get a nomination for an academy award, what is wrong with the value of music in society?  Perhaps if we as a society started valuing decent music again, and I don't mean really loving the jams at the club, then we might see some really quality work coming from the music industry. 

All this considered, what do you like? Muppet fuzz or moulting feathers? I'll put a poll up on the page to see what my one reader likes. Personally, i'm a Muppetly Man, wocka, wocka!