We’re nearing Oscars season, folks, so now’s the time to start looking back at the list of movies you’ve watched throughout the year so that you can shout protestations at the judges when the awards are finally handed out. Of course, it also marks the time when we get a peek at the finalists eligible for a nod at the upcoming awards, and this year includes a few surprises.

Over the years, we’ve seen some pretty shocking omissions from the Best Original Song award at the Oscars, but we’ve also seen plenty of questionable tracks make the cut and take home that big golden statue.

Notable winners in the past few decades include Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Eminem, and even Flight Of The Conchords’ Bret McKenzie. Now, the shortlist of finalists for this year’s award are in and some of the acts on there aren’t exactly what you’d think of when you think of the Academy Awards.

As Consequence Of Sound reports, some of the acts who are eligible for the Oscar include the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Stevie Nicks, and Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, whose final song is included on the list.

In addition to the sort of songs you’d typically expect to find in a list of potential Oscar nominations, including Taylor Swift and Zayn’s ‘I Don’t Wanna Live Forever’ from the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack and Pharrell Williams’ ‘There’s Something Special’ from Despicable Me 3, others, including “Weird Al” Yankovic are also nominated, showing that the Academy does indeed have a sense of humour.

Cornell’s potential inclusion, ‘The Promise’, from the film of the same name, is notable for being the very last song recorded by the famed grunge rocker prior to his death in May of this year.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Cornell has recorded music for films, with his Casino Royale theme ‘You Know My Name’ sadly missing out on an Oscar nomination in 2006. Other projects that Cornell had contributed music for included Great ExpectationsMission: Impossible 2, and Vinyl, for which he recorded a cover of Lorraine Ellison’s ‘Stay With Me Baby’.

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The final list of nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song are set to be released alongside the rest of the Oscars’ nominees on January 23rd, in the meantime, check out the shortlist of tracks eligible here.

Check out Chris Cornell’s ‘The Promise’:

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