While the world watches the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympic Games in Beijing, audiences are looking to be dazzled by an elaborate culturally-inclined opening show. The Chinese are spending close to $100 million on the costs of the ceremony alone.

The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics typically showcase the country's history and cultural beauty. The Chinese took the world on a tour of their 5,000 year old history with a larger-than-life show. But although NBC has devoted more footage to this Olympics than ever before, that's not to say that there have been bigger, badder, and better opening ceremonies in the past.

Here's a list of some of the past's best Olympic opening ceremonies . . .

1. Athens Olympics 2004 - Bringing it all back to where it started - Greece. Those first athletes back in Olympia, had no idea that that competition would turn into an international phenomenon. The 2004's opening ceremony was chronicled as the most expensive ceremony to date and even featured a few full-frontals from some of the performers acting and posing as Greek statues. Points to Greece for creating it & for giving us some R-rated action too. 

2. Sydney Olympics 2000 - With the new millennium, came one of the world's favorite opening ceremonies. The stadium was constantly filled with bursts of color and light as it paid tribute to Abba's hit song Dancing Queen performed by Australia's biggest pop star, Kylie Minogue. 

3. Barcelona Olympics 1992 - The Spanish Opening Ceremony took a step back from showcasing their past and had some of the country's best singers (including Placido Domingo) to sing Beethoven's Ode To Joy while the cauldron's flame burned brightly behind them. 

4. Seoul Olympics 1988 - The South Koreans brought forth their best pop stars to sing Hand in Hand, the official anthem of the Olympics. In a sea of international representatives clad in their countries' cultural attire, the groups melted together to form a spiraling circle to signify the world coming together for the Olympics.