This list of Oscar snubs contains two kinds of songs — those that are paired, memorably and forever, with the films in which they appear; and those that have been so big for so long that I didn’t even know they originally showed up in a movie.
Today’s Song of the Day is an example of the latter.
For those just joining the party, I am counting down ten songs inexplicably snubbed by the Oscars.
This list was inspired by the overlooked ‘Don’t You Forget About Me,’ and today I’m featuring another iconic track from another iconic John Hughes film.
If you think the Academy had something against John Hughes, you’re probably right. Not one of the man’s films was ever nominated for an Oscar. These films were beloved upon release and are even more beloved now, but apparently they weren’t “Academy material.”
A week ago, when I finished counting down the songs I most associate with movies, I was surprised to learn that Simple Minds’ ‘Don’t You Forget About Me‘ was actually written for The Breakfast Club.
Given that fact, what’s even more shocking is that the song wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award. How on earth did that happen?
I could wax poetic about the greatness of Carly Simon’s No Secrets, one of the best albums of my birth year, 1972.
But I just had the great idea to do a top five or top ten of the best albums from that year (that I know) followed by a list of albums from that year that I don’t know but should. I can sing Simon’s praises then.
I’ve written quite a bit about my love of the melancholy Frank Sinatra — Only the Lonely, In the Wee Small Hours and all that good stuff.
But it’s hard to deny the appeal of Sinatra’s flip side, the uptempo, jazzy style epitomized on 1956’s Songs For Swingin’ Lovers. This album was the unlikely successor to In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, making for one of the best one-two punches in music history.
