Wikipedia comes through once again. Turns out the Super Bowl halftime show wasn't really much of anything until Michael Jackson came along in 1993. Listen to the names of some of the performers featured prior to Jacko: The Anaheim High School Drill Team; The University of Texas Band and Judy Mallett (Miss Texas 1973) on fiddle; The Los Angeles Unified All-City Band; Elvis Presto; Tops In Blue; and of course the perennial Up With People. How come the same attitude that went into the advertising never extended to the halftime show until only recently? I like the program titles as well: "Happiness Is"; "A Musical America"; "Carnival Salute to Carribean"; "KaleidoSUPERscope"; "Winter Magic." The Super Bowl XXII halftime show titled "Something Grand" featured "Chubby Checker, The Rockettes, 88 grand pianos, and the mighty CSUN Matador Wall of Sound." Now if that isn't grand I don't know what is.
Even after the appearance of Gloved One, it still seems like it took a few more years before the halftime shows really became the exclusive province of a single, very famous arena act (sorry, Diana Ross, you're not quite U2). And yes, after Nipplegate, it's been Baby Boomer rock legends all the way (question to be debated later: Are Prince and Tom Petty Baby Boomer rock legends?). At this rate, they'll run out of first-tier choices. I mean, hell, who's left? The two surviving members of The Who? Queen with Paul Rodgers?
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1 comment:
Hey, you're using my secret sources.
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