Do the Oscars really need more old songs?

When conservatives complain, as they often do, that pop culture is dominated by liberals, lefties and all sorts of eco-nuts, I always feel like responding by saying -- well, how do conservatives ever expect to make a dent if they always seem hostile to virtually every new artist trend or movement, clinging to only what was popular decades ago.

If there were ever a case in point: The Wall Street Journal has launched De Gustibus, a new weekly column today by Eric Felten, which will apparently offer a new take on arts and culture. Felten, who had been writing the "How's Your Drink?" column in the paper's Weekend Journal, offers his take on the motion picture academy's recent move to avoid giving out a best song Oscar unless enough nominees receive a certain minimum amount of votes.

Instead of debating the move on its merits, Felten uses it to take a stroll down memory lane, reliving all the great years -- like 1936 -- when there were tons of great show tunes available for consideration. Even worse, he goes out of his way to disparage modern music, in particular hip-hop, which is compared unfavorably to the wondrous melodies of yesteryear. At one point, he lists a variety of classic songs like "Over the Rainbow" and "All the Way," then saying: "Compare them to the deathless melody honored for best movie song of 2005: 'It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp.' All together now, let's all hum a few bars ... anybody?"

He also takes a shot Eminem, suggesting that no one in years to come will remember "Lose Yourself," the hip-hop artist's best original song winner in 2002, He seems entirely unimpressed by the medley of songs Beyonce sang at this year's Oscars. Once again, it's a lost opportunity for conservatives in their attempt to somehow be relevant in the always turbulent pop culture affairs of the moment. When the right was at its political height, it was because it offered provocative new thinkers with a fresh, unorthodox take on the issues of the day. If the right wants to have the same influence on pop culture, it has to be just as engaged. For a start, it has to get out of the nostalgia business.

Photo of an Oscar by Paul Hawthorne / Getty Images

Comments

[Mary C.]

Since when does not agreeing with current musical trends have to do with a matter of "left" and "right"? Those old songs were more finely crafted than people who don't always write music (many rap songs are based on samples of "old songs" and the rappers can't even write their own melodies, or don't try). I know plenty of lefty old hippies who feel the same way about music, and even young kids who prefer "old school" soul or classic rock to contemporary stuff. The problem with the Oscars, as with the Grammies, is they have a very condescending, narrow take on what is good in contemporary music to begin with. The songs in movies now are often not the best that contemporary music has to offer in any genre. I don't think that was always so. That's not nostalgia, it's a lack of creativity on the studio's part that they don't encourage the use of the best of the contemporary music arts, because there are better songs currently being written and produced than are used in most movies today.

[patroklos]

What do politics have to do with this? I am as liberal as they come, and I feel that most of today's hip-hop is tragically bereft of musicality and artistry . Why are you attempting to frame this issue as conservative v. liberal? "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" sucked. OK? SUCKED. As for "Lose Yourself," well, I love Eminem, but it's not one of his best efforts. And the Best Song category at the Academy Awards? They didn't even nominate Sondre Lerche last year! But what I find most amusing in your article is this " When the right was at its political height, it was because it offered provocative new thinkers with a fresh, unorthodox take on the issues of the day." I would say the same of hip-hop. But we don't get anything fresh or unorthodox today from those topping the charts. At best, we get rehashed 80s electronica, and at worst we get Kanye, Lil Wayne, and 50 cent, about whom it can only be said that indeed, the emperors have no clothes.

[Mike Melvoin]

Brain dead, Tone deaf. Easily seduced by trends. You have proven the value of the music division's decision. It's about EXCELLENCE. And from the point of view of the people who are responsible for making music excellent. Not companies that gain financially, nor individuals who gain career leverage by bottom running. It's about art. LASTING ART. "Songs" that have no melody, one chord or no chord harmony, rhythm generated by samples of timeless art or computer generated clicks, and lyrics that for the most part are street doggerel that have a shelf life of 90 days can't be compared to timeless songs that have been covered by hundreds of artists and will be by hundreds more over their several hundred year lifetime. So compete for the People's Choice and forget about the peer award. Like the AMAs and the Grammies. There is a place for whores and saints. Try not to confuse the two.

[joesmith]

Hollywood has turned out crap for years.
Another man with a gun a girl with big boobs.
Half the songs RIP OFF songs from the past.
Most of you are entertainers not ARTIST>

Thanks
JOE SMITH

[K]

I'm 43, a liberal and a huge Glenn Miller fan. I can hear people saying "and that's interesting because?" But I was just reading the introduction to a collection of George Orwell essays. And George Orwell was a Democratic Socialist, which is to the left of being a liberal. And Mr. Orwell believed that the "common man" possessed a basic sense of decency. Maybe it's time to stop thinking of people who purchase entertainment as being mindless slaves and actually consider that they are making conscious choices based on what they consider ethical or aesthetic to their own lives. I know I am never going to buy an Eminem cd and my sense of music stops at the Velvet Underground or REM, but I am not going to look down on the masses that buy contemporary music or watch contemporary movies. Also has anyone ever noticed that when someone like Ann Coulter or someone of her ilk publishes a book, they inevitably say that it is a "New York Times bestseller"? These people criticize mass entertainment but at the same time they want to be included too. (And even more ironic, The New York Times, the headquarters of the "liberal elite"!)