November 28, 2024 • 46 mins
What began with marching bands all those decades ago has evolved past all expectations - and even if you don't particularly follow football, you'll probably tune in for the Super Bowl Halftime show. In the second part of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max explore some of the most iconic -- and controversial -- halftime performances in the history of football.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the
(00:27):
show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. We have made it through halftime on our
series pertaining to you know, the super Bowl halftime show.
That's mister Max Williams, our super producer, Max Max Max Maximus.
That's Noel Brown over there. They call me Ben Bullen
(00:52):
at different times.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Ben, how did you enjoy the Ridiculous History halftime show
that took place a lot in between.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
That that magician, Holy cow, he made all of the
people in the cheap seats disappear.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yes, yes, which is maybe a statement about class as well.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was very impressed with the double meaning of his
magic act.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And folks, if you have not heard part one of
our series on the history of the Super Bowl halftime show,
get thee to Thy podcast platform of choice. Check out
Part one. We're diving straight into Part two. Excellent setup,
nol because you know, we talked previously about how this
began previously on Ridiculous History. This whole halftime show thing
(01:41):
began with marching bands, which are still you know, you'll
still find them there. But people began to branch out.
Not everything worked immediately. There were some hot air balloon
Accidentssnan's yeah, and you set us up again so beautifully.
(02:02):
Can we go to the quote from Stephen Wood writing
for History.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Boy, could we ever?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Stephen Woods says, by the nineteen eighties, the Super Bowl
was must see TV, but as we mentioned previously, the
halftime show was becoming a punchline. Not even the second
jet pack appearance at Super Bowl. I'm bad at Roman
numerals XIX. Hold on, let's see, what is that twenty? No,
(02:30):
I don't know. No, it's not twenty. That would be xx.
What's xix? Guys?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
It is nineteen, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That happened in nineteen eighty five, and it couldn't shake
the malaise. Recognizing the need to change the narrative, producers
of the Super Bowl X heck, that's twenty three, right three?
Yeah xx I halftime show in nineteen eighty nine created
one of the oddest experiences in television history. Coca Cola,
(03:03):
of course, was the sole sponsor for a show incorporating
three D technology.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
This is in nineteen eighty nine, y'all called new optics.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That's clever, it's like new optics in uop ticks its.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Got an accident.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It's extreme right right, that is not a complex Roman numeral.
That is the brand name of the technology. So here's
the idea they had, and this is familiar to anybody
who saw the rise of three D in cinema. Coca Cola,
who you know, rains here in our home state of Georgia.
(03:41):
Yet they got twenty six million pairs of three D
glasses and they ran, they distributed this when you would
buy Coca Cola products. They even went to print and
newspapers were running these graphic almost like IKEA level instruction
(04:01):
manuals on how to use how to use them, kind
of the way that the British government had to teach
people what constituted an emergency and when to call an
emergency line.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay, kids, it's time to put on your three D glasses.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Do you guys remember the Lonely Islands. I think they
got a little more famous doing SNL stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, what is comedy?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, comedy exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
But they back in the day had a delightful YouTube
channel and they had this like multi part spoof of
I guess the OC called the Boo and in one
of the episodes, there was like a cartoon squirrel that
was instructing the kids at the audience at home how
to wear their three D glasses, and parts of the
episode were done in three D. And I think they're
making fun of this very thing, this idea of like wow,
(04:48):
the future, and it's probably pretty corny and pretty.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Bad, similar to other top down tech innovations that failed,
which we should totally do an episode on. Remember three
D televisions and all the creators of those, the manufacturers
wanted you the consumer to buy them so bad.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, that was a pretty big dice roll on their part.
One that came up snake eyes.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
We call it a big swing in corporate America. So
people were very interested. It was a night everybody loves
an ostensibly free gift, a bit of swag. And so
back to our pal Steven Wood, there was one bar
owner in San Francisco who wanted his customers to have
(05:37):
three D glasses for the game when they watched it
at his restaurant, so he bought one hundred dollars worth
of coke products. Still, there was cynicism, just like we
were describing with three D televisions in general, the cynicism
is best summed up by a guy named Bob cost Us.
We recognize him from NBC Sports, he said, he said,
(06:01):
and I'm not gonna editorialize too much. He said, this
is the single proudest moment of my life as he
introduced the three D show.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Hey, who are we to say.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That Bob Costas wasn't being completely sincere We didn't ever
wear as tongue was positions, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Also on the side here, congratulations is Bob Costas on
his retirement. He retired after these most recent playoffs, so.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
He retired peacefully. Congratulations Bob. The succession of power is
always a very dicey moment for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
But yeah, you're right, Ben, I think I'm being a
bit cooy. He did have a bit of a tone
when he introduced this show, a bit of a skeptical,
sort of sarcastic vibe to him. And then the show began,
be Bob bamboozled, Bebop bamboozled. Ben, what the heck is
that with featuring Elvis Presto, Ye I get it.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
He is indeed a three D magician.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Maybe that wasn't his entire bag, but it was tonight
because he did magic tricks while three D little bits
and bobs flashed around behind him, and the dancers performed
nineteen fifties swinger music.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
They're really doing.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
A past meets future kind of thing here, all surrounded
by a computer generated revolving cars, which I'm assuming were
like old timey cars. This is very odd and spinning
planets because you know, the future space to.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Show animation capabilities. There's actually there's a little bit of
soft power in the halftime show because people across the
world will tune in to watch clips of it. So
this is also exhibiting technology to the World Expo. Yeah,
one hundreds like the World Expo and one. One guy
(07:46):
at this bar in San Francisco did say this show
was good by saying the following, it's good because it
keeps people glued to the TV instead of getting up
to get a beer and going to the back through.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
This guy, a cowboy in San Francisco, was one of
those San Francisco cowboys you hear a lot of know.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Unfortunately, the three D viewing kind of fizzled with the public.
It's a big ask to require people to get paraphernalia
just to witness a thing. Someone said someone. An unimpressed
reviewer said, this is like watching a football halftime show
dot dot dot in the distorted reflection of an old mirror.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's very dystopian sounding. I like that, almost like a
black mirror.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
But you know it's funny.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I mean, this is nineteen eighty nine and three dviewing
experiences when put in the hands of mega capable futurist
directors like James Cameron certainly have come a long way,
but still a relatively unpleasant and not universally beloved or
adopted technology. It really has to be like a gravity
or an avatar kind of situation to get the butts
(08:55):
in the seats. It seems like it's a bit of
an afterthought for a lot of movies, sort of tack
it on after the fact.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, but this again, this idea of soft power, of
an opportunity to exhibit technology that never really left for
a moment. You know, people kept trying to innovate the
Super Bowl to in their minds, improve upon the formula,
and one of the big things they wanted to do
(09:23):
was to include more Western celebrities. And that's why in
nineteen ninety one, the halftime show finally featured the new
Kids on the block in kotb Or. It would have well,
it did, but they couldn't do it live because the
Gulf War it also started. Here's what happened. I can
(09:44):
give you guys the skinny what the concern there that
results in the tape delay entirely comes because the US
was at a decision point or crossroads wherein it may
have been completely possible. And this is a valid concern
that news international news of disaster and military excursion may
(10:11):
have preempted the Super Bowl. So that's like they're putting
it on tape delay because there are active operations in
the Gulf and they're worried that things might go you know, sidewise.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Right, and that would maybe be a little bit of
a bad look to have, like the New Kids bopping
around shaking their groove things interrupted by news of you know,
some sort of disastrous tragedy involving our troops.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Let's fast forward to the next year, yeah, where we
see some catty behavior on the parts of network TV
outfits who used to be a big deal pre streaming.
So Fox did not have rights to the game and
they instead said, you know what, we can't do the
(11:01):
Super Bowl live. We're going to do a live episode
of a show that I loved earlier that did not age. Well,
no living color, it did not age the film, but like,
you know, like almost like a hell in de Troy
of comedy. It launched a thousand comedic ships, you know
the way in sure did amazing stuff later, Jim James Carrey, Yeah,
(11:24):
did amazing stuff. Uh. And also of course the fly
Girls hats off.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, if I'm not mistaken, j Low was an original Flyer. Yes,
definitely a big comedic kind of Hallmark for sure. But
you're right, Ben, when you go back and watch it, now,
there are some things that do not stand the test
of a political correct scrutiny. Now that I'm like all
about one hundred percent political correctness, but boy, oh boy,
(11:50):
is some of that stuff a little cringe.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I'm about regular correctness. Hey, you guys, I think we
both are so thanks to CBS had you know, they
had the game and in nineteen ninety two, their halftime
show that they were airing was a snow themed production
starring Gloria Stefan, whom I know we all.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Love and the beat of the rhythm of the nights.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, and two Olympic qualified ice skaters. They had a
neck and neck with the live version of In Living
Color because again it's the early nineties. People love In
Living Color well, and.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
There just weren't that many choices, and that show was
such like a pop cultural phenomenon that they absolutely could
compete with the halftime show as it existed at that time.
So the organizers realized that they needed to change their
game up.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, they had to level up. And this brings us
to January thirty first, nineteen ninety three. Our pals Bonnie
Berkowitz and lazarro Gamio that we noted earlier in part one,
they say, look, yeah, had to come up with a
show that could not be ignored. You had to keep
(13:03):
the viewers. So they had James Earl Jones set up
the show in his best voice of God into Nation,
you know, very Flight of Dragons, very Darth Vader.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
That is now owned by the Disney Corporation.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yes, unfortunately they literally, I mean he passed away sadly,
but they will be able to continue using his vocal
likeness very legally for all time.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Very legally.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It's kind of like how don't be evil as different
from be good? So shout out to Flight of Dragons.
By the way, it's an amazing animated series about the
It's a discourse about the nature of science and magic. Anyway,
I'm walking, I'm walking down the street for it. You're
gonna love it. You're gonna love it. You should absolutely
check it out. Our buddies that stuff to blow your
(13:53):
mind have a great, great weird house cinema on it.
So James Earl Jones is setting up a relatively long introduction,
and the whole time he is setting up this introduction,
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is just standing on stage.
(14:20):
So James Zerl Jones, the kid of pop, half of
the Rosebolt Stadium, is just screaming. They have Beatlemania for this,
they have Jackson Media for this, and like a minute
and a half passes while this guy has to just
sort of stand there and listen to James Earl Jones.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, you know the thing about that is you can
look at it that way for sure. But I was
also thinking about I wasn't even including the James Earl
Jones part in my mind. He was just standing there
for a minute and a half in silence, which would
be very expensive minute and a half of television broadcast time.
But there is something powerful about the antica pati of
(15:01):
Michael Jackson doing his moves. Everyone knew he just loomed
so freaking large at this point, I think it's really
telling that the first big pop group that was hired
to do the halftime show were the new Kids on
the Block, who, while you know, pretty big in the
teeny bopper scene, not even remotely the level legacy you know,
you know, royalty, that is Michael Jackson, the king of pop.
(15:24):
So depending on how things went down, this could very
well have been their level up.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, I don't think we're disagreeing. I think that's the
same page thing. Because he also has to hold for applause, right,
we have to remember that Earl Jones is coming through
a monopoly of speakers literal voices, God well literal, but
I mean the huge, massive, booming voice, omnipresent voice at
the very least for the stadium. And so Jackson, let's
(15:55):
let's this run through. He pauses for applause. If you've
ever done a successful live show or public performance, you
know you have to hold for applause. That's why good
comedy shows take longer. Live anyway, So not only does
Michael Jackson rock the crowd, but he also probably converts
(16:18):
a couple of new fans. And we'll see there's a
Jackson family legacy to the super Bowl in just a second.
But not everyone was pleased. This is also part of
the Jackson legacy, I would argue because just like Elvis Presley,
not Presto Presley, the other Elvish, Jackson was seen as
(16:40):
a bit too risque, a bit too vulgar because this
is in his this is in his prime of his dancing,
when he would grab his crotch and kind of thrust up,
you know, get those get those kegels in, and people
got angry.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well, I mean remember when people got freaked out about
Elvis and Elvis. Yeah, this is like a level version
of that, because Michael Jackson's moves were pretty suggestive, you know,
the crotch grabbing, the gyrating, all of that stuff. And
I could see how this would maybe get certain parts
of Middle America and a bit of a tizzy.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, people who are bad at sex moves. Maybe maybe.
So we're a family show. This entry into the halftime
history of Michael Jackson. This is the new era of
the megastar performer. You fast forward a few years to
(17:35):
nineteen ninety six, You've got Diana Ross, and Diana Ross
does a banger said at Super Bowl thirty and when
she leaves, she does she does a joke that, honestly,
a lot of a lot of my old friends have done.
You know how, if you're ever hanging out, this is
(17:57):
such a dumb joke. You see a fire truck go
by with the with the sirens blaring. I love to say,
oh crap, that's my uber.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Uh Diana rr a bit of a firebug, aren't you?
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Ben? Nobody knows this about you?
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Untrue allegation that.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
It is untrue. I made it up entirely.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
But yeah, Ross did that, but actually could follow through
with it because a helicopter descended. Uh, and she just goes,
that's my ride and then jumps onto the helicopter and
flies away. After she finished her last song, take Me Higher,
which is also going to come into play again, a
different version not of this song, but of the same name, name,
(18:37):
different era, same jubilant, high flying mentality.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, but I feel like Diana Ross and well I
prefer the Ross thing.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Are you saying?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Diana Ross is a better artist than Creed. Ben art
is subjective and you can enjoy what you wish. That's
also true. No, that's also true. And no, I do
think that Diana.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Us probably will go down in history a little higher
on the list of great artists than Creed.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
But to each their own.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
And this began with the success of these uh super
Bowl halftime shows. Began the era that we know today
where it was all about who was going to get
booked and what did that mean for their prominence their
position in you know, pop music, in pop culture with
names like James Brown, Zz, Top Boys to Men, The Temptations,
(19:28):
Queen Latifah, Stevie.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Wonder you had just had some Phil Collins.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Britney Spears of course, Sparry J Blige and you know
in Sync, the inheritors of new Kids on the Block.
And and the issue here is that the concept of
a solidified headliner wasn't quite there yet. The Stiliver Rioty Show. Yes,
everybody everybody in the musical acts we have just named
(19:56):
was functioning in collaboration with another you know, Britney Spear,
huge star, Mary J Blige, huge star, in Sync, huge group.
They all appear at the same two thousand and one
halftime show together at a point where arguably all three
of them separately could have sold out their own stadiums.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
One hundred percent. And I mean they still do that
sometimes to this day. I mean the one with Usher
for example, Yeah, he was the headliner, but they had
some guests popping, you know, in and out throughout. There
were also big names in and of themselves. I want
to say Mary J. Blige was one of those.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
She's shut up a couple times. So usually now what
they'll do is they'll have a headliner and the headliner
will have some other people caught up, even sometimes bigger
than people. The closest comparison I've seen recently was probably
the LA super Bowl, where they had like Snoop dogg Eminem,
Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick Lamar, they had like, that's probably the
(20:52):
closest one where they had like, okay, we have a
bunch of people who are big name.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
That's kind of where they're going to.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
They weren't like this, but like, you know, something like
the Weekend where blah.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Blah blah, right, that's always love bla blah. Was the
best comparison for someone who has somehow not seen a
halftime show. If you've seen Saturday Night Live and they're
cold opens. They will bring in cameos who are often
famous actors or comics in their own right. And that's
sort of, that's not even sort of. That is the
(21:22):
formula of the halftime show. You like this person, Guess
who also shows up at the bridge? You know what
I mean?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh sure?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
And sometimes just for the bridge, just walks out in
a crazy costume with a crazy set, does a couple
of bars, and then is off to the.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Race, sometimes walking across an actual bridge.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Sometimes yes. And this is where this is another thing
about soft power, which can be projected internationally. True, but
we also see the halftime, the halftime celebration as an
attempt to unify America, including demographics of America that fundamentally
(22:05):
disagree on some weird things. Look, look what we're setting
you up for. Here is the other part of the
Jackson family legacy, the Boob.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Eight. It's true, it's a palindrome as well.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
There have been quite a few halftime shows that definitely
were remembered and are talked about and kind of enter
the annals of pop culture.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
But there is one that will probably go down in
history as one of the most infamous.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Changed my life, well, it changed a lot of young
young people's lives. I imagine Stephen Wood from History puts
it like this. If the King of Pop's performance was
one of the greatest in Super Bowl history, his sister
Janet Jackson's showing at Super Bowl thirty eight that's in
two thousand and four was the most controversial.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
UH.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
This was produced in conjunction with MTV, who kind of
curated a star studded UH spectacle starring Justin Timberlake and
Janet Jackson, where and during a very key line in
the song rock Your Body, Jackson removes it's kind of
it's like a removable bra kind of thing. Yeah, I
(23:26):
guess all bras are removable, but it's like the piece
on its own was was like almost like.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
A it's like a carapace. It was. It was like
it was like a panel on a like fast fit,
so a panel exactly popped off the he popped off
the the breast panel wherein for a brief, very brief moment,
you can see an exposed breast. You can also see
if I if I recall, there was some kind of
(23:53):
jewelry or autremole around that nipple, a bit of a
nipple ring.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, well you know what it wasn't It wasn't a
piercing No, it was like a ring a pasty, like
a metal pasty, but kind of star like or whatever,
star like, kind of sharp looking, actually the edges, if
I remember it correctly. But Ben, wasn't there supposed to
be a tape delay on this too?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Like?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
There wasn't there always a I think the FCC requires
and broadcasts and live events to there for there to
be like a thirty second delay so that the hot
little hands of people running the broadcast can kind of
censor something after the facts.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, same way you have a tape delay in live interviews,
especially if you got someone spicy who might drop a
few George Carlin esque inappropriate words. Back to our pals
Berkowitz and Gamo, they say, Jackson's right nipple was televised
forget this nine sixteenths of a second, and immediately the
(24:50):
FCC was on the case. There were fines, there were
public apologies, there was there were legal actions. You know,
Justin and Justin and Janet I talked like I hang
out with him, didn't agree on the narrative. They eventually
(25:12):
coalesced into a unified front saying, Hey, this was a
quote wardrobe malfunction, which is where the phrase enters the
American lexicon.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
What a fun one.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, it would seem that the FCC would let them
be or let them be them so let them see.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
They tried to shut them down on MTV.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
But never mind. Sorry ye eminem was later, But yeah, man,
wardrobe malfunction. What a You know, I got to you
gotta respect people that come up with like what would
clearly be considered a spin, but also something that is
just so perfect that it just gets adopted and used
for other stuff. I mean, certainly used in a very
tongue in cheek manner the idea of a wardrobe malfunction.
(25:54):
Because we talked about this a little bit in the
first part of this series, or at least we raised
the question that we promised we were going to get to.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Was this accidentally on purpose?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
This was definitely on purpose, as later research would show
show just like a nipple for nine sixteenths of a second,
and I would say, what we're seeing here is pr
level damage control. I also got to say, you know,
I feel like justin Timberlake's handlers told him to pretend
(26:28):
this was an accident, not to be too legalistic. But
their rationalization and their argument was that that panel over
the breast came off accidentally wardrobe malfunction, but it was
clearly planned.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I would argue that that wardrobe did exactly what it
was supposed to.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Do, exactly, no malfunction whatsoever. Yeah, and thank you for
being cool, guys, because that certainly rocked my world. Jenny
Jackondi is awesome. Yes, what continues. People were writing into
newspapers A lot of folks have a lot of time
back then, and one person who subscribed to a newspaper
(27:08):
in Pennsylvania said, look, the FCC should find Justin Timberlake
and Janet Jackson one million dollars each. The FCC did
find CBS because they were the broadcasters, so the buck
stops with them, and for a time, Janet Jackson is
unfortunately blacklisted by TV and radio stations. Timberlake gets away,
(27:33):
which I think is a statement about both racism and
how America treats women.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
One million percent. Ben.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I mean, you know, not to be grand standing about
it or anything, but it's just it just reeks of inequality,
you know, I mean the way Timberlake was almost treated
like a boss. You know, aha, good job JT. And
Janet Jackson was treated like a pariah. Not to mention
that the whole presentation less it's called it itself is
(28:00):
pretty sexist and gross, right, like a dude just reaching
out and pulling off a piece of a woman's clothing,
to which she responded, if I'm not mistaken, like with shock,
feigned shock obviously, but it's almost.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Like, oh my goodness, how dare you you cad?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
You know it's but it's that's that's old timey, weird
gross behavior.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Right again, Look, Timberlake is lionized for things that jan
and Jackson is philified for. Its exactly right, well put,
and this we don't want to end on this one.
Let's go to something we're very excited about. One time
true story, ridiculous historians. Our pals over at a band
(28:40):
called Creed had their own halftime show and it was
very much one of the most things ever.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
It was a thing that happened in in sports and
entertainment history. And look at the time, you know, Creed
was huge. I think, what was this, what year has
this been?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
This would have been two thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Oh so really really just posts nine to eleven.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Also at the height of Creed's popularity in two thousand
and one, that was I think. I was a junior
in high school. I was even I was on the
Creed train in a big way. I saw them play
an arena show in my hometown in Augusta, Georgia, and
I was super on board with that record my own prison,
which was at multiple smash hits that they regaled the
(29:35):
assembled crowd with. At the Super Bowl halftime show, I
believe it was the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys.
Dallas did lose the game by two points, twenty six
to twenty four, but people don't really talk about this
game as much as they talk about what is described
by some as an electrifying halftime performance by Creed.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yes, yeah, also described as a thing. So yeah, I
love that we're getting into this. Before we go into it,
we gotta give you some context, folks. Halftime shows are
not just for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
You can see halftime performances in plenty of other games,
and the formula is relatively the same. Pull the biggest
celebrity who is willing to play along with you, either
actually performing or pretending to perform, which we'll get to
after this. But of course our old nemeses that we
(30:35):
have now buried the hatchet with Sheryl Crowe has performed
back in five we'll see you know, your Reba McIntyre's,
your Dolly Pardons and of course Pitbull because pit bulls
is everything. Yeah, mister wild Wide, honorable pit Bull.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Read how I wrote.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
It and you'll see you'll see tons of different celebrities. However,
we know it's very important to our purposes tonight to
talk about the Creed performance, and we're doing so with
help from Andy Watkins writing for Pro Football Network.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
That's right, lead singer as we know him. We know him,
you might love him. It's fine if you love him, Scott.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
He loves I think most important thing.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I think it really is. Singer Scott Stapp took the stage.
He was wearing a custom made Cowboy Cowboys a jersey
with his own last name on the back, which is
very white. I believe it has some blue kind of
like you know, touches here and there, and the band
launched into it's not called Take Me Higher, Dang it
I was wrong, but that is the little lyric can
(31:44):
You Take Me?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
The song is just called Higher.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
However, I was just carkening back to that Diana Ross
performance where she performed a song called take Me Higher
on a helicopter down a helicopter, of course, and this was.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
A big song can You Take Me her, you know
the one.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And this is the Cowboys cheerleaders bopped along in the
background and sync with the band. Y'all. I don't know
if you've seen this, but this is a really fun
couples Halloween costume where you have one party dressed up
as Scott's staff with perhaps a mobile fan blowing his hair,
and then someone else.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
I'm dressed up as one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Now the dudes flying around on sheets, Yeah, with the sheets.
We'll get to the sheets. That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
So the cheerleaders are bopping around, you also have acrobats
jumping around doing somersaults in the air, pretending to be
flying whilst hanging onto these long strands of fabric, the
idea being that they were supposed to be taking wing
or what.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Very shirt dasa. So aerialists are performing, you know, very
cir Cirque Desilay, and then Creed pivots to the next track,
because again the soft power of the halftime show is
to unify a divided country towards support of football, but
also towards support of the American experience or experiment. So
(33:09):
Creed's next track is My Sacrifice. And during this you
could say it is sincere, you could say it is manipulative,
but it is true. They because it's two thousand and
one in the context, right, So they show rescue workers
during the horrific events of September eleventh when DC and
(33:31):
New York City were attacked by terrorists.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
And really quickly wanted to add.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Andy Watkins, writing over at Pro Football Network, was clearly
a fan. He writes about all this stuff in very
glowing terms, describing it as emotional and patriotic, a performance
given by Creed, which was, he says, sorely needed and
unexpectedly galvanizing, which we will get to.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, here's the thing that I wanted to say. They
go to this very deep place, They the hearts of
everybody watching, everybody in the audience, and then they shift
to another song. They end with a song called Don't
Stop Dancing.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Is that doesn't sound like a Creed song. I know
what the heck is Don't stop Dancing? Is that like
Jackson five song?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
It also this is why I ask whether this is
this memorial to the events of nine to eleven is
cynical or whether it is sincere because that's a weird
tonal shift.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Is not it is for sure. I don't know this song.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I don't think it was one of their hits that
has stood the test of time. But I do have
to you know, Devil's advocate here give credit? Where credits?
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Do the lyric?
Speaker 2 (34:45):
It is not just some sort of like totally pat
you know song to Shake Your Button.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It's the lyrics club song.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
No, the lyrics are at times life is wicked and
I just can't see the light. A silver lining sometimes
isn't enough to make some wrongs seem whatever life brings.
I've been through everything and now I'm on my knees again.
Where does he say stop dancing?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Well, it's this is the one that has the Tallahassee
Boys choir. At least the idea here is similar to
I will survive, you know, like we have. We have
encountered terrible events, tragedy beyond words and we're going to
soldier through. So I think that was the aim of them,
(35:32):
and they found Creed's version of that song and performed that.
So look, obviously this is huge spectacle. Every time you
watch it, you you, like Max Noll and myself, come
away with another piece of observation, something new to glean.
One thing that stood out to Max about this in
(35:53):
particular was the fact that the Salvation Army, the public
address announcer, and Jerry Joe himself, who is often called
the Tzar of the Dallas Cowboys, they got cut off
and they got played off stage for the Creed performance.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
It was like somebody who's like set that was kind
of bombing and they start playing the music or like
it's getting a war.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
And they're going too long on the speech.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Look, they're talking about charity and Jerry Jones is up
there with his wife and like a young child, and
these women just run out and start dancing around them
and they're playing Creede over them. It's like, this is impressive,
but it's also very obvious that their lip thinking the
entire time.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Ah, that's oh, that's where I want to get to.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yeah. Well, yeah, and I did find the lyric. It
does exist in the song.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
There's one little part I guess that reats a couple
of times, but it says it literally. It's referencing the children.
It says, children don't stop dancing. Believe you can fly away.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Away hashtag Nora Kelly. Indeed, uh, this is this is bonkers.
The whole thing very American. If you if you were
trying to explain the stereotypes of the United States to
someone who is unfamiliar with this country, someone from you know, oh, Bhutan,
for instance, who has never seen a halftime show, then
(37:08):
show them the Creed halftime Show and say this is
kind of it.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
They'll be like, I mean, maybe this gross domestic happiness
thing is not what it's cut out to be. Maybe
we should lean back in the GDP because this thing
is awesome and also terrible.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Well, I think that's the thing. I mean, it does
seem of their hearts are in the right place. Creed was, like,
you know, had had Christian roots. They were kind of
a band that kind of all of America to some
degree could rally behind because they were very popular, but
they were also more or less wholesome, and their songs
do have kind of these like a little bit pat
but uplifting messages. But I think the thing that stands
(37:42):
out and the reason this is memed and kind of
made into these goofy couple's Halloween costumes so much, is
it just feels very self aggrandizing on the part of Creed.
You know, it's like we are here to bring a
to heal America with.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
A rock you know, Scott Staff with a Messiah complex
say it ain't so, he said sarcastically. There's there's also
this one thing we have to I know several of
us were listening through this week's series and you're wondering,
like we have in the past, how often are these
(38:17):
performers actually singing versus how often are they lip sinking? Now,
In their defense, a lot of musicians, outside of halftime shows,
especially if they're known for dancing and choreography, they work
with backing tracks for sure. You see it all the time.
Well they'll have you know, their ad libs or their
(38:38):
chorus come in behind pre recorded, and then it's happening
because they're doing complex moves.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I mean these days right, sure thing, yeah, and see
these days, I mean, artists don't even really try to
hide it as much. I mean, remember back when being
caught lip sinking would have like tanked your career.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Shout out Millie Vanilli, Milli.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Vanilli or Ashley Sims on ESA now, which that was
truly embarrassing because it was a whole incorrect song that
was triggered and then she just kind.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Of awkwardly does a little jig on stage.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It was just absolutely it's one of the most cringeworthy
things you can watch. But you know, artists like Britney Spears,
massive productions and incredibly physical dance routines. It's not even
really a secret or an open secret. It's just a
thing that is done. And there are certainly parts of
shows where the artist will sing. But also, like you know,
Charlie XCX, he's one of the biggest artists ever right
this second. She doesn't live sing, but everything she does
(39:33):
is through auto tune. That's like a feature, not a bug.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
And kudos to you, Charlie, because I loved I loved
your performance on the recent Saturday Night Live where she's
very open about that fun, very cool and a very
talented actor with the lip Syncin conversation goes on and on,
we could say I believe we could say that now
(39:57):
many many audience members for any live show are there
to see a performance, to have a spectacle and experience.
You can listen to the song get Home. You're there
for something different.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
I mean, unless you're Adele or something.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Who is not up there doing crazy gymnastic dance moves
and who is her stock in trade is her voice
and doing this absolutely live raw vocal performances, or.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Like Tom Waits, who would just you're there to experience
this guy the magic really eclectic and weirdy. So it
would be interesting if he ever lip SYNCD for sure.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
And I you know, it makes me think it would
be really fun.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Maybe we should add us to the list now to
do a history, a ridiculous history of lip syncing.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, why not? Because it goes back to uh ooh,
it goes back to a lot of things. Lip Syncing
as a way of deceiving an audience is an ancient art.
You see it in religion as well, right, exactly, all right,
let's put in the voice of God speaks through me
pre James Earl Jones. One of my favorite examples of
(41:05):
lip syncing a kind of a kind of bite of
the thumb to shout out Shakespeare comes with the Red
Hot Chili Peppers. When they did super Bowl forty eight,
that's XLVII for all of us playing along at home
when they did when they came out here, they didn't
(41:26):
plug their guitars in. They said, why are we going
to bother to act like we're actually playing the song?
And flee who is just this amazing, very sincere person.
Two days after the Super Bowl is twenty fourteen, he
said the NFL had encouraged the frontman, Anthony you know
(41:49):
Tony Anthony Keatis, to sing live during the show, but
then told the rest of the band that they would
have to pre record an instrumental track and still up
and so for the Chili's for the Chili Peppers, they said,
why do we want to perpetuate a charade.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
The pep PEPs.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Yeah, it's funny too because this, you know, in music,
especially with like live bands, there is sort of a
bit of a fraught history with this kind of stuff
because like television shows where bands would perform, most notably
like Top of the Pops in the UK, the bands
are always required to lip sync to their songs, and
some bands would actively protest against this, like Nirvana, I
(42:31):
think they're doing come as you Are, and if you
watch the tape from that, they're pantomiming playing guitar really
poorly and just kind of like Kurt Cobangs just sort
of opening his mouth like you know, wide on for
every part and it's just so punk rock.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
And there are other examples of folks just being on board.
The Chili Peppers incident speaks to I think speaks to
their character. At least Flees Care because he was so
candid about this. With his candor, he pulled back the
curtain on one of the worst kept open secrets of
(43:09):
the Super Bowl halftime, which is that artists do often
rely on pre recorded instrumental tracks, if not additionally pre
recorded vocal tracks.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
You know, and I will say, just to look at
both sides that you know, having done live sound and
things in my previous life, like I understand from the
production standpoint, how this would be a lot writing on it,
a lot writing on it, a lot of quick changeovers,
you know, a lot of variables that they maybe just
want to mitigate as much as possible. So but then
(43:41):
you have, you know, performances like Prince where it's just
a centerpiece, full live band.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
That is what you're signing up for. That is what
you're getting, and you know every moment of that.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Also, you know, Prince would never participate in anything where
he was lip syncing or doing anything like that.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
That's just not his that's not his vibe.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
So you do get some really epic, you know, live
performances eventually in the Super Bowl halftime show.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Absolutely, And of course it's easy, with the immense privilege
of retrospect, to look back and you know what do
we call it to be the Monday morning quarterback about
how a show should have been performed or how it
could be tuned up. But in this case, what we're
seeing again is a fascinating piece of ridiculous American history
(44:28):
that continues today. Thank you so much, folks for tuning
in and joining us on this journey. Big big thanks
yes to our super producer mister Max Williams, who co
wrote this research brief, big big thanks, of course to
Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister. He wants to go on,
(44:48):
he wants to do a halftime show. I think if
we start a petition maybe he'll do it.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
Oh Strickland, The Rolling Stones halftime show of podcasts.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
I love it. It's very very true.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Hearing the colons in that title.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Oh yeah, I love hearing the good colon. Huge thanks
to aj Bahamas, Jacobs the Puzzler.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah, big, big thanks to Rachel Big Spinach, Lance, Chris
Rossiotis Eve's Jeff go here in spirit? Who else?
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Who else?
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Who else? Other than oh of course Scott from.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Creed, Thank you, and our personal Scott from Creed Alex
Williams to compose this bang and.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Bob nice nice. So we hope everybody is enjoying Thanksgiving times.
Please please, if you are ever at ever at a
decision point, or you have some questions about how to
have awkward conversations with your family, check out our episode
on stuff they don't want you to know how to
(45:45):
talk to your family during the holidays.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
We'll see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, app podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous Histories, a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to the
(00:27):
show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much for
tuning in. We have made it through halftime on our
series pertaining to you know, the super Bowl halftime show.
That's mister Max Williams, our super producer, Max Max Max Maximus.
That's Noel Brown over there. They call me Ben Bullen
(00:52):
at different times.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Ben, how did you enjoy the Ridiculous History halftime show
that took place a lot in between.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
That that magician, Holy cow, he made all of the
people in the cheap seats disappear.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yes, yes, which is maybe a statement about class as well.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
I think so.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
I was very impressed with the double meaning of his
magic act.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
And folks, if you have not heard part one of
our series on the history of the Super Bowl halftime show,
get thee to Thy podcast platform of choice. Check out
Part one. We're diving straight into Part two. Excellent setup,
nol because you know, we talked previously about how this
began previously on Ridiculous History. This whole halftime show thing
(01:41):
began with marching bands, which are still you know, you'll
still find them there. But people began to branch out.
Not everything worked immediately. There were some hot air balloon
Accidentssnan's yeah, and you set us up again so beautifully.
(02:02):
Can we go to the quote from Stephen Wood writing
for History.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Boy, could we ever?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Stephen Woods says, by the nineteen eighties, the Super Bowl
was must see TV, but as we mentioned previously, the
halftime show was becoming a punchline. Not even the second
jet pack appearance at Super Bowl. I'm bad at Roman
numerals XIX. Hold on, let's see, what is that twenty? No,
(02:30):
I don't know. No, it's not twenty. That would be xx.
What's xix? Guys?
Speaker 1 (02:35):
It is nineteen, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
That happened in nineteen eighty five, and it couldn't shake
the malaise. Recognizing the need to change the narrative, producers
of the Super Bowl X heck, that's twenty three, right three?
Yeah xx I halftime show in nineteen eighty nine created
one of the oddest experiences in television history. Coca Cola,
(03:03):
of course, was the sole sponsor for a show incorporating
three D technology.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
This is in nineteen eighty nine, y'all called new optics.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
That's clever, it's like new optics in uop ticks its.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Got an accident.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
It's extreme right right, that is not a complex Roman numeral.
That is the brand name of the technology. So here's
the idea they had, and this is familiar to anybody
who saw the rise of three D in cinema. Coca Cola,
who you know, rains here in our home state of Georgia.
(03:41):
Yet they got twenty six million pairs of three D
glasses and they ran, they distributed this when you would
buy Coca Cola products. They even went to print and
newspapers were running these graphic almost like IKEA level instruction
(04:01):
manuals on how to use how to use them, kind
of the way that the British government had to teach
people what constituted an emergency and when to call an
emergency line.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Okay, kids, it's time to put on your three D glasses.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Sorry.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Do you guys remember the Lonely Islands. I think they
got a little more famous doing SNL stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, what is comedy?
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Yeah, comedy exactly.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
But they back in the day had a delightful YouTube
channel and they had this like multi part spoof of
I guess the OC called the Boo and in one
of the episodes, there was like a cartoon squirrel that
was instructing the kids at the audience at home how
to wear their three D glasses, and parts of the
episode were done in three D. And I think they're
making fun of this very thing, this idea of like wow,
(04:48):
the future, and it's probably pretty corny and pretty.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Bad, similar to other top down tech innovations that failed,
which we should totally do an episode on. Remember three
D televisions and all the creators of those, the manufacturers
wanted you the consumer to buy them so bad.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Yeah, that was a pretty big dice roll on their part.
One that came up snake eyes.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
We call it a big swing in corporate America. So
people were very interested. It was a night everybody loves
an ostensibly free gift, a bit of swag. And so
back to our pal Steven Wood, there was one bar
owner in San Francisco who wanted his customers to have
(05:37):
three D glasses for the game when they watched it
at his restaurant, so he bought one hundred dollars worth
of coke products. Still, there was cynicism, just like we
were describing with three D televisions in general, the cynicism
is best summed up by a guy named Bob cost Us.
We recognize him from NBC Sports, he said, he said,
(06:01):
and I'm not gonna editorialize too much. He said, this
is the single proudest moment of my life as he
introduced the three D show.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Hey, who are we to say.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That Bob Costas wasn't being completely sincere We didn't ever
wear as tongue was positions, you know.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Also on the side here, congratulations is Bob Costas on
his retirement. He retired after these most recent playoffs, so.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
He retired peacefully. Congratulations Bob. The succession of power is
always a very dicey moment for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
But yeah, you're right, Ben, I think I'm being a
bit cooy. He did have a bit of a tone
when he introduced this show, a bit of a skeptical,
sort of sarcastic vibe to him. And then the show began,
be Bob bamboozled, Bebop bamboozled. Ben, what the heck is
that with featuring Elvis Presto, Ye I get it.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
He is indeed a three D magician.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Maybe that wasn't his entire bag, but it was tonight
because he did magic tricks while three D little bits
and bobs flashed around behind him, and the dancers performed
nineteen fifties swinger music.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
They're really doing.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
A past meets future kind of thing here, all surrounded
by a computer generated revolving cars, which I'm assuming were
like old timey cars. This is very odd and spinning
planets because you know, the future space to.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Show animation capabilities. There's actually there's a little bit of
soft power in the halftime show because people across the
world will tune in to watch clips of it. So
this is also exhibiting technology to the World Expo. Yeah,
one hundreds like the World Expo and one. One guy
(07:46):
at this bar in San Francisco did say this show
was good by saying the following, it's good because it
keeps people glued to the TV instead of getting up
to get a beer and going to the back through.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
This guy, a cowboy in San Francisco, was one of
those San Francisco cowboys you hear a lot of know.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Unfortunately, the three D viewing kind of fizzled with the public.
It's a big ask to require people to get paraphernalia
just to witness a thing. Someone said someone. An unimpressed
reviewer said, this is like watching a football halftime show
dot dot dot in the distorted reflection of an old mirror.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
That's very dystopian sounding. I like that, almost like a
black mirror.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
But you know it's funny.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I mean, this is nineteen eighty nine and three dviewing
experiences when put in the hands of mega capable futurist
directors like James Cameron certainly have come a long way,
but still a relatively unpleasant and not universally beloved or
adopted technology. It really has to be like a gravity
or an avatar kind of situation to get the butts
(08:55):
in the seats. It seems like it's a bit of
an afterthought for a lot of movies, sort of tack
it on after the fact.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Yeah, but this again, this idea of soft power, of
an opportunity to exhibit technology that never really left for
a moment. You know, people kept trying to innovate the
Super Bowl to in their minds, improve upon the formula,
and one of the big things they wanted to do
(09:23):
was to include more Western celebrities. And that's why in
nineteen ninety one, the halftime show finally featured the new
Kids on the block in kotb Or. It would have well,
it did, but they couldn't do it live because the
Gulf War it also started. Here's what happened. I can
(09:44):
give you guys the skinny what the concern there that
results in the tape delay entirely comes because the US
was at a decision point or crossroads wherein it may
have been completely possible. And this is a valid concern
that news international news of disaster and military excursion may
(10:11):
have preempted the Super Bowl. So that's like they're putting
it on tape delay because there are active operations in
the Gulf and they're worried that things might go you know, sidewise.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Right, and that would maybe be a little bit of
a bad look to have, like the New Kids bopping
around shaking their groove things interrupted by news of you know,
some sort of disastrous tragedy involving our troops.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Let's fast forward to the next year, yeah, where we
see some catty behavior on the parts of network TV
outfits who used to be a big deal pre streaming.
So Fox did not have rights to the game and
they instead said, you know what, we can't do the
(11:01):
Super Bowl live. We're going to do a live episode
of a show that I loved earlier that did not age. Well,
no living color, it did not age the film, but like,
you know, like almost like a hell in de Troy
of comedy. It launched a thousand comedic ships, you know
the way in sure did amazing stuff later, Jim James Carrey, Yeah,
(11:24):
did amazing stuff. Uh. And also of course the fly
Girls hats off.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Well, if I'm not mistaken, j Low was an original Flyer. Yes,
definitely a big comedic kind of Hallmark for sure. But
you're right, Ben, when you go back and watch it, now,
there are some things that do not stand the test
of a political correct scrutiny. Now that I'm like all
about one hundred percent political correctness, but boy, oh boy,
(11:50):
is some of that stuff a little cringe.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I'm about regular correctness. Hey, you guys, I think we
both are so thanks to CBS had you know, they
had the game and in nineteen ninety two, their halftime
show that they were airing was a snow themed production
starring Gloria Stefan, whom I know we all.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Love and the beat of the rhythm of the nights.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Yeah, and two Olympic qualified ice skaters. They had a
neck and neck with the live version of In Living
Color because again it's the early nineties. People love In
Living Color well, and.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
There just weren't that many choices, and that show was
such like a pop cultural phenomenon that they absolutely could
compete with the halftime show as it existed at that time.
So the organizers realized that they needed to change their
game up.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Yeah, they had to level up. And this brings us
to January thirty first, nineteen ninety three. Our pals Bonnie
Berkowitz and lazarro Gamio that we noted earlier in part one,
they say, look, yeah, had to come up with a
show that could not be ignored. You had to keep
(13:03):
the viewers. So they had James Earl Jones set up
the show in his best voice of God into Nation,
you know, very Flight of Dragons, very Darth Vader.
Speaker 3 (13:15):
That is now owned by the Disney Corporation.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yes, unfortunately they literally, I mean he passed away sadly,
but they will be able to continue using his vocal
likeness very legally for all time.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Very legally.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
It's kind of like how don't be evil as different
from be good? So shout out to Flight of Dragons.
By the way, it's an amazing animated series about the
It's a discourse about the nature of science and magic. Anyway,
I'm walking, I'm walking down the street for it. You're
gonna love it. You're gonna love it. You should absolutely
check it out. Our buddies that stuff to blow your
(13:53):
mind have a great, great weird house cinema on it.
So James Earl Jones is setting up a relatively long introduction,
and the whole time he is setting up this introduction,
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, is just standing on stage.
(14:20):
So James Zerl Jones, the kid of pop, half of
the Rosebolt Stadium, is just screaming. They have Beatlemania for this,
they have Jackson Media for this, and like a minute
and a half passes while this guy has to just
sort of stand there and listen to James Earl Jones.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Well, you know the thing about that is you can
look at it that way for sure. But I was
also thinking about I wasn't even including the James Earl
Jones part in my mind. He was just standing there
for a minute and a half in silence, which would
be very expensive minute and a half of television broadcast time.
But there is something powerful about the antica pati of
(15:01):
Michael Jackson doing his moves. Everyone knew he just loomed
so freaking large at this point, I think it's really
telling that the first big pop group that was hired
to do the halftime show were the new Kids on
the Block, who, while you know, pretty big in the
teeny bopper scene, not even remotely the level legacy you know,
you know, royalty, that is Michael Jackson, the king of pop.
(15:24):
So depending on how things went down, this could very
well have been their level up.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, I don't think we're disagreeing. I think that's the
same page thing. Because he also has to hold for applause, right,
we have to remember that Earl Jones is coming through
a monopoly of speakers literal voices, God well literal, but
I mean the huge, massive, booming voice, omnipresent voice at
the very least for the stadium. And so Jackson, let's
(15:55):
let's this run through. He pauses for applause. If you've
ever done a successful live show or public performance, you
know you have to hold for applause. That's why good
comedy shows take longer. Live anyway, So not only does
Michael Jackson rock the crowd, but he also probably converts
(16:18):
a couple of new fans. And we'll see there's a
Jackson family legacy to the super Bowl in just a second.
But not everyone was pleased. This is also part of
the Jackson legacy, I would argue because just like Elvis Presley,
not Presto Presley, the other Elvish, Jackson was seen as
(16:40):
a bit too risque, a bit too vulgar because this
is in his this is in his prime of his dancing,
when he would grab his crotch and kind of thrust up,
you know, get those get those kegels in, and people
got angry.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well, I mean remember when people got freaked out about
Elvis and Elvis. Yeah, this is like a level version
of that, because Michael Jackson's moves were pretty suggestive, you know,
the crotch grabbing, the gyrating, all of that stuff. And
I could see how this would maybe get certain parts
of Middle America and a bit of a tizzy.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yeah, people who are bad at sex moves. Maybe maybe.
So we're a family show. This entry into the halftime
history of Michael Jackson. This is the new era of
the megastar performer. You fast forward a few years to
(17:35):
nineteen ninety six, You've got Diana Ross, and Diana Ross
does a banger said at Super Bowl thirty and when
she leaves, she does she does a joke that, honestly,
a lot of a lot of my old friends have done.
You know how, if you're ever hanging out, this is
(17:57):
such a dumb joke. You see a fire truck go
by with the with the sirens blaring. I love to say,
oh crap, that's my uber.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Uh Diana rr a bit of a firebug, aren't you?
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Ben? Nobody knows this about you?
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Untrue allegation that.
Speaker 3 (18:12):
It is untrue. I made it up entirely.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
But yeah, Ross did that, but actually could follow through
with it because a helicopter descended. Uh, and she just goes,
that's my ride and then jumps onto the helicopter and
flies away. After she finished her last song, take Me Higher,
which is also going to come into play again, a
different version not of this song, but of the same name, name,
(18:37):
different era, same jubilant, high flying mentality.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, but I feel like Diana Ross and well I
prefer the Ross thing.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
Are you saying?
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Diana Ross is a better artist than Creed. Ben art
is subjective and you can enjoy what you wish. That's
also true. No, that's also true. And no, I do
think that Diana.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Us probably will go down in history a little higher
on the list of great artists than Creed.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
But to each their own.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
And this began with the success of these uh super
Bowl halftime shows. Began the era that we know today
where it was all about who was going to get
booked and what did that mean for their prominence their
position in you know, pop music, in pop culture with
names like James Brown, Zz, Top Boys to Men, The Temptations,
(19:28):
Queen Latifah, Stevie.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Wonder you had just had some Phil Collins.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Britney Spears of course, Sparry J Blige and you know
in Sync, the inheritors of new Kids on the Block.
And and the issue here is that the concept of
a solidified headliner wasn't quite there yet. The Stiliver Rioty Show. Yes,
everybody everybody in the musical acts we have just named
(19:56):
was functioning in collaboration with another you know, Britney Spear,
huge star, Mary J Blige, huge star, in Sync, huge group.
They all appear at the same two thousand and one
halftime show together at a point where arguably all three
of them separately could have sold out their own stadiums.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
One hundred percent. And I mean they still do that
sometimes to this day. I mean the one with Usher
for example, Yeah, he was the headliner, but they had
some guests popping, you know, in and out throughout. There
were also big names in and of themselves. I want
to say Mary J. Blige was one of those.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
She's shut up a couple times. So usually now what
they'll do is they'll have a headliner and the headliner
will have some other people caught up, even sometimes bigger
than people. The closest comparison I've seen recently was probably
the LA super Bowl, where they had like Snoop dogg Eminem,
Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick Lamar, they had like, that's probably the
(20:52):
closest one where they had like, okay, we have a
bunch of people who are big name.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
That's kind of where they're going to.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
They weren't like this, but like, you know, something like
the Weekend where blah.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Blah blah, right, that's always love bla blah. Was the
best comparison for someone who has somehow not seen a
halftime show. If you've seen Saturday Night Live and they're
cold opens. They will bring in cameos who are often
famous actors or comics in their own right. And that's
sort of, that's not even sort of. That is the
(21:22):
formula of the halftime show. You like this person, Guess
who also shows up at the bridge? You know what
I mean?
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Oh sure?
Speaker 1 (21:30):
And sometimes just for the bridge, just walks out in
a crazy costume with a crazy set, does a couple
of bars, and then is off to the.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Race, sometimes walking across an actual bridge.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Sometimes yes. And this is where this is another thing
about soft power, which can be projected internationally. True, but
we also see the halftime, the halftime celebration as an
attempt to unify America, including demographics of America that fundamentally
(22:05):
disagree on some weird things. Look, look what we're setting
you up for. Here is the other part of the
Jackson family legacy, the Boob.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Eight. It's true, it's a palindrome as well.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
There have been quite a few halftime shows that definitely
were remembered and are talked about and kind of enter
the annals of pop culture.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
But there is one that will probably go down in
history as one of the most infamous.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Changed my life, well, it changed a lot of young
young people's lives. I imagine Stephen Wood from History puts
it like this. If the King of Pop's performance was
one of the greatest in Super Bowl history, his sister
Janet Jackson's showing at Super Bowl thirty eight that's in
two thousand and four was the most controversial.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
UH.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
This was produced in conjunction with MTV, who kind of
curated a star studded UH spectacle starring Justin Timberlake and
Janet Jackson, where and during a very key line in
the song rock Your Body, Jackson removes it's kind of
it's like a removable bra kind of thing. Yeah, I
(23:26):
guess all bras are removable, but it's like the piece
on its own was was like almost like.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
A it's like a carapace. It was. It was like
it was like a panel on a like fast fit,
so a panel exactly popped off the he popped off
the the breast panel wherein for a brief, very brief moment,
you can see an exposed breast. You can also see
if I if I recall, there was some kind of
(23:53):
jewelry or autremole around that nipple, a bit of a
nipple ring.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Yeah, well you know what it wasn't It wasn't a
piercing No, it was like a ring a pasty, like
a metal pasty, but kind of star like or whatever,
star like, kind of sharp looking, actually the edges, if
I remember it correctly. But Ben, wasn't there supposed to
be a tape delay on this too?
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Like?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
There wasn't there always a I think the FCC requires
and broadcasts and live events to there for there to
be like a thirty second delay so that the hot
little hands of people running the broadcast can kind of
censor something after the facts.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah, same way you have a tape delay in live interviews,
especially if you got someone spicy who might drop a
few George Carlin esque inappropriate words. Back to our pals
Berkowitz and Gamo, they say, Jackson's right nipple was televised
forget this nine sixteenths of a second, and immediately the
(24:50):
FCC was on the case. There were fines, there were
public apologies, there was there were legal actions. You know,
Justin and Justin and Janet I talked like I hang
out with him, didn't agree on the narrative. They eventually
(25:12):
coalesced into a unified front saying, Hey, this was a
quote wardrobe malfunction, which is where the phrase enters the
American lexicon.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
What a fun one.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Yeah, it would seem that the FCC would let them
be or let them be them so let them see.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
They tried to shut them down on MTV.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
But never mind. Sorry ye eminem was later, But yeah, man,
wardrobe malfunction. What a You know, I got to you
gotta respect people that come up with like what would
clearly be considered a spin, but also something that is
just so perfect that it just gets adopted and used
for other stuff. I mean, certainly used in a very
tongue in cheek manner the idea of a wardrobe malfunction.
(25:54):
Because we talked about this a little bit in the
first part of this series, or at least we raised
the question that we promised we were going to get to.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Was this accidentally on purpose?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
This was definitely on purpose, as later research would show
show just like a nipple for nine sixteenths of a second,
and I would say, what we're seeing here is pr
level damage control. I also got to say, you know,
I feel like justin Timberlake's handlers told him to pretend
(26:28):
this was an accident, not to be too legalistic. But
their rationalization and their argument was that that panel over
the breast came off accidentally wardrobe malfunction, but it was
clearly planned.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
I would argue that that wardrobe did exactly what it
was supposed to.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Do, exactly, no malfunction whatsoever. Yeah, and thank you for
being cool, guys, because that certainly rocked my world. Jenny
Jackondi is awesome. Yes, what continues. People were writing into
newspapers A lot of folks have a lot of time
back then, and one person who subscribed to a newspaper
(27:08):
in Pennsylvania said, look, the FCC should find Justin Timberlake
and Janet Jackson one million dollars each. The FCC did
find CBS because they were the broadcasters, so the buck
stops with them, and for a time, Janet Jackson is
unfortunately blacklisted by TV and radio stations. Timberlake gets away,
(27:33):
which I think is a statement about both racism and
how America treats women.
Speaker 3 (27:38):
One million percent. Ben.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
I mean, you know, not to be grand standing about
it or anything, but it's just it just reeks of inequality,
you know, I mean the way Timberlake was almost treated
like a boss. You know, aha, good job JT. And
Janet Jackson was treated like a pariah. Not to mention
that the whole presentation less it's called it itself is
(28:00):
pretty sexist and gross, right, like a dude just reaching
out and pulling off a piece of a woman's clothing,
to which she responded, if I'm not mistaken, like with shock,
feigned shock obviously, but it's almost.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Like, oh my goodness, how dare you you cad?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
You know it's but it's that's that's old timey, weird
gross behavior.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Right again, Look, Timberlake is lionized for things that jan
and Jackson is philified for. Its exactly right, well put,
and this we don't want to end on this one.
Let's go to something we're very excited about. One time
true story, ridiculous historians. Our pals over at a band
(28:40):
called Creed had their own halftime show and it was
very much one of the most things ever.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
It was a thing that happened in in sports and
entertainment history. And look at the time, you know, Creed
was huge. I think, what was this, what year has
this been?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
This would have been two thousand and one.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Oh so really really just posts nine to eleven.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Also at the height of Creed's popularity in two thousand
and one, that was I think. I was a junior
in high school. I was even I was on the
Creed train in a big way. I saw them play
an arena show in my hometown in Augusta, Georgia, and
I was super on board with that record my own prison,
which was at multiple smash hits that they regaled the
(29:35):
assembled crowd with. At the Super Bowl halftime show, I
believe it was the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys.
Dallas did lose the game by two points, twenty six
to twenty four, but people don't really talk about this
game as much as they talk about what is described
by some as an electrifying halftime performance by Creed.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
Yes, yeah, also described as a thing. So yeah, I
love that we're getting into this. Before we go into it,
we gotta give you some context, folks. Halftime shows are
not just for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Now.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
You can see halftime performances in plenty of other games,
and the formula is relatively the same. Pull the biggest
celebrity who is willing to play along with you, either
actually performing or pretending to perform, which we'll get to
after this. But of course our old nemeses that we
(30:35):
have now buried the hatchet with Sheryl Crowe has performed
back in five we'll see you know, your Reba McIntyre's,
your Dolly Pardons and of course Pitbull because pit bulls
is everything. Yeah, mister wild Wide, honorable pit Bull.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
Read how I wrote.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
It and you'll see you'll see tons of different celebrities. However,
we know it's very important to our purposes tonight to
talk about the Creed performance, and we're doing so with
help from Andy Watkins writing for Pro Football Network.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
That's right, lead singer as we know him. We know him,
you might love him. It's fine if you love him, Scott.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
He loves I think most important thing.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
I think it really is. Singer Scott Stapp took the stage.
He was wearing a custom made Cowboy Cowboys a jersey
with his own last name on the back, which is
very white. I believe it has some blue kind of
like you know, touches here and there, and the band
launched into it's not called Take Me Higher, Dang it
I was wrong, but that is the little lyric can
(31:44):
You Take Me?
Speaker 3 (31:44):
The song is just called Higher.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
However, I was just carkening back to that Diana Ross
performance where she performed a song called take Me Higher
on a helicopter down a helicopter, of course, and this was.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
A big song can You Take Me her, you know
the one.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
And this is the Cowboys cheerleaders bopped along in the
background and sync with the band. Y'all. I don't know
if you've seen this, but this is a really fun
couples Halloween costume where you have one party dressed up
as Scott's staff with perhaps a mobile fan blowing his hair,
and then someone else.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
I'm dressed up as one of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.
Now the dudes flying around on sheets, Yeah, with the sheets.
We'll get to the sheets. That's exactly right.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
So the cheerleaders are bopping around, you also have acrobats
jumping around doing somersaults in the air, pretending to be
flying whilst hanging onto these long strands of fabric, the
idea being that they were supposed to be taking wing
or what.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
Very shirt dasa. So aerialists are performing, you know, very
cir Cirque Desilay, and then Creed pivots to the next track,
because again the soft power of the halftime show is
to unify a divided country towards support of football, but
also towards support of the American experience or experiment. So
(33:09):
Creed's next track is My Sacrifice. And during this you
could say it is sincere, you could say it is manipulative,
but it is true. They because it's two thousand and
one in the context, right, So they show rescue workers
during the horrific events of September eleventh when DC and
(33:31):
New York City were attacked by terrorists.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
And really quickly wanted to add.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Andy Watkins, writing over at Pro Football Network, was clearly
a fan. He writes about all this stuff in very
glowing terms, describing it as emotional and patriotic, a performance
given by Creed, which was, he says, sorely needed and
unexpectedly galvanizing, which we will get to.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Yeah, here's the thing that I wanted to say. They
go to this very deep place, They the hearts of
everybody watching, everybody in the audience, and then they shift
to another song. They end with a song called Don't
Stop Dancing.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Is that doesn't sound like a Creed song. I know
what the heck is Don't stop Dancing? Is that like
Jackson five song?
Speaker 1 (34:19):
It also this is why I ask whether this is
this memorial to the events of nine to eleven is
cynical or whether it is sincere because that's a weird
tonal shift.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Is not it is for sure. I don't know this song.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I don't think it was one of their hits that
has stood the test of time. But I do have
to you know, Devil's advocate here give credit? Where credits?
Speaker 3 (34:44):
Do the lyric?
Speaker 2 (34:45):
It is not just some sort of like totally pat
you know song to Shake Your Button.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
It's the lyrics club song.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
No, the lyrics are at times life is wicked and
I just can't see the light. A silver lining sometimes
isn't enough to make some wrongs seem whatever life brings.
I've been through everything and now I'm on my knees again.
Where does he say stop dancing?
Speaker 1 (35:08):
Well, it's this is the one that has the Tallahassee
Boys choir. At least the idea here is similar to
I will survive, you know, like we have. We have
encountered terrible events, tragedy beyond words and we're going to
soldier through. So I think that was the aim of them,
(35:32):
and they found Creed's version of that song and performed that.
So look, obviously this is huge spectacle. Every time you
watch it, you you, like Max Noll and myself, come
away with another piece of observation, something new to glean.
One thing that stood out to Max about this in
(35:53):
particular was the fact that the Salvation Army, the public
address announcer, and Jerry Joe himself, who is often called
the Tzar of the Dallas Cowboys, they got cut off
and they got played off stage for the Creed performance.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
It was like somebody who's like set that was kind
of bombing and they start playing the music or like
it's getting a war.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
And they're going too long on the speech.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Look, they're talking about charity and Jerry Jones is up
there with his wife and like a young child, and
these women just run out and start dancing around them
and they're playing Creede over them. It's like, this is impressive,
but it's also very obvious that their lip thinking the
entire time.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Ah, that's oh, that's where I want to get to.
Speaker 3 (36:33):
Yeah. Well, yeah, and I did find the lyric. It
does exist in the song.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
There's one little part I guess that reats a couple
of times, but it says it literally. It's referencing the children.
It says, children don't stop dancing. Believe you can fly away.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Away hashtag Nora Kelly. Indeed, uh, this is this is bonkers.
The whole thing very American. If you if you were
trying to explain the stereotypes of the United States to
someone who is unfamiliar with this country, someone from you know, oh, Bhutan,
for instance, who has never seen a halftime show, then
(37:08):
show them the Creed halftime Show and say this is
kind of it.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
They'll be like, I mean, maybe this gross domestic happiness
thing is not what it's cut out to be. Maybe
we should lean back in the GDP because this thing
is awesome and also terrible.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Well, I think that's the thing. I mean, it does
seem of their hearts are in the right place. Creed was, like,
you know, had had Christian roots. They were kind of
a band that kind of all of America to some
degree could rally behind because they were very popular, but
they were also more or less wholesome, and their songs
do have kind of these like a little bit pat
but uplifting messages. But I think the thing that stands
(37:42):
out and the reason this is memed and kind of
made into these goofy couple's Halloween costumes so much, is
it just feels very self aggrandizing on the part of Creed.
You know, it's like we are here to bring a
to heal America with.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
A rock you know, Scott Staff with a Messiah complex
say it ain't so, he said sarcastically. There's there's also
this one thing we have to I know several of
us were listening through this week's series and you're wondering,
like we have in the past, how often are these
(38:17):
performers actually singing versus how often are they lip sinking? Now,
In their defense, a lot of musicians, outside of halftime shows,
especially if they're known for dancing and choreography, they work
with backing tracks for sure. You see it all the time.
Well they'll have you know, their ad libs or their
(38:38):
chorus come in behind pre recorded, and then it's happening
because they're doing complex moves.
Speaker 3 (38:44):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I mean these days right, sure thing, yeah, and see
these days, I mean, artists don't even really try to
hide it as much. I mean, remember back when being
caught lip sinking would have like tanked your career.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Shout out Millie Vanilli, Milli.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
Vanilli or Ashley Sims on ESA now, which that was
truly embarrassing because it was a whole incorrect song that
was triggered and then she just kind.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Of awkwardly does a little jig on stage.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
It was just absolutely it's one of the most cringeworthy
things you can watch. But you know, artists like Britney Spears,
massive productions and incredibly physical dance routines. It's not even
really a secret or an open secret. It's just a
thing that is done. And there are certainly parts of
shows where the artist will sing. But also, like you know,
Charlie XCX, he's one of the biggest artists ever right
this second. She doesn't live sing, but everything she does
(39:33):
is through auto tune. That's like a feature, not a bug.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
And kudos to you, Charlie, because I loved I loved
your performance on the recent Saturday Night Live where she's
very open about that fun, very cool and a very
talented actor with the lip Syncin conversation goes on and on,
we could say I believe we could say that now
(39:57):
many many audience members for any live show are there
to see a performance, to have a spectacle and experience.
You can listen to the song get Home. You're there
for something different.
Speaker 3 (40:08):
I mean, unless you're Adele or something.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Who is not up there doing crazy gymnastic dance moves
and who is her stock in trade is her voice
and doing this absolutely live raw vocal performances, or.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Like Tom Waits, who would just you're there to experience
this guy the magic really eclectic and weirdy. So it
would be interesting if he ever lip SYNCD for sure.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
And I you know, it makes me think it would
be really fun.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Maybe we should add us to the list now to
do a history, a ridiculous history of lip syncing.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Yeah, why not? Because it goes back to uh ooh,
it goes back to a lot of things. Lip Syncing
as a way of deceiving an audience is an ancient art.
You see it in religion as well, right, exactly, all right,
let's put in the voice of God speaks through me
pre James Earl Jones. One of my favorite examples of
(41:05):
lip syncing a kind of a kind of bite of
the thumb to shout out Shakespeare comes with the Red
Hot Chili Peppers. When they did super Bowl forty eight,
that's XLVII for all of us playing along at home
when they did when they came out here, they didn't
(41:26):
plug their guitars in. They said, why are we going
to bother to act like we're actually playing the song?
And flee who is just this amazing, very sincere person.
Two days after the Super Bowl is twenty fourteen, he
said the NFL had encouraged the frontman, Anthony you know
(41:49):
Tony Anthony Keatis, to sing live during the show, but
then told the rest of the band that they would
have to pre record an instrumental track and still up
and so for the Chili's for the Chili Peppers, they said,
why do we want to perpetuate a charade.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
The pep PEPs.
Speaker 2 (42:08):
Yeah, it's funny too because this, you know, in music,
especially with like live bands, there is sort of a
bit of a fraught history with this kind of stuff
because like television shows where bands would perform, most notably
like Top of the Pops in the UK, the bands
are always required to lip sync to their songs, and
some bands would actively protest against this, like Nirvana, I
(42:31):
think they're doing come as you Are, and if you
watch the tape from that, they're pantomiming playing guitar really
poorly and just kind of like Kurt Cobangs just sort
of opening his mouth like you know, wide on for
every part and it's just so punk rock.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
And there are other examples of folks just being on board.
The Chili Peppers incident speaks to I think speaks to
their character. At least Flees Care because he was so
candid about this. With his candor, he pulled back the
curtain on one of the worst kept open secrets of
(43:09):
the Super Bowl halftime, which is that artists do often
rely on pre recorded instrumental tracks, if not additionally pre
recorded vocal tracks.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
You know, and I will say, just to look at
both sides that you know, having done live sound and
things in my previous life, like I understand from the
production standpoint, how this would be a lot writing on it,
a lot writing on it, a lot of quick changeovers,
you know, a lot of variables that they maybe just
want to mitigate as much as possible. So but then
(43:41):
you have, you know, performances like Prince where it's just
a centerpiece, full live band.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
That is what you're signing up for. That is what
you're getting, and you know every moment of that.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Also, you know, Prince would never participate in anything where
he was lip syncing or doing anything like that.
Speaker 3 (43:57):
That's just not his that's not his vibe.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
So you do get some really epic, you know, live
performances eventually in the Super Bowl halftime show.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
Absolutely, And of course it's easy, with the immense privilege
of retrospect, to look back and you know what do
we call it to be the Monday morning quarterback about
how a show should have been performed or how it
could be tuned up. But in this case, what we're
seeing again is a fascinating piece of ridiculous American history
(44:28):
that continues today. Thank you so much, folks for tuning
in and joining us on this journey. Big big thanks
yes to our super producer mister Max Williams, who co
wrote this research brief, big big thanks, of course to
Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister. He wants to go on,
(44:48):
he wants to do a halftime show. I think if
we start a petition maybe he'll do it.
Speaker 4 (44:53):
Oh Strickland, The Rolling Stones halftime show of podcasts.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
I love it. It's very very true.
Speaker 1 (45:00):
Hearing the colons in that title.
Speaker 3 (45:02):
Oh yeah, I love hearing the good colon. Huge thanks
to aj Bahamas, Jacobs the Puzzler.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Yeah, big, big thanks to Rachel Big Spinach, Lance, Chris
Rossiotis Eve's Jeff go here in spirit? Who else?
Speaker 3 (45:14):
Who else?
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Who else? Other than oh of course Scott from.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Creed, Thank you, and our personal Scott from Creed Alex
Williams to compose this bang and.
Speaker 1 (45:23):
Bob nice nice. So we hope everybody is enjoying Thanksgiving times.
Please please, if you are ever at ever at a
decision point, or you have some questions about how to
have awkward conversations with your family, check out our episode
on stuff they don't want you to know how to
(45:45):
talk to your family during the holidays.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
We'll see you next time, folks.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, app podcasts,
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Ridiculous History News
Hosts And Creators
Ben Bowlin
Noel Brown
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