Obviously there have been a lot of controversies surrounding this year's Oscars and one in particular concerns the hosting duties which were taken over by Billy Crystal after Eddie Murphy left when producer Brett Ratner was fired. Now I know a lot of people were looking forward to hearing Murphy's opening gambit but for me the news of Crystal's hosting is brilliant seeing as last year we had the terrible James Franco and the just about bearable Anne Hathaway. In a night in which The Artist will no doubt sweep the board Crystal's brand of old-school Hollywood will be fitting with the evening's proceedings. But for those unfamiliar with Crystal's hosting style and in particular his opening song I present to you the previous eight opening numbers from the man and my commentary on each.
1990
Crystal's first stab at hosting saw him hit some nerves during his opening monologue hitting out at the academy for not nominating Bruce Beresford for directing eventual Best Picture winner Driving Miss Daisy. His opening song was very short and some films didn't get very much time to be sung about but even still we knew that there was more to come and Crystal had definitely established himself as a great Oscar host.
1991
This was the year that Billy Crystal's opening medley became the star of the show however he still was able to put in a few digs in about studio heads and Donald Trump. This year showed how adept he was at putting the names of the nominated films into popular songs and the finale where all five were put together was pure class.
To see this video in full go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0lWrZL0EHE&feature=relmfu
1992
Once again Crystal did the old tease saying he wouldn't launch into the song before doing it and this year it was a beauty coming to a crescendo with a tribute to Barbara Streisand whose film The Prince of Tides was nominated despite her not getting a directing nod. The whole thing was sung to the Don't Rain on my Parade theme which obviously can be linked back to Babs herself. This was also the year of Crystal's infamous Silence of the Lambs parody.
To see this video in full go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCAi1744Sa0&feature=relmfu
1993
This year Crystal actually came on dragging the Oscar and then he came on and talked about how everybody want him to come on as someone from their movie. The Crying Game got a lot of jokes made about it as we all know now there was a big reveal involving a certain private area. He also ended up bringing out some props to resemble various nominees before launching into his yearly musical number. This time it ended with the infamous moment where Crystal sat on Clint Eastwood's lap while singing about his film Unforgiven to the tune of Unforgettable.
To see this video in full go to : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF6fpn8Ts68&feature=relmfu
1997
After four years away Crystal returned and by this time was a steady pair of hands not even teasing the fact that he might go into the medley this was also the first time that Crystal announced the number of nominees for Best Picture. From his breathless sing-a-long to a Shine piano track to singing the plot of Secrets and Lies to the theme of The Brady Bunch his big finale saw him sing about Fargo to Frank Sinatra's Chicago song. This year definitely proved that Crystal still had it and that's why he was invited back the following year.
To see this video in full go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSMB4r5QmTg&feature=relmfu
1998
Predictably entering the stage on Titanic, Crystal launched almost immediately into his opening medley pausing briefly between songs mainly to get a picture taken while sitting on Jack Nicholson's lap. The two highlights for me was As Good as it Gets sung to Let's Call the Whole Thing Off and The Full Monty sung to Hello Dolly.
To see this video in full go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYR2YJhRwTU&feature=relmfu
2000
Now the highlight of his set Crystal starts by singing then goes into addressing some of the guests, including The Sixth Sense's Hayley Joel Osment currently residing in the where are they now file, before going back to sing about that film to the tune of People. For me it is his ode to Michael Caine which is the highlight here sung to the tune of Mame and includes a dig at him for making Jaws 4 but hey he did get a house out of it.
To see this video in full go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK76GlXddyw&feature=relmfu
2004
We thought at the time this might be Crystal's last ceremony as after this the Oscars looked to edgy more contemporary hosts such as Chris Rock, Jon Stewart and Ellen however after Steve Martin co-hosted a couple of years back it was only a matter of time before Crystal returned. But eight years ago he still had it making references to Sofia Coppola putting a horse's head in Peter Jackson's bed and also singing about how long the Lord of the Rings trilogy was something we all know too well.
So what will his songs be about this year well I've got a hunch that The Tree of Life could be sung to That's Life while I think The Artist's musical number will be performed in silence but there's only one way to find out and that's to watch and remember i will be live tweeting the event so follow me @mattstvworld
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