Music and the Super Bowl

As musicians, the Super Bowl halftime show intrigues us but we know it’s filled with hits and, well, some really bad misses. Yet, we can sympathize with the entertainers; bad acoustics prompt many to lip-synch while there is an expectation to do an over-the-top performance with pyrotechnics and it is hard for any one singer to please so many different generations that tend to watch the one of the biggest athletic games in the world.

Online news site Vox, has collected some of the best and very worst halftime performances, which made for an entertaining piece for us.  We had forgotten about some of these concerts and loved watching them all over again, even the so-called bad ones.

Here is what stood out for us, according to Vox’s ranking of best to worst:

• #1 – Beyonce should rack up extra points for actually singing in the show or at least doing such a good job at lip-synching that it looks like she’s performing. Did she ever breathe hard during her performance?

• #4 – Vox explains U2’s performance as “a medley of songs meant to function as hugging America after what had been a very rough 2001.” Seeing the names of those who died during Sept. 11, it is hard not to be emotional.

• #7 – Given negative attention Michael Jackson attracted in the last years of his life,  it is easy to forget about his immense talent. While he clearly lip-synched his performance his dancing was impeccable. Also, who else can remain perfectly still for a minute and still enrapture the audience?

• #16 – We did not know that ‘90s boy band New Kids On The Block, ushered in the concept of a concert for the halftime show. Before 1991, halftimes shows were performed by marching bands. 

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