NFL Super Bowl LVI Halftime show...worse than ever...

[Todem]

This is easily one of the better lineups in recent years.

Agree with the exception of Mary J.....for the love of god....talk about hype and overrated....she is awful.

[JohnRogers]

The really interesting thing here is what this does to my "the Super Bowl Half Time Show is a career momentum killer" theory. So far The Weeknd is still in his absolute most popular period, though probably at the tail end of it now. It will be interesting to see if his next album cycle can replicate the massive success of After Hours and the Super Bowl performance... but I'm betting against it. Here's why:

 

2011: The Black Eyed Peas were on top of the world before they played the Super Bowl. Sure they taking L's from critics, but they were selling heaps! After that outrageously uncool halftime show, they never recovered their face. By the time they put out another record a couple years ago, it was met with critical distaste and commercial disinterest.

 

2012: Madonna was already past her commercial prime by at least a decade. This show was clearly in the legacy act category, despite having new music to perform. Accordingly, she didn't fall from any great height. Her career today is in largely the same place as it was in 2012. She puts out an album every few years, it gets some critical attention and sells decently well to her fans, but she can't recapture the blowout successes of the 80s and 90s. On the other hand, some of the supporting acts from this show failed miserably afterwards. LMFAO in particular seem to have gone directly from this performance to an indefinite hiatus, the two are listed under the same timeline heading on their Wikipedia page. Cee Lo Green's last album before this performance debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200 and was met with rave reviews. His first (non Christmas) album after the performance failed to chart in the US and received very mixed reviews. Wikipedia also lists writing an autobiography as one of his main endeavors from 2012 onward, which definitely indicates a waning popular career.

 

2013: Beyoncé, featuring Destiny's Child. This is a total exception to my theory. Beyoncé's career trajectory was still skyrocketing after this performance. Just check out her 2016 smash album Lemonade. But then, if anyone who's played the Super Bowl in the past decade would be an exception to my theory, it would absolutely be Beyoncé.

 

2014: Bruno Mars. This one also doesn't quite line up. In 2014 Bruno was on top of the world, and in 2015 Uptown Funk was perhaps the most popular song of the year. His next album in 2017 sold like hotcakes and followed up Uptown Funk's formula successfully. It's a little soon to say if he's totally fallen off after that 2017 album, but I will say his latest ventures have all been collaborations, which have had varying degrees of success. It's also notable that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were his support group. In 2014 they had already been without John Frusciante for some years, and their next album in 2016 was met with very mixed reception from what I've seen. Many people seemed put off by the change in producers from Rick Rubin to Danger Mouse, and like I'm With You before it, The Getaway failed to produce any songs as monumentally huge as the Chilis 90s and 00's hits.

 

2015: Katy Perry. Here's where the analysis gets back on track. Supported by two older acts, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliot, Katy's show was filled with spectacle and massive hits and even spawned a great meme with the "left shark" who wasn't following the choreography at all. Fast forward to 2016, Katy Perry makes the choice to support Hillary Clinton on her presidential campaign trail. ... Needless to say that didn't end well. Without mentioning the politics of it, pop star Perry essentially swore off many right leaning fans of hers with this move, and with Hilary's failure it amounted to time Katy didn't spend touring and didn't spend recording music. It wasn't a productive year. Her next album in 2017 was puzzling, because in the four year gap between her previous smash hit record Prism and her new album, the entire popular music landscape had been overwhelmed by the success of trap, dancehall, and SPOTIFY. Streaming was now king, and Perry built her pop stardom in the waning years of iTunes supremacy. In addition, massive pop anthems like Firework or Roar had no place on playlists next to Migos and Lil Uzi Vert. Even Kendrick Lamar was playing in the trap wheelhouse with the singles to his 2017 album. Lady Gaga (who we'll get to in a moment) had gone country and jazz. Miley Cyrus was somewhere between her raunchiest psychedelic mess with The Flaming Lips and her uncertain, country inflected follow up. Even Taylor Swift, who dominated the charts in 2014, was having a rough time coping with the new musical zeitgeist in 2017. So how did Perry's album, Witness, fare? Not so well. Largely mixed reviews from critics across the board, leaning negative in many cases. The Metacritic score sits at 53/100. In addition, while this album did top the charts in its first week of release, it immediately fell out of the top ten by week two. Her previous album stayed in the top ten after beginning at number 1 for 17 weeks. More tellingly, Witness spent a total of 21 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. Her previous album has spent a total of 102 weeks on the chart, and the album before that a whopping 251. Now of course these records likely re-entered the charts every time she released a new album, but she has put out another album since Witness and Witness still hasn't garnered more than those 21 weeks on the chart. Katy Perry was a dominating force in pop prior to the Super Bowl performance. The same can't be said for the years since.

 

2016: Coldplay. Perhaps one of the most bafflingly successful bands of all time, Coldplay have had a major recent hit on the radio every year since their debut in 2000 up to this point. Even after a lackluster halftime show, featuring the incredibly awkward image of Chris Martin walking like a chimpanzee between Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, Coldplay managed another massive single with The Chainsmokers in 2017. However, here's the crucial detail. That single wasn't featured on a Coldplay album. Every big Coldplay hit up until this point came from an equally smash hit album. Parachutes had Yellow. A Rush Of Blood To The Head had Clocks and The Scientist. X&Y had Fix You. Viva La Vida had the title track. Mylo Xyloto had Paradise and Charlie Brown. Ghost Stories had Sky Full Of Stars. And A Head Full Of Dreams had Adventure Of A Lifetime and Hynm For The Weekend. That doesn't even cover all of their big hits, but those are by far the most successful songs of their career. In the wake of A Head Full Of Dreams, released in 2015, Coldplay went on a massive, multi-year world tour (which I saw, it was great) then took some time off. They didn't come back with another full length album until 2019, the longest gap between albums in their career. And the album? Everyday Life was met with mixed to positive reviews and sold decently well... but not very well by Coldplay's standards. While it did hit number 1 in the UK, it peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200, their lowest album peak since their debut album in 2000. The album's singles? They didn't even chart on the Hot 100. Not counting the odd EP and it's single they did in 2017, Coldplay's previous single with The Chainsmokers was one of the biggest hits of their entire career, making a top 5 appearance. Orphans and Arabesque from Everyday Life had absolutely none of the commercial power of their previous big hits. And to top it off, Coldplay announced they wouldn't be touring to promote the album until they could find a way to tour which didn't produce loads of greenhouse gasses... yeah. Stack Covid's following shutdown of all things live music and this album was something of a commercial dud for the band (even if I think it's actually one of their best records). Momentum killed.

 

2017: Lady Gaga. So far 2017 has showed up a lot in this post. 2016 was the year musical trends really tipped in favor of trap and streaming, which makes 2017 the first year fully immersed in this new musical landscape (among other new landscapes). Remarkably Lady Gaga chose to go against the rising grain for her 2016 solo album release, Joanne. As opposed to the trend chasing trap and dance hall of Katy Perry's and Taylor Swift's contemporary releases, Joanne featured live instrumentation and a decidedly rootsy, country direction. By 2017 she was fully in the supporting tour portion of this album cycle, and the peak of it all was this Super Bowl gig. Now make no mistake. Joanne was a massively successful album, it even made Gaga the first women to achieve four consecutive number one album debuts on the Billboard 200. However, this was also a decidedly new direction for Gaga. Prior to Joanne, Gaga kept pretty strictly to the world of dance bangers and pop anthems. She excelled at this. By 2016, she was involved in a variety of projects outside of her solo music career. A jazz album with Tony Bennet, a few different feature roles in major movies. The truth here is the Super Bowl didn't really kill her momentum, but it was one of a few different signs that she was spreading herself somewhat thin. Gone was the edgy and provocative pop and fashion icon of the early 2010s, replaced with a multi-talented artist as comfortable starring in the remake of A Star Is Born as singing jazz standards with Tony Bennet. In other words, Gaga was maturing, her art becoming more multi-faceted and nuanced... and as a result her most iconic persona had fallen behind her. In the past year or so she has gone back to her dance pop roots with Chromatica, and a remix album featuring many hyper pop artists shows the next direction she may take. But I still associate the halftime performance with the end of her career as a simple pop star (okay she was never simple, but she was pretty strictly pop for some time). It demarcates the line between old Gaga and new Gaga.

 

2018: Justin Timberlake. Unlike with Lady Gaga, the Super Bowl half time show did not treat Justin Timberlake kindly. In 2018 Justin was looking to do the impossible, fuse electro pop and folksy country into a singular musical force which would dominate the charts and award him visionary status. Here's the thing about doing the impossible: it can't always be done. Despite decent sales (likely the result of great marketing and name recognition more than anything), the album has garnered a reputation as one of the most ill conceived projects of its time. YouTube's most relevant music reviewers bemoaned the unconvincing juxtaposition of country and electro pop, and many written critics were none too pleased either. In addition, the half time show which helped to promote the record was hindered by the new material. The record hasn't had any staying power in the intervening years, and Justin has yet to put out another album. Momentum killed.

 

2019: Maroon 5. A laughably uncool band to begin with, the positive here was that they did play some of their older stuff (i.e. their only decent stuff) during the half time show. The bad news is they were in the worst artistic period of their life so far. The big hit at the time, Girls Like You, was little more than Adam Levine humming over a beat I could make in 5 minutes on GarageBand. In addition to the terrible state of their musical output, the choice of Maroon 5 for the halftime show proved very controversial as many felt artists connected to Atlanta, the city of the Super Bowl, should be playing it. As a compromise, Big Boi of OutKast fame and Travis Scott did get a feature midway through the show, albeit in a way that very much upset the internet. Many online had been mourning the death of Spongebob Squarepant's creator Stephen Hillenburg, and a very popular petition to get one of Spongebob's most memorable music numbers performed at the halftime show was signed by over one million people. Perhaps an odd request, the show organizer's totally butchered their response. They did play the clip from the Spongebob episode which directly precedes the song which had been petitioned for, but just before the song could begin, they segued into Travis Scott's performance of one of the most popular songs of the year - Sicko Mode. Many online were outraged by this bait and switch, and as far as I know Travis Scott has yet to fully replicate the massive success of Sicko Mode. Anyway back to Maroon 5, outshined at their own performance by a cartoon sponge and the controversy surrounding him, followed up their massively unliked yet commercially successful 2017 album Red Pill Blues with the so far largely ignored album Jordi this year. Jordi has had the lowest chart peak of Maroon 5's career so far, only reaching number 8 on the Billboard 200, and is the first since their debut not to peak at either number 1 or number 2. The jury is still out on how long it will stay in the charts, as it was only released a few months ago, but I'm not sure it will match the triple digit weeks spent in the charts of its predecessor. An already flailing career continues flailing after a halftime show marked more by controversy than the headlining act in question. I'd say this qualifies.

 

2020: Shakira and Jenifer Lopez. Like Madonna a few years earlier, this is a legacy act show, and a corse correction from a particularly bad show the year before. Neither of these artists were anywhere near their commercial or artistic peak going into the show and neither has seen much of rise or fall in their career in the wake of it.

 

2021: the Weeknd. Jury's out! He's on top of the world right now, but I have my doubts about him pulling off another commercial juggernaut after his last three albums have become more and more successful.

 

So when I look back at these

The Super Bowl definitely marked a loss of momentum for four of these artists: The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Coldplay, and Justin Timberlake. It's met at least one more at the peak of their artistic stagnation: Maroon 5. It's marked the turn from being part of the zeitgeist to being outside of it for another: Lady Gaga. And for three more it's been solidly in the legacy act portion of their career: Madonna, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez. Only for two has the Super Bowl seemed to have boosted their careers from successful to monumental: Bruno Mars and Beyoncé, and for at least one of those (Beyoncé) I'm already inclined to think they could weather absolutely any storm and come out commercially and artistically stronger for it. Perhaps The Weeknd will be added to that last list, but it must be noted he was already on top of the world before the show. So was Katy Perry, so were The Black Eyed Peas, so was Coldplay.

 

I know I've said a lot of stuff here and probably not all of it is easily agreed with. No problem. Here's the only point I'm really trying to make: very few artists of the past decade have come out the other side of a Super Bowl half time show performance on the more successful side of their careers. Basically only Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. As great of an achievement as playing the halftime show is, it seems to have a remarkable capacity to mark the tail end of an artist's peak period, or help kill off something that was already dying. So with that said I'm nervous for Kendrick Lamar. He's already in a very vulnerable spot in his career if you ask me, at least three monumentally successful albums towering over whatever he chooses to release next, and the world has been building anticipation for it for four years already. A successful album here paired with this halftime show could perpetuate his golden period another 5 years. Any kind of disappointment will make this halftime show the end of that period. Given the statistics, he'd better be cooking up something special.

 

American Life is where Madonna really crashed and burned. That rap in the title song is so cringe in many ways.

 

They should have brought Outkast for Atlanta instead of Adam Levine and Gloria Estefan for the Miami one instead of J Lo.

What the frack is trap?

[Entre_Perpetuo]

The really interesting thing here is what this does to my "the Super Bowl Half Time Show is a career momentum killer" theory. So far The Weeknd is still in his absolute most popular period, though probably at the tail end of it now. It will be interesting to see if his next album cycle can replicate the massive success of After Hours and the Super Bowl performance... but I'm betting against it. Here's why:

 

2011: The Black Eyed Peas were on top of the world before they played the Super Bowl. Sure they taking L's from critics, but they were selling heaps! After that outrageously uncool halftime show, they never recovered their face. By the time they put out another record a couple years ago, it was met with critical distaste and commercial disinterest.

 

2012: Madonna was already past her commercial prime by at least a decade. This show was clearly in the legacy act category, despite having new music to perform. Accordingly, she didn't fall from any great height. Her career today is in largely the same place as it was in 2012. She puts out an album every few years, it gets some critical attention and sells decently well to her fans, but she can't recapture the blowout successes of the 80s and 90s. On the other hand, some of the supporting acts from this show failed miserably afterwards. LMFAO in particular seem to have gone directly from this performance to an indefinite hiatus, the two are listed under the same timeline heading on their Wikipedia page. Cee Lo Green's last album before this performance debuted at number 9 on the Billboard 200 and was met with rave reviews. His first (non Christmas) album after the performance failed to chart in the US and received very mixed reviews. Wikipedia also lists writing an autobiography as one of his main endeavors from 2012 onward, which definitely indicates a waning popular career.

 

2013: Beyoncé, featuring Destiny's Child. This is a total exception to my theory. Beyoncé's career trajectory was still skyrocketing after this performance. Just check out her 2016 smash album Lemonade. But then, if anyone who's played the Super Bowl in the past decade would be an exception to my theory, it would absolutely be Beyoncé.

 

2014: Bruno Mars. This one also doesn't quite line up. In 2014 Bruno was on top of the world, and in 2015 Uptown Funk was perhaps the most popular song of the year. His next album in 2017 sold like hotcakes and followed up Uptown Funk's formula successfully. It's a little soon to say if he's totally fallen off after that 2017 album, but I will say his latest ventures have all been collaborations, which have had varying degrees of success. It's also notable that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were his support group. In 2014 they had already been without John Frusciante for some years, and their next album in 2016 was met with very mixed reception from what I've seen. Many people seemed put off by the change in producers from Rick Rubin to Danger Mouse, and like I'm With You before it, The Getaway failed to produce any songs as monumentally huge as the Chilis 90s and 00's hits.

 

2015: Katy Perry. Here's where the analysis gets back on track. Supported by two older acts, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliot, Katy's show was filled with spectacle and massive hits and even spawned a great meme with the "left shark" who wasn't following the choreography at all. Fast forward to 2016, Katy Perry makes the choice to support Hillary Clinton on her presidential campaign trail. ... Needless to say that didn't end well. Without mentioning the politics of it, pop star Perry essentially swore off many right leaning fans of hers with this move, and with Hilary's failure it amounted to time Katy didn't spend touring and didn't spend recording music. It wasn't a productive year. Her next album in 2017 was puzzling, because in the four year gap between her previous smash hit record Prism and her new album, the entire popular music landscape had been overwhelmed by the success of trap, dancehall, and SPOTIFY. Streaming was now king, and Perry built her pop stardom in the waning years of iTunes supremacy. In addition, massive pop anthems like Firework or Roar had no place on playlists next to Migos and Lil Uzi Vert. Even Kendrick Lamar was playing in the trap wheelhouse with the singles to his 2017 album. Lady Gaga (who we'll get to in a moment) had gone country and jazz. Miley Cyrus was somewhere between her raunchiest psychedelic mess with The Flaming Lips and her uncertain, country inflected follow up. Even Taylor Swift, who dominated the charts in 2014, was having a rough time coping with the new musical zeitgeist in 2017. So how did Perry's album, Witness, fare? Not so well. Largely mixed reviews from critics across the board, leaning negative in many cases. The Metacritic score sits at 53/100. In addition, while this album did top the charts in its first week of release, it immediately fell out of the top ten by week two. Her previous album stayed in the top ten after beginning at number 1 for 17 weeks. More tellingly, Witness spent a total of 21 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart. Her previous album has spent a total of 102 weeks on the chart, and the album before that a whopping 251. Now of course these records likely re-entered the charts every time she released a new album, but she has put out another album since Witness and Witness still hasn't garnered more than those 21 weeks on the chart. Katy Perry was a dominating force in pop prior to the Super Bowl performance. The same can't be said for the years since.

 

2016: Coldplay. Perhaps one of the most bafflingly successful bands of all time, Coldplay have had a major recent hit on the radio every year since their debut in 2000 up to this point. Even after a lackluster halftime show, featuring the incredibly awkward image of Chris Martin walking like a chimpanzee between Beyoncé and Bruno Mars, Coldplay managed another massive single with The Chainsmokers in 2017. However, here's the crucial detail. That single wasn't featured on a Coldplay album. Every big Coldplay hit up until this point came from an equally smash hit album. Parachutes had Yellow. A Rush Of Blood To The Head had Clocks and The Scientist. X&Y had Fix You. Viva La Vida had the title track. Mylo Xyloto had Paradise and Charlie Brown. Ghost Stories had Sky Full Of Stars. And A Head Full Of Dreams had Adventure Of A Lifetime and Hynm For The Weekend. That doesn't even cover all of their big hits, but those are by far the most successful songs of their career. In the wake of A Head Full Of Dreams, released in 2015, Coldplay went on a massive, multi-year world tour (which I saw, it was great) then took some time off. They didn't come back with another full length album until 2019, the longest gap between albums in their career. And the album? Everyday Life was met with mixed to positive reviews and sold decently well... but not very well by Coldplay's standards. While it did hit number 1 in the UK, it peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200, their lowest album peak since their debut album in 2000. The album's singles? They didn't even chart on the Hot 100. Not counting the odd EP and it's single they did in 2017, Coldplay's previous single with The Chainsmokers was one of the biggest hits of their entire career, making a top 5 appearance. Orphans and Arabesque from Everyday Life had absolutely none of the commercial power of their previous big hits. And to top it off, Coldplay announced they wouldn't be touring to promote the album until they could find a way to tour which didn't produce loads of greenhouse gasses... yeah. Stack Covid's following shutdown of all things live music and this album was something of a commercial dud for the band (even if I think it's actually one of their best records). Momentum killed.

 

2017: Lady Gaga. So far 2017 has showed up a lot in this post. 2016 was the year musical trends really tipped in favor of trap and streaming, which makes 2017 the first year fully immersed in this new musical landscape (among other new landscapes). Remarkably Lady Gaga chose to go against the rising grain for her 2016 solo album release, Joanne. As opposed to the trend chasing trap and dance hall of Katy Perry's and Taylor Swift's contemporary releases, Joanne featured live instrumentation and a decidedly rootsy, country direction. By 2017 she was fully in the supporting tour portion of this album cycle, and the peak of it all was this Super Bowl gig. Now make no mistake. Joanne was a massively successful album, it even made Gaga the first women to achieve four consecutive number one album debuts on the Billboard 200. However, this was also a decidedly new direction for Gaga. Prior to Joanne, Gaga kept pretty strictly to the world of dance bangers and pop anthems. She excelled at this. By 2016, she was involved in a variety of projects outside of her solo music career. A jazz album with Tony Bennet, a few different feature roles in major movies. The truth here is the Super Bowl didn't really kill her momentum, but it was one of a few different signs that she was spreading herself somewhat thin. Gone was the edgy and provocative pop and fashion icon of the early 2010s, replaced with a multi-talented artist as comfortable starring in the remake of A Star Is Born as singing jazz standards with Tony Bennet. In other words, Gaga was maturing, her art becoming more multi-faceted and nuanced... and as a result her most iconic persona had fallen behind her. In the past year or so she has gone back to her dance pop roots with Chromatica, and a remix album featuring many hyper pop artists shows the next direction she may take. But I still associate the halftime performance with the end of her career as a simple pop star (okay she was never simple, but she was pretty strictly pop for some time). It demarcates the line between old Gaga and new Gaga.

 

2018: Justin Timberlake. Unlike with Lady Gaga, the Super Bowl half time show did not treat Justin Timberlake kindly. In 2018 Justin was looking to do the impossible, fuse electro pop and folksy country into a singular musical force which would dominate the charts and award him visionary status. Here's the thing about doing the impossible: it can't always be done. Despite decent sales (likely the result of great marketing and name recognition more than anything), the album has garnered a reputation as one of the most ill conceived projects of its time. YouTube's most relevant music reviewers bemoaned the unconvincing juxtaposition of country and electro pop, and many written critics were none too pleased either. In addition, the half time show which helped to promote the record was hindered by the new material. The record hasn't had any staying power in the intervening years, and Justin has yet to put out another album. Momentum killed.

 

2019: Maroon 5. A laughably uncool band to begin with, the positive here was that they did play some of their older stuff (i.e. their only decent stuff) during the half time show. The bad news is they were in the worst artistic period of their life so far. The big hit at the time, Girls Like You, was little more than Adam Levine humming over a beat I could make in 5 minutes on GarageBand. In addition to the terrible state of their musical output, the choice of Maroon 5 for the halftime show proved very controversial as many felt artists connected to Atlanta, the city of the Super Bowl, should be playing it. As a compromise, Big Boi of OutKast fame and Travis Scott did get a feature midway through the show, albeit in a way that very much upset the internet. Many online had been mourning the death of Spongebob Squarepant's creator Stephen Hillenburg, and a very popular petition to get one of Spongebob's most memorable music numbers performed at the halftime show was signed by over one million people. Perhaps an odd request, the show organizer's totally butchered their response. They did play the clip from the Spongebob episode which directly precedes the song which had been petitioned for, but just before the song could begin, they segued into Travis Scott's performance of one of the most popular songs of the year - Sicko Mode. Many online were outraged by this bait and switch, and as far as I know Travis Scott has yet to fully replicate the massive success of Sicko Mode. Anyway back to Maroon 5, outshined at their own performance by a cartoon sponge and the controversy surrounding him, followed up their massively unliked yet commercially successful 2017 album Red Pill Blues with the so far largely ignored album Jordi this year. Jordi has had the lowest chart peak of Maroon 5's career so far, only reaching number 8 on the Billboard 200, and is the first since their debut not to peak at either number 1 or number 2. The jury is still out on how long it will stay in the charts, as it was only released a few months ago, but I'm not sure it will match the triple digit weeks spent in the charts of its predecessor. An already flailing career continues flailing after a halftime show marked more by controversy than the headlining act in question. I'd say this qualifies.

 

2020: Shakira and Jenifer Lopez. Like Madonna a few years earlier, this is a legacy act show, and a corse correction from a particularly bad show the year before. Neither of these artists were anywhere near their commercial or artistic peak going into the show and neither has seen much of rise or fall in their career in the wake of it.

 

2021: the Weeknd. Jury's out! He's on top of the world right now, but I have my doubts about him pulling off another commercial juggernaut after his last three albums have become more and more successful.

 

So when I look back at these

The Super Bowl definitely marked a loss of momentum for four of these artists: The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Coldplay, and Justin Timberlake. It's met at least one more at the peak of their artistic stagnation: Maroon 5. It's marked the turn from being part of the zeitgeist to being outside of it for another: Lady Gaga. And for three more it's been solidly in the legacy act portion of their career: Madonna, Shakira, and Jennifer Lopez. Only for two has the Super Bowl seemed to have boosted their careers from successful to monumental: Bruno Mars and Beyoncé, and for at least one of those (Beyoncé) I'm already inclined to think they could weather absolutely any storm and come out commercially and artistically stronger for it. Perhaps The Weeknd will be added to that last list, but it must be noted he was already on top of the world before the show. So was Katy Perry, so were The Black Eyed Peas, so was Coldplay.

 

I know I've said a lot of stuff here and probably not all of it is easily agreed with. No problem. Here's the only point I'm really trying to make: very few artists of the past decade have come out the other side of a Super Bowl half time show performance on the more successful side of their careers. Basically only Beyoncé and Bruno Mars. As great of an achievement as playing the halftime show is, it seems to have a remarkable capacity to mark the tail end of an artist's peak period, or help kill off something that was already dying. So with that said I'm nervous for Kendrick Lamar. He's already in a very vulnerable spot in his career if you ask me, at least three monumentally successful albums towering over whatever he chooses to release next, and the world has been building anticipation for it for four years already. A successful album here paired with this halftime show could perpetuate his golden period another 5 years. Any kind of disappointment will make this halftime show the end of that period. Given the statistics, he'd better be cooking up something special.

 

American Life is where Madonna really crashed and burned. That rap in the title song is so cringe in many ways.

 

They should have brought Outkast for Atlanta instead of Adam Levine and Gloria Estefan for the Miami one instead of J Lo.

What the frack is trap?

 

http://youtu.be/S-sJp1FfG7Q

 

http://youtu.be/4LfJnj66HVQ

 

http://youtu.be/6ONRf7h3Mdk

[driventotheedge]

Whose gonna be the first one to spark up a blunt on the air?

I thought it might be Petty years back.

[Mithrandir]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

[IbanezJem]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

Wait until he sees the left-wing actors do their abortion performance :outtahere:

[Fordgalaxy]

I don't have a problem with Dre, Snoop and Eminem honestly. At least it's not Maroon 5 or Imagine Dragons. Of course you do have the option of simply not watching it if you don't like the performers. I don't remember one Super Bowl halftime show where I felt like I was forced to watch it.

 

You'd think someone so smart (the OP) could figure that out, but maybe things aren't as they seem. :facepalm:

[thizzellewashington]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off. Edited October 2, 2021 by thizzellewashington

[Entre_Perpetuo]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

I think the Foos will definitely get it eventually, but it's probably not going to be before Dave is 60. I'm a little surprised Metallica has never done it, considering just how insanely popular they are. I may be off, but I think they may have surpassed AC/DC in popularity some time in the past two decades. Unfortunately the organizers haven't done a full fledged rock show since 2010 with The Who. Oh they'll tell you that Maroon 5 and Coldplay counted... they didn't. And I even love Coldplay!

[ILSnwdog]

Will they sensor themselves from dropping F-Bombs and N-Words?

That would be racist.

[Turbine Freight]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

 

Physician, heal thyself.

[laughedatbytime]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

:lol:

 

That take would drown in a raindrop.

Edited October 2, 2021 by laughedatbytime

[1-0-0-1-0-0-1]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

 

Or, you can keep your political forum problems in the political forum.

[invisible airwave]

This is easily one of the better lineups in recent years.

Agree with the exception of Mary J.....for the love of god....talk about hype and overrated....she is awful.

 

She has had some good songs in her heyday but she was atrocious by forgetting the lyrics with Aerosmith and N Stink and Britney made it worse. As if I need further proof that Steven Tyler is the most pathetic classic rock sellout ever?

[invisible airwave]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

Pearl Jam as well. Vedder isn't as anti fame as he was in the 90s. I'm skeptical about GnR. Without Izzy, it's just not the same.

Edited October 3, 2021 by invisible airwave

[invisible airwave]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

I think the Foos will definitely get it eventually, but it's probably not going to be before Dave is 60. I'm a little surprised Metallica has never done it, considering just how insanely popular they are. I may be off, but I think they may have surpassed AC/DC in popularity some time in the past two decades. Unfortunately the organizers haven't done a full fledged rock show since 2010 with The Who. Oh they'll tell you that Maroon 5 and Coldplay counted... they didn't. And I even love Coldplay!

 

And RHCP don't count especially since it was with Bruno although he has a few good songs that don't waste his talent like Locked Out Of Heaven and Treasure and that pre recorded guitar with the then new guy. Frusciante would NEVER stoop that low. He would have played it live.

[invisible airwave]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

 

He's been critical of halftime every year. Don't get me wrong, I'm on the opposite end of him politically (registered indie, though), but I'm just saying. Adam Levine sucks no matter who you vote for.

Edited October 3, 2021 by invisible airwave

[Entre_Perpetuo]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

I think the Foos will definitely get it eventually, but it's probably not going to be before Dave is 60. I'm a little surprised Metallica has never done it, considering just how insanely popular they are. I may be off, but I think they may have surpassed AC/DC in popularity some time in the past two decades. Unfortunately the organizers haven't done a full fledged rock show since 2010 with The Who. Oh they'll tell you that Maroon 5 and Coldplay counted... they didn't. And I even love Coldplay!

 

And RHCP don't count especially since it was with Bruno although he has a few good songs that don't waste his talent like Locked Out Of Heaven and Treasure and that pre recorded guitar with the then new guy. Frusciante would NEVER stoop that low. He would have played it live.

 

It wasn't Klinghoffer's decision to go pre-recorded iirc. It was super cold out and Flea and Chad both claimed they couldn't play the songs right in the cold. Their fingers got too stiff. O liked Josh, and I though The Getaway was really refreshing for them, but I hope Frusciante's second return will produce great results regardless.

[Entre_Perpetuo]

Saw the thread title. Immediately knew who created it. Keep your bigotry in the political forum.

 

He's been critical of halftime every year. Don't get me wrong, I'm on the opposite end of him politically (registered indie, though), but I'm just saying. Adam Levine sucks no matter who you vote for.

 

The worst part is Levine's got a really good voice when he uses it, but he seems to have forgotten he's the same guy who sang the opener to Kanye's Late Registration and those hits from Songs About Jane.

[Union 5-3992]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

Pearl Jam as well. Vedder isn't as anti fame as he was in the 90s. I'm skeptical about GnR. Without Izzy, it's just not the same.

Axl's not even the same...

Edited October 3, 2021 by Union 5-3992

[driventotheedge]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

Pearl Jam as well. Vedder isn't as anti fame as he was in the 90s. I'm skeptical about GnR. Without Izzy, it's just not the same.

Besides, Axl Pose would probably be so late they'd have to pull a singer out of the audience ala' The Who when Moonie was so wasted he couldn't play.

[Rick N. Backer]

I would like to see a rock act in the mix at some point. There are a few out there with enough mainstream appeal and iconic songs that get played in sports arenas all the time anyway (AC/DC, GNR, Metallica, Foo Fighters) that could pull it off.

 

Pearl Jam as well. Vedder isn't as anti fame as he was in the 90s. I'm skeptical about GnR. Without Izzy, it's just not the same.

 

I saw them in 2017 and this past summer. They were better in 2017, but still great this summer. I saw them in 1988 and 1991 as well. As much as I love Slash, both with the band and solo, you do have to wonder why after Izzy left they stopped putting out great new music.

[Syrinx]

That being said, the GNR reunion tour from a few years ago were two of the best shows I have seen in decades. And they were on time.