Superbowl Halftime Shows

Ever notice that the last few Superbowl halftime shows have all been older people or bands?  I mean, look at the lineup of the last few:

Superbowl XXXIX (2005): Paul McCartney
Superbowl XL (2006): The Rolling Stones
Superbowl XLI (2007): Prince
Superbowl XLII (2008): Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Superbowl XLIII (2009): Bruce Springsteen

And this year's show will feature The Who.  Every year, when they announce the performer for the Superbowl halftime show, I always find myself saying, "Yeah, that's cool, but next year, can we please get someone a little more current?"  I mean, these are artists that our parents grew up listening to!

Ever since Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during Superbowl XXXVIII, there has not been a Superbowl halftime performer from after 1990, and that date is a pretty conservative estimate.  It's like they're afraid that the current class of top performing artists are too inappropriate for family viewing.  I beg to differ.  I can name quite a few popular artists from the last decade whom I believe are capable of performing a decent halftime show without being too provocative: Bon Jovi, Nickelback (at least, most of their more popular songs are clean), Daughtry (who gave a great halftime performance last Thanksgiving), Creed, Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox 20, Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, Live, almost anyone on the country music scene, and even a few somewhat older but still relatively current artists like Billy Joel, Phil Collins, the Police, and Aerosmith.

Okay, so you might argue that the scope of my choices is rather limited.  I acknowledge that I mostly named the music that I like to listen too.  I guess the reason I'm complaining this evening is just a matter of my personal tastes in music.  In my estimation, about 95% of the music that I listen to is from the last few years, and is heavily weighted toward contemporary rock.  When I was at Tennessee this summer, one of my roommates was really into The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Yes, Pearl Jam, and Michael Jackson, among others.  His library had minimal music from the late 90's or the '00's.  My other roommate's library and mine had only one album by Switchfoot in common; everything else was from artists that I'd never even heard of.  They both groaned when I told them that my favorite band is Nickelback.  And the two of them always seemed to monopolize the music that was playing in our apartment.  One of my current roommates at LoCo is into the Beatles and classic rock, and another lives and dies by hip-hop.  In fact, out of all of the guys that I've lived with over the last few years, I can only recall two whose tastes in music were even remotely similar to mine.   Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against any of their music.  It's just that I could only listen to it for a short while before I needed to hear some of my own music. 

Now, I acknowledge that the post-Janet halftime shows have for the most part been of better quality than the ones in the past.  But I don't think it was because of who was performing as much as it was the format of the show itself.  When I think about it, the only thing about the Superbowl XVIII halftime show that was memorable (for lack of a better word) was the wardrobe malfunction, and that's not a positive note.  The rest of the show just stunk.  The emphasis seemed to be more on theatrics, dancing, and noise than on actual music.  I had bad feelings about the show when they first announced the last-second addition of Justin Timberlake to the lineup (ever since N*Sync broke up, he seemed to have let his libido run out of control, though I think he's toned it down a little since then).  But what really ruined the show, in my opinion, was the mash-up of bits and pieces a whole bunch of songs from a whole bunch of artists.  For a good halftime show, just keep it simple: one artist or band playing just a few of their most popular songs in their entirety.  You have to play the entire song - not just a little snippet or one verse - for the audience to really feel it.  But what really makes a good halftime show is the actual performance of the music - i.e., how well they play and sing.  Lighting and stage effects can turn a good performance of music into a kick-ass halftime show, but all of that goes for naught if the music is lousy to begin with.  I guess the reason you don't really see  hip-hop or death metal in the Superbowl halftime show is because the older generations of viewers can't really relate to that kind of music.  I have yet to meet a middle-aged person who blasts Jay-Z from his car's speakers.

And y'know, with the exception of the Rolling Stones (they're way too old to be dancing around on stage like that, and the midriff shirts just aren't doing it for Mick Jagger!), I actually enjoyed all of the post-wardrobe malfunction Superbowl halftime performances.  Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen were actually a lot better than I had expected, and I really got into the performances, even swaying along and waving my cell phone with the music, which caused my friends to think I was a tad off my rocker.  I guess I enjoyed these shows more because I had low expectations about them beforehand.  The last few halftime shows have been far from disappointing, and I'm sure I'll enjoy watching The Who perform next Sunday, but I don't think it would hurt to have someone just a little more current for next year's halftime show.

B-)