Baseball is often considered to be America’s pastime, but when it comes to major sports championships, nothing compares to the NFL Super Bowl. The most highly viewed program of the year on American national television, the event doubles as the television advertisement world’s Olympics: bringing forth the best ads from major brands and corporations willing to spend big money for consumer recognition.
The Super Bowl is not only the holy grail of sporting events, but also a huge event in the live music calendar, thanks to the iconic halftime show, in which the world’s biggest musical names are called upon to perform in front of millions of viewers. As the weekend of Super Bowl LII approaches, we’re taking a look at the history of the halftime show, picking out the most memorable games and the musical events that accompanied them.
1967: Super Bowl I Green Bay Packers (35) vs Kansas City Chiefs (10)
The first ever halftime show (and first ever Superbowl) took place at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. A veritable circus, the event featured men on jetpacks and a full marching band. The first halftime show was a spectacle and introduced the concept of having a massive production during the 12-minute intermission, which now has been expanded to more than double that time, giving a range of acts time to perform.
1972: Super Bowl VI – Dallas Cowboys (24) vs Miami Dolphins (3)
The 1972 Super Bowl held in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana featured a halftime performance that paved the way for the modern halftime show. The show was titled “Salute to Louis Armstrong”, featuring a tribute to the late New Orleans jazz legend as he had passed away the year prior. Starring in the tribute were Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Channing, Al Hirt and the U.S. Marine Corps Drill Team. This was the beginning of a halftime show tradition in which the event would pay tribute to iconic figures from the worlds of music and pop culture.
1993: Super Bowl XXVII – Dallas Cowboys (52) vs Buffalo Bills (17)
Hosted at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California the 1993 Super Bowl halftime show is perhaps the most iconic event in the Super Bowl’s history. Entitled “Heal The World”, the show featured the late legend of pop music Michael Jackson along with 3,500 local Californian children. This event was considerably influential, so much so that Beyoncé attempted to recreate it during the 2016 show alongside Bruno Mars and Coldplay. This Super Bowl confirmed the growing importance of artist over theme, unofficially ending the tribute era in the halftime shows and beginning the shift towards big-name artists that steal the show.
2001: Super Bowl XXXV – New York Giants (7) vs Baltimore Ravens (34)
The 2001 Super Bowl took place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida and introduced the trend of big-name artists headlining the show. The 2001 event was titled “The Kings of Rock and Pop” and featured Aerosmith, ‘N’Sync, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige and Nelly. After this show, the NFL chose to stop naming the halftime performances and instead use the names of ultra-popular celebrity performers to sell the event – as seen with the 2002 halftime show, which was simply called “U2” after the main performer.
Similarly to 2001, 2004’s event included many of music’s top talents: Janet Jackson, Kid Rock, P. Diddy, Nelly and Justin Timberlake all performed, leading to record viewing numbers. This year will forever go down in history for the wrong reasons, though, as Justin Timberlake accidently ripped Janet Jackson’s outfit on national television. After 2004 there was a slight drop in viewership the following year, followed by a steady increase each year up to 2012. 2015 showed peak viewership at 114 million thanks to the inclusion of Katy Perry as the halftime performer. This year’s performance is sure to top previous records, with the likes of Maroon 5 and Travis Scott headlining the event.