Which song should have won the 1984 Oscar ?

Those were the nominees? Jeez. I hate all of them.

Odd that When Doves Cry and Purple Rain we’re ignored, although I think Prince did win Original Score.

I went with "Against All Odds" because it seems like the most tasteful. I used to love "I Just Called..." when I was little but no way in hell should that have won.

"Ghostbusters" would have been a funny choice — and it's probably the catchiest one, the one everyone today still knows.

I am the only person in the entire world who loved, loved, loved "I Just Called to Say I Love You."

They are all good songs

I'm a big Stevie Wonder fan, but I hated I Just Called To Say I Love You, R4. Then again, his ballads were always syrupy and sentimental, and it was the 80s when ballads were very prominent on the charts.

[quote]I hated I Just Called To Say I Love You

Which makes you no one particularly special, R6. As I said, I am the only person who is not Stevie Wonder who liked it.

This POS is getting 40% of the vote?

and the winner is

I never particular cared for "I Just Called...", but the L.A. Law episode "The Human Good Bar" put the nail in its coffin for me. I can't hear it without visualizing Roxanne and her voice coach (starting 36 seconds in). With a little help from Stuart & Abby, she pulls it together in the end (39:56). And I still hate that song.

It's sad that Deniece Williams peaked with Let's Hear It For The Boy. Incredibly talented singer with a lot solid albums in the 70s.

Love Niecy

Let's go by the Oscar performances:

Debbie Allen

Ann reinking

Diana Ross

Deniece Williams

Phil Collins won it for that horrible Tarzan song but deserved it for AAO and Two Hearts.

Phil Collins deserved to have a career in anything other than music. "AAO" shits.

Ray Parker Jr.

Poor Ann Reinking. Phil Collins badmouthed her for months after that incident.

How come Prince didn't get any nominations?

I think this was the only year every nominated song went to number one.

Denise Williams wanted to sing gospel music and let go of her pop/r&b career for a long time.

Prince won for the now discontinued category of best song score.

More than one person actually voted for the most pathetic song ever, "I Just Called To Say I Love You?" Stevie had obviously run out of good ideas and should've retired rather than tarnish his reputation with such embarrassing tripe. 1984 was a weak year, like most of us I voted for "Against All Odds," Phil sings the fuck out of it.

[quote]like most of us I voted for "Against All Odds,"

Because you like to vote "like most of us," no doubt. It certainly had nothing to do with the quality of the song, for it has none.

NOW I know, all-knowing one.

[quote]I am the only person in the entire world who loved, loved, loved "I Just Called to Say I Love You"

Apparently not as that crap song went to number 1 in dozens of countries including the UK where it sat at the top of the chart for six long and painful weeks.

Why did they allow two songs from the one film - Footloose? They could have slipped in "When Doves Cry" instead, unless they already knew they were giving Prince the Best Original Song Score award.

Another omission - The NeverEnding Story title song.

The movie was crap but I like the song.

On a side note, ‘What’s love got to do with it’ won the Grammy that year.

Interesting that "Holding Out For A Hero" wasn't even nominated, yet it is certainly more popular and recognizable than any of the songs that were. Weird that they nominated "Let's Hear It For The Boy" instead since "Hero" is a far superior song with an epic vocal by Bonnie Tyler and characteristically over-the-top production by DL Fave Jim Steinman.

I love Holding Out For a Hero and would love it to have been nominated, only to see Debbie Allen's frantic dance routine.

^Hero is trashy

Wasn't Prince's "Purple Rain" soundtrack #1 on the album chart for an astonishing amount of time, most of the year? I guess it was the height of his popularity. So it is ridiculous "When Doves Cry" didn't get nominated.

Kenny Loggins is underrated, So many of his songs are both catchy and innovative. There are a lot of interesting things going on in Footloose. And the song certainly makes you want to get up and get "footloose."

"I Just Called..." is extremely charming. I can understand why it isn't a favorite but hating it is like hating a puppy. Of course, this is Datalounge, so....

When did the "Ghostbusters" plagiarism scandal get wide attention? It's catchy as hell thanks to Huey Lewis, I guess.

They actually tried to get Huey to do the song first. So there's no question it was plagiarism.

[quote] "I Just Called..." is extremely charming.

No, you just have really shitty taste, sorry to inform you. A kindergartner could've written it. "Footloose" is also totally cheesy.

VH-1 launched around the same time as the movie “Footloose” and it started as the Adult Contemporary version of MTV. Anyway, they showed the video for “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” a lot. I remember once after it played the VJ (it may have been Don Imus) made a fat joke at Denise Williams’ expense. At one point in the video Denise attempts a hula hoop and the VJ made some snarky comment that her waist took up the majority of the hula hoop or something like that.

The song is not bad in the context of the movie.

The MV

All of those songs hit #1 on the Hot 100. "I Just Called To Say I Love You" was not written specifically for the movie, I don't think, and it therefore did not deserve to win. My vote goes to "Let's Hear It For The Boy."

There were so many great songs in that '83-'84 period, when MTV played videos all day long, and people left MTV on all day. "I Just Called," "Footloose" and "Let's Hear It For The Boy" were among the cheesiest.

That's a crappy list of songs (no offense to OP). I would not want to listen again to any one of those songs.

For the Deniece Williams fans, here she is with Johnny Mathis singing "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late." She's also sung this song with Tom Jones and Jeffrey Osborne.

R44 No offense taken. They were just the year’s nominees.