duncan228
02-06-2011, 03:36 PM
Photo slide show of best 30 (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ocregister-286184-plarsen-best.html?pic=1), hit the link for 30-21.
The 30 best Super Bowl halftime shows ever (http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2011/01/31/the-30-best-super-bowl-halftime-shows-ever/32464/)
by Peter Larsen
The Orange County Register
For years, Super Bowl halftime shows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_halftime_shows) weren’t much more than a marching band and an aging star or two. Oh, sure, you got your toothsome Up With People (http://www.upwithpeople.org/) troupe every few years, and your funky Grambling State Tigers marching band (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykYcsKm6h2I) almost as often, but there’s no nice way to put it: The shows were dreadful.
And then, lo and behold, they got better, with pop stars of the moment (though a lot of those were cheesy, too — New Kids On The Block (http://nkotb.com/), we’re looking at you! But since the early ’90s? Not bad. So we decided to rank 30 of the performers who headlined halftime over the years — no need to do all of them, for how many marching bands do you really want to see?
So take a spin through our slide show (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ocregister-286184-plarsen-best.html?pic=1) and see where U2 (http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2010/05/25/u2-postpones-north-american-tour-to-2011/27351/) and Springsteen (http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/brucespringsteenlosangelessportsarena-67291--.html) and Janet Jackson’s (http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2011/01/24/janet-jackson-makes-it-three-gigs-at-gibson/42880/) wardrobe malfunction and all the rest ended up. Then come back and tell us what you think of the list, and how you might have ranked things differently. And be sure to watch the game on Feb. 6 to see how the Black Eyed Peas (http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2010/03/30/black-eyed-peas-spread-positivity-at-staples-gig/22419/) do with their halftime performance.
Also: After you’ve checked out our slide show on the Super Bowl halftimes, take a peek at our companion slide show on the 20 Best Super Bowl Commercials Ever (http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2011/01/25/the-20-best-super-bowl-commercials-ever/32200/).
*********************
No. 20: New Kids On The Block: OK, NKOTB had turned "Step By Step" into a No. 1 album and single by the time they played Super Bowl XXV in 1991, so at least they were current hot stuff. But they were also a boy band who sang wimpy songs about girls. Let's just say they weren't likely to steal any girls from the New York Giants or the Buffalo Bills that day.
No. 19: Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and Boyz 2 Men: As a tribute to Motown, Smokey Robinson is a fine choice, and the Temps and Martha, too. Boyz 2 Men, pictured here, are mostly forgotten, we think, but Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego in 1998 wasn't bad as a (mostly) oldies show goes.
No. 18: Gloria Estefan: The Miami Sound machinist headlined Super Bowl XXVI in 1992 along with Olympic skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill, and a really big pair of eyes.
No. 17: Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Chaka Khan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: You can't not like Stevie Wonder, even when Gloria Estefan shows up at the Super Bowl again to horn in on his stage. So it was a solid all-star kind of show at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami in 1999.
No. 16: Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, The Judds, Travis Tritt: We love Mama Judd, even if, or actually, because she's kinda crazy, and the rest of this lineup does country fans right. Bonus points if you can ID the dapper dude in the shades in the background behind Black and Lisa Hartman here.
No. 15: Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton: Phil Collins got all dressed up for Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta in 2000, as you can obviously see in the photo. Our problem with this lineup was that the Disney-fied show had all these singers performing Up-With-People-style feel-good numbers and not their own biggest hits.
No. 14: Diana Ross: Miss Ross used a helicopter to depart the halftime show of Super Bowl XXX in 1996 and it doesn't get much more diva than that, does it?
No. 13: Tony Bennett, Patti Labelle, Arturo Sandoval, Miami Sound Machine: The only reason Super Bowl XXIX's halftime show ranks this high is because Tony Bennett is a legend and his hometown San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl for him on this day. Otherwise we'd dump it much further down if only for the cheesy Indiana Jones skit (Indie rescues the Vince Lombardi Trophy) the Disney show producers cooked up to promote a ride over at you-know-where.
No. 12: Sting, No Doubt, Shania Twain: O.C.'s Gwen Stefani was just a girl at Super Bowl XXXVII, while Shania felt like a woman and Sting got busy sending out an SOS. Not a bad lineup as the '90s showed a better level of taste for Super Bowl halftimes.
No. 11: The Who: Well, they actually did not die before they got old, and good on 'em for that. Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend, the only two original Who-men left in the group, played Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 and turned in a solid set of hits.
No. 10: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Much as with the Who, Tom Petty and his band played a lot of the songs you'd want to hear when they performed at Super Bowl XLII in 2008. Solid, enjoyable, but nothing that changed your life.
No. 9: James Brown, ZZ Top, Blues Brother Dan Ackroyd and What About Jim Belushi: James Brown felt good, the Blues Brothers dusted off their soul men, and ZZ Top did their bearded best. Fun if only to witness the glory that is James Brown in a three-piece red suit.
No. 8: Paul McCartney: Paul helped restore the dignity of the halftime show with his performance at Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, not so much because he's a Beatle and a polished showman -- which he is -- but because he was a big, big name who could be counted on not to have a wardrobe malfunction like that of the controversial halftime headliner one year earlier.
No. 7: Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Nelly, 'N Sync, Mary J. Blige: Long before he finally found success as an "American Idol" replacement judge, Steven Tyler, second from left, was the singer in a band called Aerosmith. Not so long before he committed wardrobe malfunction on Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, far left, was in a little boy band called 'N Sync. Medium length before she turned her long hair into a shaved head, Britney Spears was -- well, you get the picture. A lot of stars came together to sing during halftime of Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. You probably liked it at the time.
No. 6: The Rolling Stones: Mick and Keith and Charlie and Ron brought back the old-school swagger to the halftime show of Super Bowl XL in 2006, with Mick especially reminding everyone he's still got the hip-shimmy moves that made him a star.
No. 5: Michael Jackson: The King of Pop was the first iconic superstar to sign on for a Super Bowl halftime show, appearing in Pasadena in 1993. And say what you will about the late Jackson but he was made for the spectacle of the Super Bowl stage.
No. 4: U2: Who better to deliver some emotional catharsis to the first Super Bowl played after 9/11 than Bono and U2? As the band played, the names of the victims of that terrorist attack scrolled on a giant screen, honoring and remembering them in a heartfelt way.
No. 3: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: OK, so we were scared a little when the Boss slid crotch-first into the cameraman and thus into our big-screened homes. But for a solid celebration of American rock 'n' roll, you can't go wrong with Springsteen, who played Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.
No. 2: Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Nelly and Kid Rock: Was the music performed at Super Bowl XXXVIII any good? Who knows or cares? Because after the 2004 nobody, but nobody, was talking about anything but the so-called "wardrobe malfunction" in which Timberlake tore off part of Jackson's top, exposing her metallic nipple shield and thereby threatening to send the planet spinning off its axis. Maybe not the greatest show, but absolutely the most talked about halftime show in history.
No. 1: Prince: The pint-sized purple one's performance at Super Bowl XLI in 2007 would have been a classic if he'd limited himself to a sampling of his own hits ("Let's Go Crazy," "Baby I'm A Star") and the cover songs he played (Dylan's "All Along The Watch Tower," Foo Fighters' "Best Of You"). But the fact that he wrapped his set in a downpour of rain -- while playing "Purple Rain" -- is what made it No. 1 on our list. Music and the moment made magic.
http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2011/01/31/the-30-best-super-bowl-halftime-shows-ever/32464/
The 30 best Super Bowl halftime shows ever (http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2011/01/31/the-30-best-super-bowl-halftime-shows-ever/32464/)
by Peter Larsen
The Orange County Register
For years, Super Bowl halftime shows (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Bowl_halftime_shows) weren’t much more than a marching band and an aging star or two. Oh, sure, you got your toothsome Up With People (http://www.upwithpeople.org/) troupe every few years, and your funky Grambling State Tigers marching band (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykYcsKm6h2I) almost as often, but there’s no nice way to put it: The shows were dreadful.
And then, lo and behold, they got better, with pop stars of the moment (though a lot of those were cheesy, too — New Kids On The Block (http://nkotb.com/), we’re looking at you! But since the early ’90s? Not bad. So we decided to rank 30 of the performers who headlined halftime over the years — no need to do all of them, for how many marching bands do you really want to see?
So take a spin through our slide show (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/ocregister-286184-plarsen-best.html?pic=1) and see where U2 (http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2010/05/25/u2-postpones-north-american-tour-to-2011/27351/) and Springsteen (http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/brucespringsteenlosangelessportsarena-67291--.html) and Janet Jackson’s (http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2011/01/24/janet-jackson-makes-it-three-gigs-at-gibson/42880/) wardrobe malfunction and all the rest ended up. Then come back and tell us what you think of the list, and how you might have ranked things differently. And be sure to watch the game on Feb. 6 to see how the Black Eyed Peas (http://soundcheck.ocregister.com/2010/03/30/black-eyed-peas-spread-positivity-at-staples-gig/22419/) do with their halftime performance.
Also: After you’ve checked out our slide show on the Super Bowl halftimes, take a peek at our companion slide show on the 20 Best Super Bowl Commercials Ever (http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2011/01/25/the-20-best-super-bowl-commercials-ever/32200/).
*********************
No. 20: New Kids On The Block: OK, NKOTB had turned "Step By Step" into a No. 1 album and single by the time they played Super Bowl XXV in 1991, so at least they were current hot stuff. But they were also a boy band who sang wimpy songs about girls. Let's just say they weren't likely to steal any girls from the New York Giants or the Buffalo Bills that day.
No. 19: Smokey Robinson, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and Boyz 2 Men: As a tribute to Motown, Smokey Robinson is a fine choice, and the Temps and Martha, too. Boyz 2 Men, pictured here, are mostly forgotten, we think, but Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego in 1998 wasn't bad as a (mostly) oldies show goes.
No. 18: Gloria Estefan: The Miami Sound machinist headlined Super Bowl XXVI in 1992 along with Olympic skaters Brian Boitano and Dorothy Hamill, and a really big pair of eyes.
No. 17: Stevie Wonder, Gloria Estefan, Chaka Khan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: You can't not like Stevie Wonder, even when Gloria Estefan shows up at the Super Bowl again to horn in on his stage. So it was a solid all-star kind of show at Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami in 1999.
No. 16: Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, The Judds, Travis Tritt: We love Mama Judd, even if, or actually, because she's kinda crazy, and the rest of this lineup does country fans right. Bonus points if you can ID the dapper dude in the shades in the background behind Black and Lisa Hartman here.
No. 15: Phil Collins, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Toni Braxton: Phil Collins got all dressed up for Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta in 2000, as you can obviously see in the photo. Our problem with this lineup was that the Disney-fied show had all these singers performing Up-With-People-style feel-good numbers and not their own biggest hits.
No. 14: Diana Ross: Miss Ross used a helicopter to depart the halftime show of Super Bowl XXX in 1996 and it doesn't get much more diva than that, does it?
No. 13: Tony Bennett, Patti Labelle, Arturo Sandoval, Miami Sound Machine: The only reason Super Bowl XXIX's halftime show ranks this high is because Tony Bennett is a legend and his hometown San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl for him on this day. Otherwise we'd dump it much further down if only for the cheesy Indiana Jones skit (Indie rescues the Vince Lombardi Trophy) the Disney show producers cooked up to promote a ride over at you-know-where.
No. 12: Sting, No Doubt, Shania Twain: O.C.'s Gwen Stefani was just a girl at Super Bowl XXXVII, while Shania felt like a woman and Sting got busy sending out an SOS. Not a bad lineup as the '90s showed a better level of taste for Super Bowl halftimes.
No. 11: The Who: Well, they actually did not die before they got old, and good on 'em for that. Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend, the only two original Who-men left in the group, played Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 and turned in a solid set of hits.
No. 10: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Much as with the Who, Tom Petty and his band played a lot of the songs you'd want to hear when they performed at Super Bowl XLII in 2008. Solid, enjoyable, but nothing that changed your life.
No. 9: James Brown, ZZ Top, Blues Brother Dan Ackroyd and What About Jim Belushi: James Brown felt good, the Blues Brothers dusted off their soul men, and ZZ Top did their bearded best. Fun if only to witness the glory that is James Brown in a three-piece red suit.
No. 8: Paul McCartney: Paul helped restore the dignity of the halftime show with his performance at Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, not so much because he's a Beatle and a polished showman -- which he is -- but because he was a big, big name who could be counted on not to have a wardrobe malfunction like that of the controversial halftime headliner one year earlier.
No. 7: Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Nelly, 'N Sync, Mary J. Blige: Long before he finally found success as an "American Idol" replacement judge, Steven Tyler, second from left, was the singer in a band called Aerosmith. Not so long before he committed wardrobe malfunction on Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, far left, was in a little boy band called 'N Sync. Medium length before she turned her long hair into a shaved head, Britney Spears was -- well, you get the picture. A lot of stars came together to sing during halftime of Super Bowl XXXV in 2001. You probably liked it at the time.
No. 6: The Rolling Stones: Mick and Keith and Charlie and Ron brought back the old-school swagger to the halftime show of Super Bowl XL in 2006, with Mick especially reminding everyone he's still got the hip-shimmy moves that made him a star.
No. 5: Michael Jackson: The King of Pop was the first iconic superstar to sign on for a Super Bowl halftime show, appearing in Pasadena in 1993. And say what you will about the late Jackson but he was made for the spectacle of the Super Bowl stage.
No. 4: U2: Who better to deliver some emotional catharsis to the first Super Bowl played after 9/11 than Bono and U2? As the band played, the names of the victims of that terrorist attack scrolled on a giant screen, honoring and remembering them in a heartfelt way.
No. 3: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: OK, so we were scared a little when the Boss slid crotch-first into the cameraman and thus into our big-screened homes. But for a solid celebration of American rock 'n' roll, you can't go wrong with Springsteen, who played Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.
No. 2: Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Nelly and Kid Rock: Was the music performed at Super Bowl XXXVIII any good? Who knows or cares? Because after the 2004 nobody, but nobody, was talking about anything but the so-called "wardrobe malfunction" in which Timberlake tore off part of Jackson's top, exposing her metallic nipple shield and thereby threatening to send the planet spinning off its axis. Maybe not the greatest show, but absolutely the most talked about halftime show in history.
No. 1: Prince: The pint-sized purple one's performance at Super Bowl XLI in 2007 would have been a classic if he'd limited himself to a sampling of his own hits ("Let's Go Crazy," "Baby I'm A Star") and the cover songs he played (Dylan's "All Along The Watch Tower," Foo Fighters' "Best Of You"). But the fact that he wrapped his set in a downpour of rain -- while playing "Purple Rain" -- is what made it No. 1 on our list. Music and the moment made magic.
http://pedrowatcher.ocregister.com/2011/01/31/the-30-best-super-bowl-halftime-shows-ever/32464/